Unseen photos of Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret feature in new royal exhibition

A raft of never-seen-before images are among over 150 royal portraits chosen for a new exhibition at Buckingham Palace.

Royal Portraits: A Century of Photography, which opens today in the UK, is the first exhibition to be held in the newly re-named King's Gallery.

It includes black and white photos from as early as 1923 right up until King Charles' coronation portraits of 2023.

Exhibition curator Alessandro Nasini tells 9Honey it was no easy task whittling them down from more than half a million images in the Royal Collection Trust's archives.

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"I think it's important to show the several kind of facets of photography and the links between photography and members of the royal family," Nasini explains.

"We go from the very kind of personal, private photographs, like the one of the mothers with their babies, up to the really official and public, such as the coronation portraits.

"So, I think I wanted to show really the full range of what we have in the collection."

Among the unseen images unearthed for the first time, is one of royal mums Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Margaret, Princess Alexandra and The Duchess of Kent all holding their newborn babies, who were delivered within two months of each other.

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In the image, taken by Princess Margaret's husband Lord Snowdon as a thank you to royal obstetrician Sir John Peel who delivered all four babies, Queen Elizabeth is holding newborn Prince Edward, her youngest child.

Princess Margaret is cradling her second child, Lady Sarah Chatto, Princess Alexandra is with her son, James Ogilvy, and The Duchess of Kent is holding daughter, Lady Helen Taylor.

Accompanying the image in the exhibition is a handwritten letter from Princess Margaret to her sister "Darling Lilibet" asking her to sign a print for them to gift the doctor.

Along with Hugo Burnand's King Charles coronation portraits, there are photographs taken by big names such as Dorothy Wilding, Annie Leibovitz, David Bailey, and Rankin among those on display.

There's also a whole section dedicated to photographer Cecil Beaton's royal portraits, including the iconic image from Queen Elizabeth II's coronation.

"The very special relationship [he had] with the royal family really started in 1939 with the first sitting that he had with Queen Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and there he really transformed her image from that of a very elegant, but perhaps traditional woman to that of this very kind of romantic heroine from a timeless age," Nasini tells 9Honey.

By linking the modernity of photography with the past, by using painted backdrops, Beaton is credited with transforming her image in the wake of King Edward VIII's abdication.

"The new royal family had to be established, I suppose, so it was a very delicate moment and I think Beaton really did a great job," he adds.

Also on display are striking images of Princess Anne from covers of Vogue as well as her coming of age portrait by Norman Parkinson, which was taken to mark her 21st birthday.

The exhibition, which is open until October 6, also features a range of younger royals including Prince William and Kate, as well as Zara Tindall.

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While there is a shot of a young Prince Harry with Princess Diana and Prince William - taken by John Swannell - there aren't any other photos of Prince Harry or wife Meghan in the exhibition.

Exhibition curator Nasini tells 9Honey "the selection of the photographs, the layout and everything else was completely independent" and while the royal family were aware of the exhibition, they weren't involved in the image selection.

The King is the patron of Royal Collection Trust and was previously the Chairman for many years.

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