There will be no more like that: Elizabeth II on the covers of magazines that we will not forget

On the day of the Queen’s death, two photographs went viral on the internet. The September 6 snap of Elizabeth welcoming the country’s new prime minister, Liz Truss, and Time magazine cover by Cecil Beaton are the latest of the monarch. For 96 years of her life, her portrait made the front pages of newspapers and magazines, although, of course, she never pursued this.

The photo shoot for a rare lip gloss was not a moment of glory for the queen, but for the photographer and editor, and these shots, which have now become real treasures, show why: she is not a model, not a star, not a super-expensive hairstyle or luxury make-up – but a woman’s smile, which we will unfortunately never see again.

This is Elizabeth’s first cover. Or rather, little Lilibet – here she is only three years old. So neither she nor her parents, the Duke and Duchess of York, thought their daughter would become queen. George VI ascended the throne after the abdication of his brother Edward VIII, then Elizabeth became the heiress to the British crown. But while she is still a little girl with an adult look and naughty curls.

1947, marriage of Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten, Prince of Greece and Denmark. To marry his beloved, he had to give up his titles and convert from Orthodoxy to Anglicanism. Of course, we’ll never know if Philip didn’t regret that decision for even a minute.

As a princess, Elizabeth served as a mechanic driver. In 1944, she joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service, received the rank of lieutenant and began driving an ambulance to help in the rear. At the end of World War II, Lilibet made the most important promise: “I want to make a statement now. Very simple. I declare before you all that my whole life, whether long or short, will be devoted to serving you and this great empire to which we all belong.”

And she kept it.

The Queen was photographed several times for Tatler magazine, each time with children and corgis – she simply adored these dogs. The first four-legged friend was given to her when the girl was seven years old – the puppy was called Dookie. During Elizabeth’s reign, about seven generations of corgis and dorgis lived with her in the palace, and many of them remained in the family of children and grandchildren. For a time she was engaged in raising puppies, but stopped after the queen mother left.

Elizabeth wasn’t too keen on photoshoots and once even admitted to photographer Annie Leibovitz that her sister Margaret would have looked better in the frame. Everyone who took pictures of her remembered: there was no arrogance, arrogance or condescension, only a respectful pause before clarifying something – and doing what the photographer asks. “There were dogs, but no guards or anyone else. “Where do you usually sit here?” – I asked And in a second she was already on the floor in front of the fireplace, ”said David Montgomery.

Not only did the photographers talk about the calm with which the queen did what she had to do. Lady Pamela Hicks, a close friend of Elizabeth, once shared her memories of the coronation: “Seeing her, this 27-year-old girl, all alone, I wondered how she would have the strength to take on such a responsibility. a lifetime. .”

Enough for the rest of my life.

Photo: Getty images, Legion media, social media