Picturing Elizabeth: Her Life in Images

During her reign, the Queen became the most visually represented person in the whole of human history. From stamps and coins to formal portraits and snatched press photos, her image became an integral part of our everyday lives. The importance of what has become, in effect, a royal 'brand' developed throughout her time on the throne. Sophie Raworth explores the stories behind some of the most famous and era-defining pictures, and shows not only how they chart our changing relationship with monarchy but illuminate how the royals wanted to be perceived. On her journey through the Queen's reign in pictures, Sophie discovers how society photographer Cecil Beaton transformed a 27-year-old women into a vision of regal majesty at her coronation. She meets the woman who shadowed the Queen for a year during the filming of the iconic series Royal Family, and learns how the legendary photographer David Bailey got the Queen to relax in a bid to capture the real woman behind the throne. She finds out from Historic Royal Palaces curator Lucy Worsley why getting representations of the monarch right is so important and the debt modern royal image-makers owe to Queen Victoria; and she talks to artist Grayson Perry about why he was inspired to include her in his work and why her image has become so important to us as a nation. Sophie finds out from artists who have painted the Queen what it is like to be tasked with representing the monarch and what happens in palace sittings behind closed doors. Whether it is regal monarch, relaxed wife, racing enthusiast or grandmother, we find how the Queen has negotiated the line between royal formality and the everyday, and discover from Fleet Street photographers how they went about getting their best and most intimate shots. As Sophie concludes, this pictorial legacy, on everything from coins, stamps, photos and portraits, will play a powerful role in how we remember the Queen, helping to fix her place in history and document the changing times through which she lived.