On Sunday, Buckingham Palace released a new—and final—portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.
Photographed by Ranald Mackechnie, it shows the late monarch in a powder blue suit, smiling ear-to-ear. She wears her signature three-strand pearl necklace and matching earrings. Pinned to her chest is an aquamarine brooch that was a present from her father, King George, for her 18th birthday.
“Ahead of Her Majesty The Queen’s State Funeral, a new photograph has been released,” the royal family wrote on Twitter. “The photo was taken to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee—the first British Monarch to reach this milestone.”
The release of the poignant photograph came hours after the United Kingdom observed a minute of silence in her memory.
On Monday, Queen Elizabeth's funeral took place at Westminster Abbey. Numerous world leaders attended—including U.S. President Joe Biden—as well as the Windsor family. Hundreds of thousands of public mourners, however, have been filing into the Abbey since Thursday, when the Queen’s coffin arrived in London. The queue to do so was, at some points, up to 15 hours long.
King Charles sent out a message of thanks to all those who have paid their respects. “As we all prepare to say our last farewell, I wanted simply to take this opportunity to say thank you to all those countless people who have been such a support and comfort to my family and myself in this time of grief,” he said. Prince William also shared a photo of the crowds outside Westminster Abbey. “It means an awful lot that you’re all here,” he said.
