Palace of Holyroodhouse to host Queen photo tribute

The Royal palaces will host an exhibition of photographs of the Queen.

The Royal Collection announced that a special outdoor exhibition will appear at the Queen’s official Edinburgh residence, as well as at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle on 9 September.

Long To Reign Over Us, which can be viewed by visitors to the palaces and castle, includes official portraits and images of the Queen from 1952 to the present day, as well as previously seen informal photographs of the monarch and her family.

A black-and-white portrait by Dorothy Wilding from February 1952 is the earliest photograph in the selection and was taken just three weeks after Princess Elizabeth became Queen.

With the Royal Family at Balmoral in 1953. Picture: James Reid

A side-on shot of the Queen’s head, it shows the composed young monarch wearing a diamond necklace and a dark-coloured, off-the-shoulder evening gown. The most recent image is one of this year’s Order of the Garter procession at Windsor in June, with the Queen beaming as she walks in her Garter robes.

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Other images include Cecil Beaton’s 1953 official Coronation Day portrait, Julian Calder’s photo of the Queen amid the heather on the Balmoral estate dressed in the Order of the Thistle robes (2010) and a photograph of the Queen holding the reins of two of her white Highland ponies (2006).

Another shot by Calder shows the Queen sitting at her desk at Balmoral in 2012. The displays, which will be included in a general admission ticket, will be shown until the end of the summer opening of Buckingham Palace on 27 September, until 5 January 2016 at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, and until 28 January 2016 at Windsor Castle. The photographs will be in the inner quadrangle of the official residences – areas of Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle that are not normally included in the visitor route.

With the Duke of Edinburgh at the State Opening of Parliament this year.

A day of family activities will also be held at the royal venues in celebration.

On 12 September 12, crown-making, story-telling and art workshops will take place at Buckingham Palace in the Family Pavilion overlooking the Palace garden as 1950s music is played to entertain tourists, and a picnic will be held in the Moat Garden at Windsor Castle, which is not normally open for viewing. At the Palace of Holyroodhouse, family events will take place on 19 September and include family garden party tours.

An official souvenir album, Long To Reign Over Us, illustrated with more than 250 colour photographs, has also been published by Royal Collection Trust.

• Visitor information on the Summer Opening of the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Palace of Holyroodhouse can be found at www.royalcollection.org.uk