The UK, other Commonwealth nations, and the world is grieving Queen Elizabeth II’s passing away. Britain’s longest-reigning monarch died on September 8, 2022, at UK’s Balmoral Castle. After the Queen, the palace shared the announcement of her passing on Twitter and Instagram with a stunning black-and-white portrait, taken more than 15 years ago as she celebrated a major milestone.
“The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon,” the statement read. “The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.”
The photograph was clicked more than 15 years ago during a milestone event in the queen’s life
In the photo, the late monarch has a soft smile on her face as her piercing eyes look away from the camera. She wears her statement pearl jewelry, a necklace, and a pair of earrings. The portrait was taken at Buckingham Palace in February 2006 for the Queen’s 80th birthday by late photographer Jane Bown, who was 81 at the time. It was featured in Bown’s 2009 book Exposures. A different version of the photo is available on the website of the National Portrait Gallery, in which the queen appears to be more relaxed as she looks directly at the camera and grins.
The image was also featured in the Royal Collection Trust’s exhibit
The image was also featured in the Royal Collection Trust’s exhibit The Queen: 60 Photographs for 60 Years celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012. Queen Elizabeth was only the second British monarch to reach that anniversary, following her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria (1837 – 1901), who celebrated her own Diamond Jubilee in 1897.
Royal Collection Trust recognized Bown for her “unpretentious technique, working at speed, using only available light, and for working in black and white rather than color.” According to a Guardian report, when Bown was at Buckingham Palace to collect her CBE in 1995, the queen had called her an ‘artist’, to which she had replied, “I am not an artist. I’m just a hack.”
