How Cecil Beaton Became the Royal Family's Favorite Photographer

A new book, Cecil Beaton: The Royal Portraits, showcases the legendary lensman's work featuring England's monarchy.

By Adam RathePublished: Nov 07, 2023 9:38 AM EST

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“An important part of royal image making is continuity,” says Claudia Acott Williams, the curator of Kensington Palace and author of the new book Cecil Beaton: The Royal Portraits. “The Queen used Beaton because it created a continuity with the reign before hers, and there’s a stability that comes with that.”

This new book of photos—conceived around the late monarch’s Platinum Jubilee—celebrates the work that Beaton, a famed photographer and diarist as well as an Oscar-winning set and costume designer, did with the royal family, but it’s more than just pretty pictures. The tome also speaks to how the Windsors saw themselves and wanted the public to see them, and the way that they used photography to help in the serious business of myth-making.

“The longevity of the relationship between Beaton and the Queen stemmed from his relationship with her mother; they were only four years apart in age and moved in similar social circles,” Williams says. “They shared that joy de vivre of the Bright Young Things and had an extraordinary chemistry and enjoyed one another. Beaton’s first photographs for the Queen Mother were also incredibly successful, and that created a sense of trust, which became an important part of that relationship. I don’t think Beaton and the Queen ever shared that same natural friendship—he spoke about finding their relationship a bit more businesslike—but there was a trust and a sense that this was a man who had documented her for entire life.”

Specifically, he was called upon for moments of joy for the Queen and her family, and to help situate them in the public eye during eras of upheaval. “Beaton was there for the magnificent and for celebrations of the monarchy,” Williams says. “The Queen only sat for him three times after 1960, but each of those were moments of joy, and his style meant he became associated with these significant milestones. There was an element of trust and a clear understanding of what he brings to the royal image, and a deliberate continuity that creates a strong visual identity for the monarchy.”

Here, Williams tells the story—and explains the hidden meaning—behind some of his greatest shots:

“This photo of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, is the very first sitting Beaton had with a member of the reigning royal family. It was taken in July 1939, a few months before the war, and was done to celebrate the Queen’s white wardrobe, which was designed for a state visit to Paris a year earlier. Her mother had died five days before this tour, but and the visit was an important diplomatic visit they couldn’t cancel despite being in mourning. She couldn’t wear black, so Norman Hartnell designed this wardrobe of white crinoline gowns that became a sensation and set London up as a fashion rival to Paris. Beaton arrived for the sitting and was told he had 20 minutes with her, but three and a half hours later they were still going and having a fabulous time. He invested the royal image with a real magic and romance.”

"This is Princess Margaret in front of a tapestry at Buckingham Palace. This was taken in 1951 to mark her 21st birthday. It was her second independent sitting with Beaton and was designed to showcase her as a young woman and rebrand her after the childhood images during the war. It shows her as incredibly glamorous and stylish; during the fitting she wore three different gowns, including this one designed for her by Christian Dior. It also balances that idea of tradition and modernity. Margaret symbolizes change and progress to ensure the monarchy remains relevant."

"This is Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein, one of the granddaughters of Queen Victoria. She’s a real connection to a bygone era and is making this priestly gesticulation. It’s an off-the-cuff snap that Beaton didn’t show to her because he was worried she’d find it undignified, but he published later. She’s considered quite eccentric, but he’s completely enchanted by her. The image feels very contemporary for the moment it was taken, in the year of the Queen’s coronation, and there’s something spectacular about a woman who connects to the Victorian age in an incredibly modern, striking picture."

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"This was a photo marking the birth of Prince Andrew in 1960. It’s an interesting moment because it’s when Beaton is radically changing his approach to royal photography. At that moment, there was a political and cultural shift in attitudes toward monarchy and in the way they needed to present themselves. In terms of their branding, there’s a desire to welcome in the public and show themselves as a normal family. Beaton’s style is forced to adapt along with that, and you can see other photographers inching in on his turf at this point. The Queen has started using him less, but it’s notable that she still wants him to photograph the birth of her child. He was desperately trying to get the family to relax, and in his recollections of this sitting he struggled; he was cracking jokes and trying as hard as he could to make them relax. He’s done away with elaborate, Baroque background for a radical offering showing the new face of the monarchy."

"This is one of the later photographs, taken at the end of October in 1968. This photograph was initiated by Beaton, who by this point felt comfortable suggesting commissions. He was about to open a seminal exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, the first time a photographer and a living artist was shown, and he wanted material of notable names. What’s lovely about this photograph is that the Royal Family then decided to use it to mark the official engagement in public life of Prince Charles, who was 20 years old here. Beaton was quite disappointed with his performance. He was unwell at the time and there was dreadful weather, so he ended up recycling compositions he’d used in a sitting from several weeks earlier with the Queen. But the result is that you have this series of photographs of monarch and heir that reinforce a sense of stability of the royal line; here they are photographed in a similar guise. Beaton never got on with Prince Philip very well, but Charles warmed to him and you can see that."