For more than a century, British Vogue has enjoyed the rarest of relationships with the royal family. Barely 10 years younger than Vogue itself, Queen Elizabeth II, one of the most photographed women in the world, is certainly the most steadfast face to be found in the pages of this magazine. Of Her Majesty herself, our historic archive contains boxes of prints and drawers full of transparencies and illustrations of ceremonial portraits, official souvenirs and private moments. There are press snapshots, candid pictures at home and on holiday. Most are pristine, some are suffering the vagaries of age, all are remarkable. Many made it to the page, but many more have remained unseen.
“The Duchess of York & Princess Elizabeth” (1928) by Marcus Adams. The “Little Princesses” were much photographed for Vogue and often by Marcus Adams. They quickly became mini-celebrities across the world, with Princess Elizabeth appearing on the cover of Time magazine in 1929, aged three. Adams had a long royal career: his final sitting was with the Princess Royal in 1956. His semi-formal portraits did much to bring the royal family closer to the people.
Marcus Adams
Princess Elizabeth first appeared in Vogue in 1927, just a year old, at her mother’s knee. Ever since, Vogue has measured out its life in tune with hers: the magazine has seen four monarchs, crowned and uncrowned; three coronations; the funerals of two reigning Kings; one abdication; one royal investiture; many royal marriages; and a jewel box of jubilees – silver, ruby, gold, diamond, sapphire and, now, platinum. Today, no one under 70 years of age can recall another reign.
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“Princess Elizabeth & Princess Margaret” (1945) by Cecil Beaton. On the Ministers’ Staircase, Buckingham Palace, in recycled gowns. In the post-war years, hopes for a brighter future were enshrined in the youthful Princesses, the heir presumptive Elizabeth approaching her 20th birthday. They had endured the war with dignity and a sense of duty, earning the warmth of the British public. “Lilibet is my pride,” said their father, the King, “Margaret is my joy.”
Cecil Beaton
At her birth on 21 April 1926, Princess Elizabeth’s uncle, David, the Prince of Wales and future Edward VIII, was still a single man and it was assumed that when he married his heirs would propel her into the further reaches of the line of succession. But with his abdication in 1936, to marry double-divorcee Wallis Simpson, the line twitched and Princess Elizabeth – then third in line to the throne – found herself heir to an ill-prepared if dutiful king: Edward’s brother, her father, George VI.
“Princess Elizabeth In Uniform” (1942) by Cecil Beaton. The Princess began the war as a patrol leader in the Girl Guides and ended it as a junior commander in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, having trained as a mechanic. On her 16th birthday, succeeding her godfather the Duke of Connaught, she was appointed colonel-in-chief of the Grenadier Guards, whose distinctive exploding-grenade cap badge she wore with evident pride.
Cecil Beaton,
