Britain's Queen Elizabeth reportedly once attended a seance to try and contact her late father.
The monarch, her mother, the late Queen Mother, her husband Prince Philip, cousin Princess Alexandra and aunt Princess Marina met with medium Lilian Bailey in 1953, royal author Christopher Wilson has claimed to the Daily Mail newspaper.
According to the writer, Lilian - who claimed her spirit guide was a Grenadier Guards captain named William Hedley Wootton killed in World War I - was taken from her home in Wembley, north London to a house in Kensington, west London, where she was blindfolded then driven to another address to meet with her royal audience, and sent herself into a trance to summon spirits.
While it is unknown what was relayed to the group, the queen mother - whose beloved husband George VI had died the previous year - was so taken with the meeting, she subsequently arranged further appointments with the medium.
It is believed Lilian was recommended to the royals by both Lionel Logue - a speech therapist who had worked with King George to help him overcome a stammer - and Gillian Benson, whose uncle, the Earl of Dudley, was a friend of the family.
However, author Christopher doubts the authenticity of the medium, having discovered that her supposed spirit guide didn't exist and who revealed a number of claims about her background - including her insistence she had received an OBE - were untrue.
Tagged in Prince Philip Queen Mother Queen Elizabeth