A fascinating record of a Hollywood superstar’s little-known childhood growing up in Kent has been unearthed in wartime archives for the first time.

Audrey Hepburn, who starred in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Roman Holiday and My Fair Lady among many others, was born in Belgium in 1929.

But in 1936, she moved to Elham, a village between Folkestone and Canterbury, with her mother the Dutch Baroness Ella Van Heemstra, who was separated from Audrey’s English father.

Now for the first time the record of ten-year-old Audrey Ruston-Hepburn, as she was known in 1939, has been located in the National Archives.

The document is a part of the 1939 National Register for England and Wales, which was a list of every person living in England and Wales on 29 September 1939.

It was compiled shortly after the declaration of war with Germany to take stock of manpower and to plan for population management, like the evacuation of children from cities.

It was crucial for rationing and was used to issue identity cards, which people were required to carry every time they left the house, up until 1952.

Between the ages of seven and ten, the actress was lodged with the Butcher family at Orchard Villa in Elham, Kent, while she attended a private school in the village.

While there, Audrey - known as ‘Little Audrey’ to villagers - lived in Orchard Cottage.

She attended dance lessons in the old Fellowship Hall, studied at a small private school in The Square and gave her very first public performance in the Elham Brownie Pack’s performance of ‘Humpty Dumpty.’

Audrey and her mother then left Elham for Holland at the start of the Second World War, where they were forced to live under the Nazi occupation.

During the war, young Audrey survived a famine known as the ‘hunger winter’, which saw her scavenging in the fields for tulips to eat and suffering lifelong health problems from malnutrition.

She went on to become one of the world’s most famous actresses, landing her first leading role in Roman Holiday for which she won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA.

But the village remained close to her heart, and later in life confirmed that she “adored” her summers spent there.

It is only now that the iconic film star’s records have been tracked down, after a genealogist followed clues as to her whereabouts.

Dave Annal, a genealogist at Lifelines Research, worked with a researcher at the House of Commons Library to locate the evidence of the actress's years in the county.

Georgina Sturge, a House of Commons Library statistician, said: “I was researching the National Register for my new book, which is going to be a history of Britain through data, and thinking of famous people who might be in the records.

“I remembered the story of Audrey being in Elham when war broke out and was sure she must be in the Register.

“Thanks to Dave’s sleuthing skills, we were able to track her down.

“The Register is a priceless historical resource which captures a unique moment in our history.”

Dave Annal added: “It was very exciting to find Audrey Hepburn’s record - or at least, to find what I thought was the record and then to have it confirmed by Findmypast!

“The National Register is a very important historical document and it’s always nice to discover entries for people who went on to find fame and fortune - particularly when they’re living in such ordinary surroundings.”