Queen Elizabeth has been formally photographed so many times, even she has lost count of how many.
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However, according to the Queen’s royal dressmaker, Angela Kelly, it has always been Her Majesty’s wish to be able to pose informally in a photo – and that wish has finally come true.
A new snap of the 93-year-old Monarch has just been released which shows Queen Elizabeth looking relaxed and happy, with a huge smile on her face – a side of her the public rarely get the chance to see.
Shockingly the photograph, which was actually taken in 2012, almost never got published, as there were fears it “would bring the monarchy down”.
The photo (above) has only just been released as it features in her longtime dresser Angela Kelly’s new book, The Other Side of The Coin.
In her new book, Angela shares how the Queen told her she had an urge to pose for a photo with her hands in her pockets, a pose which she hadn’t been photographed in before.
“Many years ago, Her Majesty disclosed something to me — a secret wish that she’d held since she was young. Throughout The Queen’s time on the throne, she has been photographed in countless formal ways.
“However, for a long time, Her Majesty wanted to be photographed more informally and have the freedom, for example, to pose with her hands in her pockets,” she wrote.
At the time, photographer Barry Jeffery was tasked with the job, but Queen Elizabeth cut him off when he started to explain how the shoot would work.
“Within moments, the Queen raised her hand respectfully and Barry immediately stopped talking,” Kelly wrote.
“‘No Barry, this is how we’re going to do it,’ she said. ‘Just keep the camera rolling.’ And we were off.”
“Her Majesty took her position in front of the lens and started striking a series of poses, slipping her hands in and out of her pockets and placing them onto her hips, mimicking the stances of a professional model,” Kelly recalled, adding that she was a “natural.”
A series of photos were taken, however the more candid shots, which show the Queen with a rare ear-to-ear smile, were not immediately released, following advice from members of the Royal Collection.
“Their opinion was that these more candid photographs would bring the monarchy down and therefore they were not suitable for the public eye,” she explained.
“Why they thought that, I have no idea.”
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