The news of Queen Elizabeth’s death came with a stunning photograph. After the monarch’s passing, the royal family shared the announcement on all their social networks with a black and white portrait of Her Majesty, said photo was taken more than 15 years ago while celebrating an important milestone.
The black and white photo that was shared on Instagram and Twitter was accompanied by the following text:
“The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon.”, they also informed that “The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow”.
The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon.
The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/VfxpXro22W
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) September 8, 2022
Black and white photo of Queen Elizabeth has great meaning
The image in question was taken at Buckingham Palace in February 2006 in celebration of the Queen’s 80th birthday. The photo was captured by photographer Jane Bown, who was 81 years old at the time the image was taken.
“Queen Elizabeth II selected Jane Bown to take a photographic portrait at the start of her eightieth birthday,” reads a description of the image by the Royal Collection Trust (RCT). “Bown (a fellow octogenarian) worked as a professional photographer from the late 1940s.”
The image also appeared in the Royal Collection Trust exhibition The Queen: 60 Photographs over 60 Years celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012. Elizabeth was only the second British monarch to reach that anniversary, after her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria.
The Royal Collection Trust recognized Bown for his “unpretentious technique, working at great speed, using only available light and for working in black and white rather than color.”
Bown, who died at 89 in December 2014, once said, according to The Independent, “I spent my whole life worrying about time and light. If I had time, it was something, but if I had light, it was even better.”
