The Queen and Philip

The National Portrait Gallery in London has unveiled a new photo portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II with Prince Philip (title link). The photo marks the Duke's 90th birthday as well as the Queen's Diamond Jubilee next year. This is the first time NPG has commissioned a portrait of the Queen and Prince Phillip together, and it raised some problems of royal etiquette which the photographer - Thomas Struth - has resolved at the cost of artistic balance. I've introduced a white line to indicate a balanced portrait of the royal couple. The imbalanced photo gives the Queen almost a central position to indicate her importance, which leaves a lot of boring, unfocused room on the right-hand side of the picture. This photo is part of NPG's Touring Exhibition The Queen: Art and Image, which opens in Edinburgh on 25 June, then goes to Northern Ireland and Cardiff before coming to London on 17 May 2012 (CLICK). It shows an iconic painting or photo for every year of the Queen's reign, including Chris Levine's holographic stereogram Lightness of Being from 2008 (CLICK).