SIR HUGH CASSON (1910-99)
HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother on her birthday, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
dated 1980RCIN 453383
This watercolour was commissioned by Sir Claus Moser, then Chairman of the Royal Opera House, as an eightieth birthday present for Queen Elizabeth, who was Patron of the Royal Opera Company. Although Hugh Casson remarked afterwards on the difficulty of drawing Queen Elizabeth the size of his finger-nail, she can be seen, in a white dress, near the centre of the drawing, with HM The Queen and Princess Margaret in pink and white respectively.