Cecil Beaton (1904-1980), the leading British fashion and portrait photographer was commissioned to take the official portraits on the day of The Queen’s Coronation. The portraits were taken in the Green Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace after the Coronation ceremony. Beaton’s use of theatrical backdrops was a feature of many of his portraits, particularly of royal sitters. For his official Coronation portraits, he used a variety of scenes of the interior of Westminster Abbey. In this portrait, The Queen wears the Imperial State Crown and is holding the Sovereign’s Orb and Sceptre. Behind, an artfully draped curtain reveals an image of the Henry VIII Lady Chapel.