Unseen portrait of smiling Queen unveiled ahead of funeral
19 September 2022, 06:12
An unseen portrait of the Queen which was taken to mark the Jubilee celebrations has been unveiled ahead of her state funeral.
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Buckingham Palace released the photo, taken in May ahead of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, on Sunday evening.
The picture shows the monarch beaming brightly at the camera in her Windsor Castle home.
In a televised tribute to her mother-in-law on Sunday evening, the Queen Consort recalled the Queen's "wonderful blue eyes" and said: "I will always remember her smile."
The photo was taken to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee - the first British monarch to reach this milestone.
The Queen, who is dressed in a dusky dove blue dress with her hair neatly curled, is wearing her favourite three-strand pearl necklace, pearl earrings and her aquamarine and diamond clip brooches which were an 18th birthday present from her father George VI in 1944.
Ahead of Her Majesty The Queen’s State Funeral, a new photograph has been released.
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) September 18, 2022
The photo was taken to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee - the first British Monarch to reach this milestone.
Tomorrow, millions will come together to commemorate her remarkable life. pic.twitter.com/UyVfjVvJgw
The two art deco-style pieces, worn one below the other, were made by Boucheron from baguette, oval and round diamonds and aquamarines.
The Queen wore the brooches when she addressed the nation on the 75th anniversary of VE Day in 2020 and for her Diamond Jubilee televised speech in 2012.
The image was taken by photographer Ranald Mackechnie, who also took the jubilee portrait of the Queen released to mark the start of national festivities of her milestone 70-year reign.
It has been released as millions descend on the capital to commemorate her remarkable life, with a state funeral to be held at Westminster Abbey at 11am.
Two thousand people including foreign royals, world leaders, presidents and prime ministers will flock to the gothic church for a day of pageantry, military processions and solemnity in honour of the late Queen.
