Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II against stunning Balmoral landscape to go on display

A portrait of Queen Elizabeth II standing against the dramatic Highlands landscape of Balmoral is among dozens of images of the royal family going on display in Edinburgh.

Royal Portraits: A Century Of Photography will run from 28 February until 7 September at The King’s Gallery in the Palace of Holyroodhouse, having previously being exhibited at Buckingham Palace.

The exhibition charts the evolution of royal portrait photography from the 1920s until the coronation of the King in 2023.

A snapshot reproduced on an information panel within the exhibition gives a behind the scenes insight into the sitting. © Royal Collection Enterprises Limited
2025 | Royal Collection Trust, Photograph: Paul Whybrew

It brings together little-seen vintage prints, contact sheets and proofs from the Royal Collection, alongside documents including letters and memorandums held in the Royal Archives. And it is the first time many of the works have been shown in Scotland, following the exhibition’s successful run in London.

A star work of the exhibition will be a striking photograph of Queen Elizabeth II by Julian Calder, taken on the Highlands landscape of the Balmoral Estate in 2010.

Beneath an unpredictable sky and cloaked in the mantle of the Order of the Thistle, the late monarch braved the threat of rain and midges to achieve Calder’s vision, inspired by 19th-century paintings of Clan chiefs – as seen in a behind-the-scenes photograph reproduced on a panel within the exhibition.

Andy Warhol, Reigning Queens (Royal Edition): Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, 1985. © 2025 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by DACS, London

In contrast, for her 2007 portrait of the sovereign, Annie Leibovitz – the first American to receive an official commission to photograph Queen Elizabeth II – used digital editing to superimpose the figure against a stormy sky.

A screenprint of the late Queen Elizabeth II by artist Andy Warhol will also be on show.

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