Buckingham Palace released a new royal portrait at the weekend which shows a tender mother-son moment between the Queen and Prince Charles.
The photograph featuring the monarch and her 68-year-old heir was apparently taken the moment Elizabeth’s eldest child cracked a joke, reports the Mail on Sunday. It shows the Queen trying greatly not to giggle in the picture while Charles on the other hand, is grinning broadly at his mother, looking at her with an affectionate gaze.
The photo was released on Sunday to mark the end of celebrations in the Queen’s 90th birthday year.
Fashion photograph Nick Knight had just three minutes to take the picture in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle in May but even with the time constraints he said he was pleased with the result.
Mr Knight told the Telegraph UK: “It was a great pleasure and an honour to photograph Her Majesty The Queen and HRH The Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle.
“I wanted to create a modern portrait that showed warmth and humanity as well as strength and tradition.”
This portrait might go down in history as a favourite of the royal mother and son but it might have some stiff competition.
Often in official photographs the Queen appears dignified and reserved but every now and then, especially in the photos that show her as a young mother with her children, she’s seen beaming the same wide smile that could depict any proud parent.
Here are some from the archives of the Queen with her children…
1948: A then Princess Elizabeth hold a newborn Prince Charles.
1949: Elizabeth with a one-year-old Prince Charles.
1950: Princess Elizabeth presents newborn Princess Anne with Prince Charles.
1951: An iconic image: The first color photograph of Princess Anne, taken in 1951, in the arms of her mother Elizabeth while her father, Philip Mountbatten, holds her brother Prince Charles.
Picture showing the royal British couple, Queen Elizabeth II, and her husband Philip with their two children Anne and Charles.
1952: Princess Elizabeth watching her son Prince Charles playing in his toy car while at Balmoral.
Prince Charles and Princess Anne join their parents at an official photo-call outside Balmoral Castle.
1952: Queen Elizabeth II leaning out of a window with Princess Anne and Prince Charles.
1955: Queen Elizabeth II with Princess Anne, Prince Charles and their nurse, Helen Lightbody, at a stall during a Sale of Work event in Abergeldie Castle, near Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire.
1961: Queen Elizabeth with her second son Prince Andrew, in his pram at Balmoral Castle.
1961: The Queen, Prince Philip, Prince Charles, Princess Anne and a baby Prince Andrew enjoy a picnic at Balmoral.
1965: Queen Elizabeth II plays with Princes Edward and Andrew at Windsor Castle.
1969: Prince Charles playing with his littlest brother Prince Edward at Windsor castle with their mother watching on.
1967: Queen Elizabeth II awarding Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and Charles, Prince of Wales with trophies after a polo match.
Charles kisses the hand of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, after she presented him with a prize at polo.
