The Royal Family has released private footage of The Queen's childhood to celebrate her 94th birthday.

The behind-the-scenes footage, from the Royal Collection Trust, shows her playing with a pram as a toddler, as a happy young girl on a seesaw, and skipping and jumping around a garden with her younger sister, Princess Margaret.

It also shows her delight as she sits on a horse, and she is seen dancing on a yacht with Margaret, in matching outfits, as they learn dance steps from their mother, Queen Elizabeth.

The royal family’s Twitter account said: “To those of you also celebrating your birthdays today at home, with or without your loved ones – we send you many happy returns.”

It thanked the public for its birthday messages and wished the Queen a happy birthday.

The Queen is with her husband of 72 years, the Duke of Edinburgh, at Windsor Castle in Berkshire with a reduced household for their protection.

Like the rest of the nation, the royals are staying away from one another as they follow the social distancing rules amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Family members are expected to be telephoning and video-calling the Queen privately to deliver their birthday messages.

The bells of Westminster Abbey – the church where the Queen was married and crowned – will stay silent on her birthday for the first time in more than a decade.

The abbey is currently closed, meaning the celebratory peal which has taken place in her honour on her actual birthday – April 21 – every year since 2007, will not be able to go ahead.

There will also be no birthday gun salutes for what is believed to be the first time, at the Queen’s request.