Queen Elizabeth II was a remarkable figure on the global stage for well
over half a century. Hundreds of thousands of visitors to Buckingham
Palace and Windsor Castle each year are attracted by an image of this
exceptional monarch that has been shaped, in significant part, by the
work of royal photographers, many of whom are internationally
distinguished practitioners of their art.
Drawing on an unparalleled collection of official portraits of the
queen, each of the book's chapters begins with a text by best-selling
historian and biographer Philip Ziegler, covering the key royal and
historical events of the period, with some contextual photographs,
followed by a sequence of plates in chronological order. With over two
hundred images of the queen by photographers such as Cecil Beaton, Lord
Snowdon, and Rankin, the queen is captured in a variety of poses, from
formal photographs as a working monarch to intimate portraits relaxing
with her family at Balmoral and Windsor. All the images have been
officially approved by the palace, making this the ultimate illustrated
book chronicling the life of England's longest-reigning monarch.
