The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Smiling Queen marks 70
Royals: Newportraitcelebrates longestmarriageofUKmonarch
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh smile as they stand side by side in the first of a new series of portraits to mark their 70th wedding anniversary.
The photographs, by British photographer Matt Holyoak, show Elizabeth II and Prince Philip standing in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle in early November.
The 91-year-old monarch opted to wear the cream day dress by Angela Kelly that she also wore at the diamond wedding anniversary thanksgiving service, along with a yellow gold, ruby and diamond scarab brooch designed by Andrew Grima and given to the couple in 1966.
They are framed by Thomas Gainsborough’s 1781 portraits of George III and Queen Charlotte, who were married for 57 years.
Mr Holyoak has worked with a host of British and Hollywood celebrities. The photographs were taken for Camera Press, which also celebrates its anniversary 70 years after the agency distributed the royal pair’s official wedding photos as its first assignment.
Elizabeth II, who married the consort at Westminster Abbey on November 20, 1947, is the first British monarch to celebrate a platinum wedding anniversary.
Their enduring relationship has lasted the longest of any British sovereign.
The monarch, who was a 21-yearold princess when she walked up the aisle, is the nation’s longest reigning sovereign, having overtaken the record set by Queen Victoria.
The 96-year-old newly retired duke, who was 26 and fresh from serving for the Royal Navy in World War II when he wed, is the longest serving consort in British history.
Together they have celebrated the silver, golden and diamond jubilees of the Queen’s reigns, and faced ups and downs over the years including the breakdown of three of their four children’s marriages, and the backlash which followed the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.
With their family growing year by year, the Queen and Philip are preparing to welcome their sixth great-grandchild in April – a third child for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
They already have five great-grandchildren – Savannah and Isla Phillips, Mia Tindall, Prince George and Princess Charlotte – as well as eight grandchildren – Peter and Zara Phillips, the Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry, Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie, Lady Louise Mountbatten-
“Theweddingwasa moraleboostinthe toughpost-waryears”
Windsor and Viscount Severn - and their own four children the Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal, the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex.
Celebrations for the Queen and duke’s 70th wedding anniversary will be a private affair at their request.
Close family and friends are gathering with the couple at Windsor Castle for a special private dinner tonight.
Bells will also ring out at Westminster Abbey, where they said their vows.
The royal wedding was a morale boost in the tough years that followed World War II, and millions tuned in to listen on the radio.
Wartime leader Winston Churchill summed up the occasion as “a flash of colour on the hard road we travel”.
The success of their union has been put down to compatibility.