A never-before-seen drawing by a young Princess Elizabeth for Peter Pan author JM Barrie has appeared for sale almost a century later.
The chalk drawing of a building with many windows was sent to Barrie with an apologetic letter from Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.
In it she harshly called the drawing ‘very poor’ and said ‘Elizabeth insisted on putting in a roof with lots of little windows for the nursery girl’.
It is thought that the drawing could be the late Queen’s childhood vision of what Great Ormond Street Hospital’s new Southwood building should look like.
Barrie is known to have had a strong connection with the Royal Family in the 1930s and also donated the copyright for Peter Pan to Great Ormond Street Hospital.
A never-before-seen drawing by a young Princess Elizabeth for Peter Pan author JM Barrie has appeared for sale almost a century later. The chalk drawing of a house with many windows was sent to Barrie along with an apologetic letter from Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother
A young Princess Elizabeth is seen with her mother after the coronation of her father, King George VI in 1937
The Southwood building was officially opened in 1938 by King George VI and the Queen Mother.
There is no date on the letter, but it is thought to have been written in the early 1930s when Princess Elizabeth would have been between four and six years old.
The letterhead says it was sent from 145 Piccadilly, which was the family’s London townhouse home before Edward VIII abdicated in 1936 and they moved to Buckingham Palace when Elizabeth’s father became king.
Sir James Barrie attended Princess Margaret’s third birthday party in 1933 and used some lines she told him in a play he wrote called The Boy David (1936).
He was also reported to have read stories to the two young princesses.
The letter mentions a charity dinner Barrie attended, possibly for the hospital, and the Queen Mother asks Barrie not to appeal in Princess Elizabeth’s name.
The Queen Mother wrote: ‘I expect you just want to say that she drew you a picture of what the hospital should look like’.
Barrie is known to have had a strong connection with the royal family in the 1930s and also donated the copyright for Peter Pan to Great Ormond Street Hospital.
The Queen Mother wrote to the author from her then home, 145 Piccaddilly in central London. It is believed to have been written in the early 1930s
She apologized for her daughter’s ‘very poor’ drawing of ‘the hospital’
The dinner she referred to may be the fundraising banquet for the Great Ormond Street Hospital held in December 1930 in honor of the author.
In the letter, the Queen Mother mentions that she has met Cynthia, which apparently refers to Lady Cynthia Asquith, Barrie’s private secretary.
Apart from the Peter Pan works, he left most of his estate to her after he died.
Cynthia was also the editor of a book of short stories in aid of the Princess Elizabeth Hospital for Children, which was published sometime in the 1930s and included a story by Barrie.
The letter accompanying the drawing read in full: ‘My dear Sir James, I am so sorry that I did not realize that you were making your speech this evening, and I am afraid I am sending a very poor house round in haste.
‘Elizabeth insisted on putting in a roof with very small windows for the nursery girl.
‘Please, Sir James, you will not appeal in her name at all, as I have such trouble about it, and I am not sure what it is you mean.
‘It’s not that I wouldn’t be proud to have her name mentioned by you, it’s just that I had trouble keeping her name separate from charities etc.
‘But I expect you just want to say that she drew you a picture of what the hospital should look like.
‘Please forgive me for saying all this, but you can imagine the trouble I get into!
‘However, I hope this very poor drawing may be of little use – I write it in great haste after meeting Cynthia who told me your dinner is to-night. I am sincerely yours, Elizabeth.’
She also wrote a note in the margin saying ‘if you can pull it off – you won’t let the press photograph it’.
The intriguing letter and drawing were part of the collection of American Anglophile William Rasch and are now being sold by Everard Auctions of Savannah, Georgia, where they are expected to fetch £4,000.
The four-page signed letter and holograph envelope are in good condition, with light wear to the edges.
King George VI and the Queen Mother are seen on a tour of Great Ormond Street Hospital in October 1938 when they opened the institution’s Southwood Building.
Queen Elizabeth talks to patients at Great Ormond Street during her visit
Amanda Everard, of the auction house, said: ‘The owner was a real Anglophile, he had a lot of British royal related items – photos and autographs – he bought a lot from British dealers.
‘He collected from 1976 until his death eight years ago.
‘We are delighted to have his collection, it was so special to go through all these documents and discover this letter.
‘There is no date on it but we think it must be around 1932 based on the drawing style.
‘The Queen Mother seems a bit embarrassed and the way it’s written is quite funny. It was clearly written in haste to try to get this little picture to him.
‘I feel a bit bad because she says in the letter not to let the press see it.
‘This is a very interesting document which links a mother and daughter, albeit a princess and queen at the time, to James Barrie, the author of Peter Pan.
“But it’s so sweet, the drawing could have been done by any of our children and shows the human side to royalty.”
The letter and drawing will be sold on October 19.