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Image of Gallery in South Kensington

Photograph

02/06/1953 (photographed)
Artist/Maker
Beaton, Cecil (Sir) (photographer)
Place of origin
Buckingham Palace (photographed)

Royal Portrait by Cecil Beaton (1904-1980). Photograph depicting Queen Elizabeth II; a male assistant adjusts her jewellery in preparation for the photograph, while six Maids of Honour observe and await. Coronation day, Buckingham Palace, 1953. The scene is an interior, with ornate wall coverings, drapery and upholstery as well as a patterned carpet. Queen Elizabeth is seated, wearing a crown and coronation robes. The train of the robe is extended before them on the floor; displaying its embroidery and border of fur.

Object details

Categories
Photographs
Portraits
Royalty
Object type
Photograph
Materials and techniques
photography
Paper
Gelatin Silver Process
Photography
Brief description
Royal Portrait by Cecil Beaton (1904-1980). Photograph depicting Queen Elizabeth II; a male assistant adjusts her jewellery in preparation for the photograph, while six Maids of Honour observe and await. Coronation day, Buckingham Palace, 1953.
Physical description
Royal Portrait by Cecil Beaton (1904-1980). Photograph depicting Queen Elizabeth II; a male assistant adjusts her jewellery in preparation for the photograph, while six Maids of Honour observe and await. Coronation day, Buckingham Palace, 1953. The scene is an interior, with ornate wall coverings, drapery and upholstery as well as a patterned carpet. Queen Elizabeth is seated, wearing a crown and coronation robes. The train of the robe is extended before them on the floor; displaying its embroidery and border of fur.
Dimensions
  • Image width: 18.9cm
  • Image height: 18.9cm
  • Paper width: 18.9cm
  • Paper height: 18.9cm
Gallery label
(2012)
Queen Elizabeth II with her Maids of Honour
2 June 1953

We were all exhausted – the Queen most of all I should imagine. We had all been up since 5am and it was then about 4pm. Cecil Beaton was most particular about placing the six of us Maids of Honour around the Queen in the order we stood in the Abbey – the smallest ones in the front nearest the Queen. She seemed very tiny and fragile but rose to the occasion magnificently.
The Rt Hon. The Lady Rayne

Gelatin silver prints
V&A: Ph.1507-1987; Ph.1499A-C-1987
Credit line
Bequeathed to the Museum in 1987 by Eileen Hose, secretary to the photographer
Production
Cecil Beaton photographed members of the royal family from 1930-1979.
Subject depicted
HM Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Place depicted
Buckingham Palace
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
PH.1507-1987

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Record createdSeptember 16, 2010
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1172340/photograph-beaton-cecil-sir/
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