London, Sep. 13 : A letter retrieved from the Royal Archives at Windsor Palace reveals Britain's late Queen Mother Elizabeth was left trembling with fear after a Nazi bomb landed on Buckingham Palace.

She wrote: "My knees trembled a little bit for a minute or two after the explosions."

Referring to her husband, King George VI, she went on: "We both feel quite well today, tho'' just a bit tired."

The letter was written to her mother-in-law Queen Mary, and will feature in her official biography next week.

The insight into the Queen Mum, who died aged 101 in 2002, is fascinating because little is known of her personal views. She gave her first and last newspaper interview in 1923.

In the letter she writes graphically about the bombing. "I hardly know how to begin to tell you of the horrible attack on Buckingham Palace. We heard the unmistakable whirr of a German plane. We said, ''Ah, a German,'' and before anything else could be said, there was the noise of aircraft diving at great speed and then the scream of a bomb. We had only time to look foolishly at each other, when the scream hurtled past us, and exploded with a tremendous crash in the quadrangle. I saw a great column of smoke and earth thrown up into the air."

"Everybody remained wonderfully calm and we went down to the shelter. I was so pleased with the behaviour of our servants. They were really magnificent," News of The World quotes the letter as saying further. (ANI)