Speaking of the monarch in the June 1953 Coronation Issue of Vogue, he said: “Her unique legacy has made her a person apart, and the training to play the role of sovereign is today evident in the increasing authority of her personality. Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister at the time of the Coronation, said the portraits showed the Queen as “the gleaming figure whom Providence has brought to us in times when the present is hard and the future veiled”.īeaton went on to become one of the Queen's favourite photographers and he built a strong relationship with both her and the Windsors. The Queen can be seen holding the orb and sceptre, and wearing the Imperial State Crown, Coronation Robes and the Coronation Gown designed by Norman Hartnell. “Perhaps he was disappointed that his friend, Baron, was not doing this job today whatever the reason he was definitely adopting a rather ragging attitude towards the proceedings.”

“This is a pity because, although I’m not one for ‘Navy-type’ jokes, and obviously have nothing in common with him, I admire him enormously, and think he is absolutely first-rate at this job of making things comparatively lively and putting people at their ease. I believe he doesn’t like or approve of me,” Beaton wrote. “The Duke of Edinburgh stood by making wry jokes, his lips pursed in a smile that put the fear of God into me. Meanwhile, their father Prince Philip was proving to be a difficult subject. He recalled Prince Charles and Princess Anne, aged four and two, “buzzing about in the wildest excitement and would not keep still for a moment”. Then, he was tasked with photographing the family. “I had only the foggiest notion of whether I was taking black and white, or colour, or giving the right exposures.” “I was banging away and getting pictures at a great rate,” he wrote.

When he came to capture the Queen, he felt the lighting was wrong but didn’t have time to change anything.

Cecil beaton queen elizabeth ii