She was an impressionable 16-year-old, anxious to help the young men who had endured the horrors of war and were sent to her Scottish castle home to recuperate.
But for Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, later to become Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, one brave young man in particular stood out among the many being treated at Glamis Castle.
A series of six letters being put up for auction has now revealed the teenage crush which Lady Elizabeth appears to have developed over a young Private called James Harding.
The pair exchanged correspondence after meeting at Glamis, where Lady Elizabeth was in the habit of touring the makeshift ward, talking to soldiers, writing letters home on their behalf and running them errands – such as buying Woodbine cigarettes and matches for them at the village shop