A new photograph of the late Queen has been released on what would have been her 97th birthday.
The previously unseen image was taken by the Princess of Wales, and features the former monarch smiling with some of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The family posed for the picture together last summer at Balmoral, Aberdeenshire.
The Queen is joined by Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, along with Mia, Lucas and Lena Tindall, and Savannah and Isla Phillips.
Standing at the back are the Queen’s grandchildren Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and James, Earl of Wessex – the son and daughter of the now Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.
Recognising the Queen’s birthday on Instagram earlier, Buckingham Palace wrote: “Today we remember the incredible life and legacy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, on what would have been her 97th birthday.”
“When Her Majesty was born in April 1926, Princess Elizabeth and her family did not expect that she would one day become Queen. Following the abdication of her uncle King Edward VIII in 1936, her father acceded to the throne.
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“When King George VI died in February 1952, Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II when she was just 25. Her Majesty went on to be Britain’s longest reigning Monarch – the only one in history to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee.”
Balmoral was one of the Queen’s favourite places and she is said to never have been happier than when staying there.
After her marriage to Prince Philip in 1947, the couple spent their honeymoon at Birkhall – a hunting lodge on the Balmoral estate.
The Queen then usually stayed at the main property annually from August and September, and into October.
She travelled to the private residence on July 21 2022, and for the first time in her reign appointed a new prime minister there on Tuesday 6 September – two days before her death on 8 September.
