Though the royals generally remain tight-lipped about their relationships, with children or otherwise, make no mistake—Queen Elizabeth II absolutely loved her children, and made a series of touching comments about two of her children, King Charles and Princess Anne, in a private letter, which is currently up for bid through RR Auction.

Elizabeth’s comments were discovered in an October 4, 1950-dated letter sent to her former midwife, Helen Rowe (referred to in the letter as “Rowie”), two months after giving birth to Princess Anne. Elizabeth and Prince Philip, according to People, were staying at Balmoral Castle in Scotland at the time of Elizabeth’s correspondence with Rowe.

“We are all getting on very well up here and I am feeling very much stronger already,” Elizabeth told Rowe in the letter. “It was lovely to be on the hill again the second day I was here, but the third day, the Jeep which takes one everywhere over the ground missed picking me up and I had to walk down to the road, with the result that I strained my knee on something, which has been very effective in keeping me within bounds! However, the air is so good that I feel better every day, and though I still go to sleep in the afternoon, I don’t do it so often now.”

Of Charles, the late Queen noted that he was “getting fatter” and developed “an enormous appetite and takes a great deal of exercise” as he aged up.

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“I find it extremely difficult to explain it away when he looks at something he can’t reach and then turns his back meaningly on me and says, ‘Mummy, lift!'” she continued. “He enjoyed the train journey far more than Anne, who wasn’t too keen on the rattling to begin with, but she has steadily been putting on weight up here and has got lovely pink cheeks after she has been out. The sugar in her foods is gradually going up, and she doesn’t seem to be nearly so ravenous, often sleeping right up to bottle time.”

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Queen Mother (Elizabeth’s mother, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon) even received a mention in the letter; she apparently loved to spoil a much smaller Charles with attention when he was younger: “The children’s grandmother is spoiling her eldest quite openly and will do so with Anne if she got a chance!”

The letter concluded with Elizabeth expressing hope that Rowe would be present at Anne’s christening, with her signing off the letter, “Yours very sincerely, Elizabeth.” As of June 28, the highest bid for the letter, which is currently up for auction through July 10, was $1,149.