A pair of shotguns given by Queen Victoria to her son are expected to fetch up to £70,000 at an auction.

The guns were a present from Queen Victoria to Albert Edward, the future King Edward VII in 1870.

The pair of 16-bore E.C. Hodges Patent Rotary-underlever Hammerguns, by Stephen Grant, were commissioned especially for the then Prince of Wales and bear his crest.

The Queen presented the prince with one gun on his 29th birthday on November 9 and the second as a Christmas gift a few weeks later.

The guns left royal ownership after Edward exchanged his guns for those of a friend on a shooting trip.

They will be sold for the first time on the open market at Holt's Auctioneers winter sale which takes place at Princess Louise House, Hammersmith Road, London, today.

Holt's Auctioneers owner Nick Holt said: "Many of Prince Edward's friends were drawn from the aristocracy of the day, which included the 12th Duke of Hamilton and Brandon, Premier Peer of Scotland William Douglas-Hamilton.

"The two friends shared a love of field sports and Edward visited the Duke's Isle of Arran estate many times.

"It was on one of these shooting trips with the Duke, possibly on the Arran estate, that Edward was said to be unhappy with the way he was shooting.

"The story goes that the Duke offered his own guns for His Royal Highness to try out and he was so delighted by the improvement in his performance that they agreed a permanent exchange."

They have an estimate of £50,000 to £70,000.