A black-and-white photograph of a formal portrait of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, posed against a dark background with curtains. The sitting took place in the afternoon of the Coronation in the Green Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace.

Part of Cecil Beaton’s Coronation commission (see RCIN 2999885) included photographing all the other members of the Royal Family. He adopted a similar set up with a painted backdrop and prop curtains to frame the sitters. Beaton recalled the manic activity to produce results within a very limited time: ‘I was banging away and getting pictures at a great rate; but I had only the foggiest notion of whether I was taking black and white, or colour, or giving the right exposures.’