In theory, there is no more familiar face than that of Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, aka Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. For there she sits, enthroned on our stamps, coins and banknotes. Indeed, the most reproduced work of art of all time is not the Mona Lisa, nor Michelangelo's David, but sculptor Arnold Machin's depiction of the Queen. It has sold well over 200 billion copies since being issued in 1967 as the British postage stamp, fixing the 85-year-old monarch at a youthful 41.
And yet, so fitted a fixture is the Queen in our national psyche, that we tend to look past her features and see her only as the sum of the monarchal accessories that are her hair, hat (crown or headscarf) and handbag. Her strategy of adopting brilliantly hued, stand-out-in-a-crowd costumery also draws the collective eye from her face. While, logically, her image should be more iconic than that of Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Kennedy or Madonna, somehow her true countenance eludes us.
The opportunity to defamiliarise the royal features and take a fresh look at their owner will be one of the highlights of this Diamond Jubilee year. Susanna Brown, curator of the V&A's Garrard-sponsored exhibition “Queen Elizabeth II by Cecil Beaton”, which opens tomorrow, agrees that the monarch is, despite her celebrity, peculiarly un-iconic.
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