A collection of Christmas cards signed by Queen Mother have been donated to a charity shop.
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Retail assistant Angie Didierlaurent, 19, trembled with excitement when she found the bundle of 19 cards in the Bethany store in Edinburgh.
She said: “I was downstairs sorting through the donations, it was about 11.30am, and I came across a bundle of Christmas cards at the bottom of a bag.
“I saw they had the crown on the front of the white cards and inside one of them was written to a ‘Mr and Mrs Wilson’ with a picture of the Queen Mother with the words ‘Wishing you a good Christmas and Happy New Year’ and it was signed ‘From Elizabeth’.
“I ran my finger over it and it felt bumpy like it was real. They were all signed by her and so I ran up the stairs trembling and calling out to my colleague that I had found the cards, I was so excited.
“I was so surprised to find them and my colleague said they would fetch a lot.”
Auction house Lyon and Turnbull will sell the cards – including one with a picture of a wooden hut standing in the middle of a wood, which the Queen Mother has drawn an arrow towards and written the words Our Christmas present – in February next year and expect they will make up to £1,000.
Simon Vickers, Lyon and Turnbull’s head of books and manuscripts, said: “Most of the cards are signed by the Queen Mother and are definitely authentic.
“After the 1990s she used an autopen to have cards signed but some of these cards date back to the 60s and they are definitely signed by her.
“We’re thrilled by the find and we think we will get a good price for them as it is unusual to get a whole selection like this.”
