‘A Diamond Jubilee Exhibition: Portraits of HM The Queen’

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This winter, a new photographic show ‘A Diamond Jubilee Exhibition: Portraits of HM The Queen’, will open at the award-winning Lightbox gallery and museum in Woking, Surrey. The exhibition, on display from 6 December 2012 to 10 February 2013, will celebrate through a unique collection of portraits the reign and private life of HM The Queen. The photographs are displayed in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Lichfield Estate and include original photographs and prints. 

Many internationally celebrated photographers have portrayed HM The Queen over the past 60 years, but few have had such unprecedented access as Cecil Beaton, Lord Snowdon, and Patrick Lichfield, whose works make up the show. The exhibition features 35 photographs spanning a 50-year period from 1950, when HM The Queen was still known as HRH Princess Elizabeth, right up to 2001, a year before The Golden Jubilee. Highlights include photographs taken during private moments, away from the grandeur of royal life, as well as more iconic public moments such as the Coronation of 1953.

Three major photographers

The exhibition begins with the work of Cecil Beaton, whose photographs cover the period of

1950–68. Beaton took some of the best-known photographs of HM The Queen during her Coronation and these images of opulence, celebration, and grandeur are a complete contrast to Beaton’s quieter and more personal images of The Royal family, which include one where HM The Queen is seen giving HRH The Prince of Walesa piggyback. 

The middle section of the exhibition focuses on a unique series of portraits of HM The Queen taken by Lord Snowdon. The photographs, several of which are being shown for the first time, cover a two-year period between 1957 and 1958, before his marriage to HRH Princess Margaret. The photographs capture a variety of moments and moods, both formal and private, including some extraordinary tender images and some relaxed family group shots.

The final look at HM The Queen is seen through the lens of Lord Lichfield (or Patrick Lichfield as he is more familiarly known), captured between 1971 and 2001.  Lichfield was The Queen's cousin and enjoyed a close relationship with the Royal Family by whom he was commissioned on many occasions.   His photographs to commemorate The Queen's Silver Wedding Anniversary were taken during private holidays at Balmoral Castle and on the Royal Yacht Britannia; they are refreshingly informal and continue to be published to this day. 

 ‘A Diamond Jubilee Exhibition: Portraits of HM The Queen’ will be on show at The Lightbox from 6 December 2012 until 10 February 2013, entrance is free (donations welcome).  For further information, please visit www.thelightbox.org.uk or call 01483 737800. The exhibition is sponsored by The Friends of The Lightbox who enjoy a whole host of exclusive Friends’ events, special offers and opportunities to get involved.