MONARCH OF THE GLEN

The astonishing portrait of the Queen seen below left was taken to mark the 60th anniversary of her coronation. Its behind-the-scenes story involves sheets of rain, splendid regalia... and midges.

The face is the most familiar on the planet, reproduced on more coins, notes and stamps than any human likeness in history. But it is safe to say that we have never seen Her Majesty the Queen pictured quite like this. Not only is she in the full and elaborate regalia of her most exclusive order of chivalry, but she is standing in the middle of nowhere.

No trick photography has taken place. There has been no digital enhancement. This spectacular image of the sovereign really is the Queen, standing next to a remote stream called Gelder Burn on her Balmoral estate.

She is dressed in the green velvet mantle of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, the Scottish counterpart to England’s Order of the Garter. From her shoulders, held by white satin ties, hangs the Collar of the Order, made of golden thistles and rue sprigs, from which, in turn, hangs a tiny St Andrew and his saltire cross.

With the heather, the sky, the hills and the babbling brook flowing down towards the mighty River Dee, everything is gloriously Scottish, with one honourable exception. Given the abundance of greenery involved, the Queen has decided to match it all with the emerald-festooned Vladimir tiara.

This magnificent photograph was taken by Julian Calder for a book, Keepers, marking the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s coronation, and it featured on Weekend’s cover on 25 May 2013.

It was inspired by portraits by the Scottish artist Sir Henry Raeburn and features the Queen in her role as the Chief of the Chiefs, says Julian.

‘I wanted to do it as a Raeburn painting,’ he says. ‘He did paintings of Scottish clan chiefs and I thought they were very romantic. We wanted to have the Queen looking at the massed clans on the distant hills.’

The exact origins of the title of Chief of the Chiefs are lost in the mists of Scotland’s tribal clan system, but it underlines the distinct nature of monarchy north of the border.

‘It’s why I was so keen to see Her Majesty in her Thistle robes and in the Scottish landscape but it was raining stair-rods on the day,’ recalls Alastair Bruce, author of Keepers and a historical adviser on Downton Abbey.

‘The Queen was concerned that because the wind had dropped and it had been raining the midges would come out. There are two stages of a midge attack – in the first you think you’re going to die and in the second you’re worried you might not. But as the allotted hour approached, the skies cleared and the Queen not only agreed to go outside but also to be photographed at a spot I’d picked 25 minutes away. So we drove up to Gelder Burn and passed a family out for a walk who were astonished to see the Queen passing by in all this regalia.’

It took a tense 30 minutes to get the shot, then everyone breathed a sigh of relief, says Alastair. ‘It was this magical moment – hardly a breath of wind and no midges.’

‘Of course, when the Queen left, the midges came out...’ says Julian.