Queen Elizabeth suffered with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) as a child.

A new book titled The Governess has claimed that the British monarch’s late teacher, Marion Crawford, noticed how the Queen would put her pencils into straight lines with equal gaps between each pencil, prompting the diagnosis.

Author Wendy Holden wrote: “Marion, whose training encompassed child psychology, now realised she was looking at obsessive compulsion. This cosseted, regularised environment was the very last place she had expected to find it. Why do you do that? The princess looked up, staring at her with candid blue eyes. ‘Because it makes me feel safe.’ ‘Safe?’ echoed Marion.”Meanwhile, Queen Elizabeth recently hosted a socially distant get together with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their three children – Prince George, seven, Princess Charlotte, five, and Prince Louis, two.

A source said recently: “Like every family, they’ve been desperate to get back together and over the moon it was possible this weekend. They’ve all been up there for a few days and although there are very strict procedures with social distancing, they’ve been able to find ways of seeing each other outside. It’s obviously been a difficult year for the Queen seeing the country dealing with the pandemic, so they were all keen to go there to show their support.”

During lockdown, Queen Elizabeth also turned to technology and learned how to video call with the help of her daughter Princess Anne.

In a clip from ITV’s documentary ‘Anne: The Princess Royal at 70’, the Queen was shown joining a Webex conference to mark Carers Week earlier this year.

She said: “Good morning. I’m very glad to have been able to join you.”

Anne could then be heard asking her mother: “Can you see everybody? You should have six people on your screen.”

The monarch explained to her daughter she could only see four people, but Anne was quick to quip she didn’t actually need to see everyone.

She joked with a laugh: “You don’t need me. You know what I look like.”