It’s Queen Elizabeth’s 94th birthday today and the palace has shared some incredible footage of her as a child

Queen Elizabeth is 94 today!

She's one of the most famous and important women in the world, but as her official Twitter account noted today, she is also a wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. And we're pretty sure that it must be as hard for Queen Elizabeth as for anyone else to be celebrating her birthday today without being able to have any of her family close at hand. So, in celebration of the 94th birthday of the the woman who is Britain's longest reigning monarch, the @RoyalFamily Twitter account posted some video of the queen in happier times. The videos are courtesy of the private collection of The Royal Trust, a charity that looks after The Royal Collection as well as visitors to Buckingham Palace and other official residences of the royal family. The amazing black and white footage shows Queen Elizabeth as a toddler, playing with a wicker doll's pram. As a bigger child she's leading her sister, Princess Margaret, in an enthusiastic go on a see-saw, and paying together in the palace's gardens. Colour video shows the princesses dancing together as older children, in a sweet practised routine.

Thank you for your messages today, on The Queen’s 94th birthday. ??

? In this private footage from @RCT, we see The Queen, then Princess Elizabeth, with her family, including her younger sister Princess Margaret. pic.twitter.com/T5IUS8MmQj — The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) April 21, 2020

The video also shows the young Elizabeth's fascination with animals – we see her playing with birds and dogs as well as riding a horse. A separate post by The Royal Trust reveals that the queen was given a Shetland pony for her fourth birthday by her grandfather, King George V, which started her life-long love of equestrian sports.

Happy birthday to Her Majesty The Queen, 94 today! On her fourth birthday Princess Elizabeth was given a Shetland pony by her grandfather, King George V. She took riding lessons in Windsor Great Park and was able to ride on her own by the age of six. https://t.co/cyg7vhPL0H pic.twitter.com/ERZN1KyRSg

— RoyalCollectionTrust (@RCT) April 21, 2020

We were really struck by the opening image of the video in which we see Queen Elizabeth as a baby – looking the absolute spit of her great-grandson, Prince George.