Shot 1
The Queen sits for Lucian Freud, 2001
An artist’s take on the Queen can capture and, at times, alter our perception of royalty. From commissions by William Dargie to Rolf Harris to Dame Laura Knight, more than 120 official portraits have been painted of the Queen in her lifetime, making her “the most portrayed person in British history”, according to Sandy Nairne, director of the National Portrait Gallery.
Perhaps the most famous portrait, and certainly the most controversial of recent times, was painted by the late Lucian Freud, who was commissioned on the occasion of her 75th birthday. To most painters, the Queen gives between two and five sittings, but Freud received more (rumoured to be 72). The sessions took place at St James’s Palace between May 2000 and September 2001, while the idea the Queen should pose for Freud was first suggested six years earlier by Lord Fellowes, the Queen’s private secretary at that time. Freud was asked to paint the Queen wearing the diamond diadem crown, the same crown she wore when photographed by Dorothy Wilding nearly 50 years before. While that image highlighted the vitality of a young Queen, this portrait was charged with years of experience. Opinion was split. Some called it inspiring; some deemed it insulting. The palace never revealed Her Majesty’s reaction, but Freud, it was said, was pleased.
Shot 2
My father, the King, 1937
This picture was taken during a pivotal year for the Windsor family. Just two months earlier, in May, the two young princesses watched their father walk out of Westminster Abbey as the newly crowned King. Here the family mingle with members of the Royal Company of Archers, the sovereign’s official bodyguards while in Scotland, during a royal inspection at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh in July. While her mother chats to Lord Elphinstone and father engages in conversation on the right of the image, a composed 11-year- old Princess Elizabeth stands by her sister in the middle of the frame. Princess Elizabeth had already shown signs of a sense of duty, as recognised by her governess, Marion “Crawfie” Crawford, on the death of her grandfather, George, in January the previous year. “Lilibet in her sensitive fashion felt it all deeply. It was very touching to see how hard she tried to do what she felt was expected of her.”
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Shot 3
The Royal Family relax in Windsor, 1946
In July, George VI, his wife and Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret were photographed in the grounds of the Royal Lodge, Windsor. Princess Margaret is posed on a rather outré rattan rocker, while the King looks as casual as he can on a floral sunlounger, which is probably rather more casual than he would have liked. True to form, Princess Elizabeth, who had just turned 20, has a corgi to hand, a breed that photographer Lisa Sheridan would have been familiar with: her first royal commission, in the Thirties, was to take pictures of the royal corgis for a book on dogs. Without her permission, and in breach of copyright, the photos were sold to the newspapers. When Sheridan wrote to Buckingham Palace to complain, she was invited to chronicle the family at leisure at the Royal Lodge. From 1936 onwards, she photographed the family regularly, receiving a royal warrant in 1940 and continuing to be commissioned by the palace until her death in 1966.
Shot 4
With Granny, Queen Mary, 1937
At Sandringham just after Christmas, Times photographer Eric Greenwood captured the usually terrifying Queen Mary looking almost warm, holding one of her grandsons, Prince Edward, son of the Duke and Duchess of Kent, with Elizabeth (left) and Margaret. Greenwood’s photos were published on March 13 in a Special Empire Colour Number. In a precursor of today’s celebrity baby photos, profits from the sale of the pictures were given to charity.
Shot 5
The funeral of the Duke of Windsor, 1972
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The feud between Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, and the Royal Family still endured when they were joined in mourning in 1972. The Duchess stayed at Buckingham Palace for three days for the funeral but described her reception as “cold”. Dressed in a Givenchy coat and chiffon veil, the Duchess couldn’t resist poking fun at her sister-in-law’s outfit, saying it looked as if a plastic arrow had been shot through her hat.
She did not save her scorn just for the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. She used to mock her niece in letters to her beloved Edward, giving her the uncomplimentary nickname “Shirley Temple”. The Duchess had been furious when the newly crowned Queen, in line with her mother’s wishes, scrapped Edward’s annual allowance of £25,000. The Duchess wrote to her husband, “They are beasts to continue to treat you the way they do. I am afraid Mrs Temple Sr. [the Queen Mother] will never give in.”
Shot 6
The funeral of Diana, 1997
The funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales took place at Westminster Abbey on September 6, 1997, a week after her death in a car crash in Paris. Sequestered at Balmoral, the Royal Family were criticised for their response: for staying in Scotland, for apparently ignoring the outpouring of national grief, for not flying the flag over Buckingham Palace at half-mast. The Queen eventually returned and visited the shrine of flowers outside Kensington Palace, the Union Jack above the Palace was flown at half-mast, and on the day of the funeral she bowed her head as the cortege carrying Diana’s body passed Buckingham Palace.
Shot 7
The Royal Family having lunch, 1969
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Continuing the long tradition of “informal” photographs of the Royal Family looking excruciatingly formal and uncomfortable, this gem features the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Anne and Princes Charles at an apparently casual lunch at Windsor. The occasion was being filmed by the BBC for a fly-on-the-wall documentary called Royal Family – a camera is visible on the left of the frame. The film caused a sensation when it aired later that year and was watched by three quarters of the population. But reaction was divided between those who said it ushered the Royal Family into the modern age, and others who believed it destroyed the institution’s mystique. One royal biographer has claimed that the Queen regretted allowing the cameras in, and the film was withdrawn at the end of 1969. The National Portrait Gallery was allowed to show a 90-second clip in an exhibition last year, but that’s the only time it’s ever been seen again.
Shot 8
The Queen takes the Tube, 1969
March 7 saw the opening of the new Victoria Line (nearly called either the Walvic – Walthamstow to Victoria – or Viking – Victoria to Kings Cross – but eventually given the same name as the mainline station). After the Queen unveiled a plaque on Victoria station concourse, she was escorted down to a carriage for a closer look. She bought a ticket costing a princely 5d and travelled one stop, to Green Park.
Shot 9
Sharing a joke at the Highland Games, 2010
For Chris Jackson, Getty’s royal photographer, the Braemar Highland Games are always a highlight: “It’s a beautiful setting, the locals are really friendly and it has a village fête atmosphere,” he says. Most important for him, the royal spectators are in a relaxed mood. “It’s in the Queen’s backyard really, and she’s often watching sports such as the caber toss which are quite humorous, so it feels a lot less formal than a lot of other military and ceremonial events.” It was during the tug-of-war contest that Jackson captured this intimate moment between the Queen and Prince Charles. Jackson had kept his long-lens camera fixed on the Royal Family for an hour. “Public shows of affection like this are very rare,” he explains.
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Shot 10
The Queen’s flight, 1969
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were returning from Yorkshire on an Andover of the Queen’s Flight – a journey also being chronicled by the BBC for the documentary Royal Family, broadcast later that year, which the Queen felt was too intrusive (see page 41). The couple had been in Yorkshire to attend the annual Royal Maundy Service at Selby Abbey, at which the monarch hands out “Maundy money” to local pensioners. The ceremony used to take place in London, but the Queen decided early in her reign to hold the Royal Maundy Service at a different cathedral or abbey around the country each year.
Shot 11
Dancing a reel at the Ghillies’ ball, 1971
Photographer Patrick Lichfield, a cousin of the Queen, took this shot at the Ghillies’ Ball at Balmoral, Her Majesty’s annual thank-you to the staff of the Castle and the local community. The Duke of Edinburgh wears a kilt, and the Queen and her husband start the evening by dancing a reel (Scottish country dancing is one of the Queen’s interests). The tradition for the family to spend August and September at Balmoral was started by Queen Victoria, who called the castle her “paradise in the Highlands”.
Shot 12
Trooping the Colour, 1970
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It happens. Temperatures soar. Scarlet tunics stifle. Bearskins weigh a ton. This year, three soldiers collapsed at the St Patrick’s Day presentation attended by the Duchess of Cambridge. Trooping the Colour has also seen its share of fainting soldiers, due to the fact that it takes place in summer and lasts three hours. The date marks the official birthday of the British sovereign (the Queen’s real birthday being April 21) and offers a better chance of fine weather. After the Queen is greeted by royal salute, she inspects her troops. So it really was unfortunate timing on a warm June 13 in 1970, when one member of the 2nd Battalion Scots Guards passed out and lay flat out on the ground just as the Queen was riding past. Although “fainting to attention” protocol requires a soldier to fall forward, he admirably managed to keep hold of his rifle.
Shot 13
Christmas Day, 1990
The Queen and family, with the Princess of Wales and Prince Harry, 6, were photographed leaving church after the Christmas Day service in Sandringham, the Norfolk estate acquired in 1862 by the Prince of Wales. Their happiness is poignant: only two years later, the Queen would be referring to her annus horribilis, 1992, when the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of York separated, the Princess Royal divorced, Windsor Castle caught fire and the explosive Andrew Morton book, Diana: Her True Story, was published.
Shot 14
The balcony wave, 1947
From left: King George VI, Princess Margaret, Lady Mary Cambridge, Princess Elizabeth, the Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary
Shot 15
The balcony wave, 2011
From left: the Duchess of Cornwall, the Prince of Wales, Eliza Lopes, Michael Middleton, Lady Louise Windsor, Grace van Cutsem, the Duchess of Cambridge, the Duke of Cambridge, the Hon. Margarita Armstrong-Jones, Tom Pettifer, William Lowther-Pinkerton, the Queen
Shot 16
Welcoming a president 2011
In May of last year, President Obama became only the second US president to pay a state visit to Britain. The Obamas were treated to a guard of honour by the Scots Guards and a star-studded state banquet. The trip did not, however, go smoothly. There was the inevitable unpredictability of the British weather, a stiff breeze forcing the Queen to cling on to her hat and the First Lady her skirt, at times revealing her petticoat. Plus, there was the gaffe at the banquet when the President bungled his toast to the Queen by continuing to speak as the orchestra began God Save the Queen. Obama later confessed, “I thought that it was like… out of the movies when the soundtrack kinda comes in.” The Queen ignored the blunder and simply responded, “That was very kind.”
Shot 17
The Giggling Queen 2005
There is something about this image of the Queen breaking into laughter as she passes the Duke of Edinburgh, standing outside Buckingham Palace, that is universally appealing. After a romance of more than 50 years by the time this picture was taken (the couple started corresponding in 1939, when she was just 13 years old; they married in 1947), one would assume the Queen would be used to his ceremonial regalia. But here she resembles a naughty schoolgirl as she attempts to quash her giggles. And is that a smirk emerging beneath her husband’s bearskin? Frankly, who could blame him?