Smile please, Your Majesty

Steve Fairclough discovers the stories of how top photographers photographed HM The Queen over the decades

- Steve Fairclough

For over seven decades Her Majesty The Queen was probably the most photographed woman in the world. From her first official portrait sitting as monarch, on 26 February 1952, with Dorothy Wilding, to the final photograph shot by Jane Barlow at Balmoral Castle on Tuesday 6 September 2022, Queen Elizabeth II was photographed millions of times during her 70-year-plus reign.

To get a sense of what it was like to meet and photograph the Queen, we spoke to and researched interviews with a number of photographers who photographed the late, legendary monarch from the 1950s onwards. Some were commissioned to shoot a portrait, while others encountered the Queen at an event or were sent to capture her in more informal settings. Each story is unique.

Terry O'Neill CBE

Terry O'Neill CBE (1938-2019) was a British portrait photographer of politicians, musicians, film stars, royalty and sportspeople. He photographed the Queen in 1992, and told this story about her before his death in 2019.

'Three months before the actual appointment, you receive a letter from the Palace inviting you to take portraits of the Queen. It came as a surprise. I never thought of myself in that league... that was [Cecil] Beaton and [Norman] Parkinson. I was told I'd have about 30 minutes with her. When she walked into the room, she was larger than life. She's small in stature, but her presence is giant. That's what I remember the most. I really wanted to make her smile. I had studied portraits of her and wanted to make my photo different. I knew it was going to be seen by millions, would be a part of history, hung in museums... that added a bit of pressure. I knew she liked horses, that's well documented, so I told her a horse-racing joke and she laughed. That's how I got the moment... the moment the Queen smiled at me.' www.iconicimages.net

Norman Parkinson CBE