A Century of Smiles, Ceremonies and Celebrations

Claire Saul visits a new exhibition at Buckingham Palace's King's Gallery that reveals life on both sides of the lens of royal photography

- Claire Saul

At the newly renamed the King's Gallery at Buckingham Palace, a new exhibition throws the spotlight on the world of royal photographic portraiture, an artistic medium which, more than any other, has shaped the public's perception of our royal family. Royal Portraits: A Century of Photography charts its evolution across the last century, from the glamour of high society in the 1920s to the present day. It reveals the stories behind some of the most celebrated photographs ever taken of the royal family and features many images which are on public display for the very first time.

More than 150 items make up the exhibition displays, drawn from the Royal Collection and the Royal Archives. Vintage photographic prints - the original works produced by the photographers themselves or under their direct supervision - proofs and documents demonstrate how the royal family has used the medium to project either the grandeur and tradition of monarchy, or an unprecedented sense of intimacy and relatability. Passing through the grand gallery rooms, visitors learn of the cultural, artistic, and technological influences on the work of royal photographers of the likes of Dorothy Wilding, Norman Parkinson, Annie Leibovitz and Hugo Burnand.

Cecil Beaton is perhaps the photographer most associated with royal portraiture and the exhibition presents some of his most memorable work, taken over six decades. Included are Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother's 1939 shoot in the Buckingham Palace gardens. In his first royal commission to photograph her, Beaton's aim was to produce a range of softer, more artistic photographs than the usual formal royal portraits, to boost the public image of the House of Windsor following the recent abdication.