Queen Elizabeth II was a remarkable figure on the global stage for well over half a century. Hundreds of thousands of visitors to Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle each year are attracted by an image of this exceptional monarch that has been shaped, in significant part, by the work of royal photographers, many of whom are internationally distinguished practitioners of their art.

Drawing on an unparalleled collection of official portraits of the queen, each of the book's chapters begins with a text by best-selling historian and biographer Philip Ziegler, covering the key royal and historical events of the period, with some contextual photographs, followed by a sequence of plates in chronological order. With over two hundred images of the queen by photographers such as Cecil Beaton, Lord Snowdon, and Rankin, the queen is captured in a variety of poses, from formal photographs as a working monarch to intimate portraits relaxing with her family at Balmoral and Windsor. All the images have been officially approved by the palace, making this the ultimate illustrated book chronicling the life of England's longest-reigning monarch.