An unparalleled collection of intimate, personal photographs of the British Royal family at rest and at play has been released by Buckingham Palace, to celebrate the summer Buckingham Palace exhibition, entitled “A Royal Childhood”.

The show will be on all summer at Buckingham Palace, which is now open to paying visitors for two months in the summer while the Queen is on holiday in Balmoral.

Along with dozens of photographs, 150 toys, classic outfits and nursery items belonging to nine generations of royal children, there is also appealing video footage, including a clip of Prince Philip riding his daughter’s bicycle.

Of course one of the best bits of being a royal child is the toys you get given, like a fully operational, James Bond-style miniature Aston Martin DB5. It was given to Prince Andrew when he was 6 years old.

There is even footage of the Queen’s father, King George VI, hugging Prince Charles, his grandson, just weeks before he died in 1952.

They are the kinds of photos that all of us once had in our family albums, a bit blurry, imperfectly exposed and a mile away from the pin-sharp images taken by the hordes of professional photographers that follow the Royals every move.

They are all the more real for that and show a little known soft side to the ruling elite.

However, the fact that the Royals are prepared to open up their private life with these kinds of photos when it suits them will inevitably lead to accusations that they are invading their own privacy.

Seeing as how Kate and William completely freaked out when an entirely legal photograph was taken of Kate playing with her son in the grounds of the Gov.’s mansion in Canberra when they were on tour in Australia recently, it’s perhaps slightly baffling—if very welcome—that this new exhibition with such intimate and personal photographs should then be on display for all to see.