The Final Portraits of the Queen
Her Majesty the Queen is remembered through historic photos and front pages around the world - and one never-before-seen image.
Queen Elizabeth II died “of old age” September 8, 2022. Newspapers and magazines honored Britain’s longest-reigning monarch with historic front page tributes and commemorative editions the following day.
The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Times, and The Independent all went with this exquisite, theatrical 1953 portrait by Cecil Beaton, the legendary British portrait photographer who documented the Queen for over three decades. Bravo.
TIME magazine also published a portrait by Beaton on their commemorative cover. This elegant photo - minimalist and subdued compared to his other portraits of the Queen - was taken in 1968 and was Beaton’s last sitting with the Queen, when his pursuit was to be “stark and clear and bold.”
I also love the silver border, only the fourth time that’s happened in TIME’s history. It happened twice when I worked there - once for Obama when he was Person of the Year and on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
Beaton’s contact sheets from that shoot are fascinating. The series of the Queen, wearing the Admiral's Boat Cloak, have been described as “contemplative and timeless,” and “powerful in its simplicity.”
The Admiral's Boat Cloak appeared again in this 2007 portrait by Annie Leibovitz, a reimagining of Beaton’s photo. However, it’s a composite - Leibovitz photographed the Queen inside Buckingham Palace and later layered that image on top of a landscape she made of Buckingham Palace Gardens. Once you know, it’s pretty obvious.
Back to the obits…The Daily Telegraph and The Daily Express published Jane Bown's photo of the Queen taken on her 80th birthday. The magnificent Bown, who was 80 when she made this photo, died in 2014. She was said to have told the Queen, "I am not an artist, I'm just a hack."
The Daily Mail published Yousef Karsh's stunning 1951 portrait of a young Princess Elizabeth, six months before becoming Queen.
This was a bold choice - the Swiss newspaper Blick published Chris Levine’s portrait of Queen Elizabeth. The Jersey Heritage Trust commissioned Levine to create the portrait in 2004. Coincidentally, I published a different photo from Chris’ shoot on the cover of TIME International in 2012.
The Washington Post beautifully published this elegant 1960 photo by Anthony Buckley, though he was not credited. Buckley was commissioned by the Queen and Prince Philip to make portraits of the couple in Buckingham Palace. Buckley died in 1993.
For some inexplicable reason, both The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times published Max Mumby’s photo of the Queen inside a horse-drawn carriage from 2007. It’s an interesting photo, but a bizarre choice for an obit of this magnitude. Perhaps they were making a statement by avoiding the “official” portraits but, regardless of how you feel about the Royals, the photo falls flat.
Decisions like these aren’t made lightly or with haste. The Queen’s obit package was carefully curated and pre-written, waiting for the moment to hit “publish.” Getty Images also has Mumby’s photo in color, so, in selecting the black and white version, the NYT and LAT are indeed making a statement.
One of the last images of the Queen was taken by PA photographer Jane Barlow, two days before she died. “Obviously she was very frail but she was very smiley.” Barlow told The Daily Mail. “I got lots of smiles from her.”
Such a lovely moment.
The last formal portrait of Queen Elizabeth was made by Ranald Mackechnie last summer and was released after the Queen’s death. Months afterwards, Mackechnie told Insider, “It feels like something has shifted in the world now that she's not here.”
The day after the Queen’s burial, the Royal Family released this never-before-seen photo, which is extraordinary. The Queen’s cousin, fashion photographer Patrick Lichfield, made the photo at Balmoral in 1971.
The caption read: “‘May flights of Angels sing thee to thy rest.’ In loving memory of Her Majesty The Queen. 1926 - 2022.”
