It looks like reign
SEVEN DECADES OF PHOTOGRAPHS TELL THE STORY OF THE QUEEN’S LIFE OF PUBLIC SERVICE
IN her 70 years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth II has been photographed countless times.
These images cover every decade of her record-breaking reign, as we see the monarch grow from a twenty-something sovereign to an experienced head of state in her twilight years.
In the first photograph from 1952, the sombre, new, young Queen is clad in her black mourning outfit as she gives a regal wave from her car.
She was travelling back to Clarence House after landing at London airport, having just returned from Kenya two days after the death of her beloved father George VI.
Sixteen months later, she was crowned in her coronation regalia in a ceremony at Westminster Abbey in 1953.
Riding at Windsor, days at the races and cuddling corgis are some of the glimpses of the behind-the-scenes Queen.
On duty, the monarch is seen greeting Silver Jubilee revellers in 1977, during a UK tour that took in 36 counties over 10 weeks to mark 25 years on the throne.
We see the Queen formally investing her son Prince Charles with the Coronet of the Prince of Wales during a ceremony at Caernarfon Castle, in 1969, and as a glorious grandmother in an official portrait after the christening of Prince Harry in 1984.
In 1993, the capable Queen, with one eye closed, is pictured firing the last shot on a standard SA 80 rifle during a visit to the Army Rifle Association at Bisley Ranges.
Awarding the Jules Rimet trophy to Bobby Moore after England’s World Cup victory over Germany in 1966, a visit to the EastEnders’ Queen Vic pub and a smiling Queen as she opens her 80th birthday cards in 2006, are some of the lighter moments captured.
The serious side included meeting presidents, popes and prime ministers, inspecting Guards of Honour, and performing ceremonies of state.
Among the most moving images is the one of the Queen and Prince Philip walking among the sea of flowers left outside Buckingham Palace by members of the public following the death of Princess Diana in a car crash in Paris in 1997.
But it is a smiling Queen and Duke of Edinburgh who stand side by side in the sunshine in the quadrangle of Windsor Castle for a photograph in 2020.
They were photographed to mark Philip’s 99th birthday.
But within a year, Philip had died. The Queen sat alone at his funeral amid Covid-19 restrictions in 2021 creating one of the most enduring and heartrending images of the pandemic.
Among the most moving images is the one of the Queen and Prince Philip walking among the sea of flowers left outside Buckingham Palace by members of the public following the death of Princess Diana in a car crash in Paris in 1997