A young Princess Elizabeth was extremely shy, reveals new documentary

She may be one of the most influential women in the world, but Queen Elizabeth - the longest reigning monarch - struggled with shyness as a child.

Her Majesty is respected by peers and subjects all over the world, but she wasn’t always so self-confident. According to a new documentary, the Princess was told to “be brave” by her mother when she was a child.

Prudence, Lady Penn, a former lady-in-waiting to the Queen Mother and a friend of the Queen had appeared in a British documentary called Elizabeth: Our Queen. In it, she reveals that Her Majesty would find walking into a crowded room “daunting”.

She revealed: “The Queen Mother told the Queen when she was very young to be brave.

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“I think the Queen probably when she was young felt walking into a room full of people was rather daunting.

“So she said to her 'What you want to do, when you walk into a room, walk through the middle of the door'.

“And I think by that she meant, don't sort of go in apologetically. You walk through as if I'm in charge. I think that was very good advice.”

The documentary also reveals that Elizabeth didn’t necessarily want the role she ended up taking over.

Historian Kate Williams tells how on the day of the abdication of Edward VIII in 1936, which meant Princess Elizabeth’s father took the throne as King George VI, the Queen had been out and returned to the castle.

When the princess and her sister heard the news and realised that Elizabeth, as the eldest child, would one day be Queen.

Margaret allegedly said: “Poor you”.

Today marks 66 years since King George died and Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne.