London couturier Norman Hartnell was the man the Queen chose to dress her for all the pomp and circumstance of the special occasions in her life.
He designed her wedding dress for her marriage to the Duke of Edinburgh in 1947 and her Coronation dress six years later, as well as many of the gowns she wore on other state occasions.
His grand creations made her the very image of royalty...
The wedding of Princess Elizabeth to her third cousin, Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, in 1947 was a long-awaited moment of glamour in the austere post-war years. Hartnell’s dress and its 15ft star-patterned train incorporated symbols of rebirth and growth
Showing due respect for a fellow monarch, the Queen introduced the rich yellow of Thailand’s Order of the Royal House of Chakri into the beaded panels of her Hartnell dress for her state visit to the South-East Asian kingdom in 1972
Flying the flag overseas has always been high on the Queen's agenda. A Hartnell dress was again her choice for a three-week visit to Nigeria in 1956, where she addressed the country’s House of Representatives
Another elegant Hartnell creation for the Queen, this time for her sister Princess Margaret’s wedding to Antony
Armstrong-Jones (Lord Snowdon) in 1960. Elizabeth was 34, and that same year her third child, Prince Andrew,
had been born
Precious memories: The sentimental value of the Queen's jewellery
Beaming a mother’s proud smile at the new-born Prince Charles in 1948, the Queen wears a flower-basket brooch on her lapel, given to her by her parents to mark the birth of a son and heir
True lover's knot: The Queen’s choice of jewellery is always carefully thought out. Close to her sister Princess Margaret, she wore this diamond brooch, inherited from Queen Mary, to her wedding. She also wore it, romantically, to the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton last year to celebrate their ‘true love’
As her ‘something borrowed’, Princess Elizabeth wore the Queen Mother’s diamond fringe tiara at her wedding to Prince Philip in 1947. Princess Anne borrowed the same tiara for her wedding to Captain Mark Phillips in 1973, right
On her 18th birthday in 1944, the young princess was given this sapphire and diamond Cartier bracelet by her parents
Left: A flower-setting for a fabulous 23.6 carat pink diamond. The original stone was mined in Africa and was a
wedding gift to Princess Elizabeth from a Canadian geologist, and set into a jonquil-shaped brooch by Cartier in
1952. The Queen wears it often
Right: Fifth anniversary gift from her husband, this diamond, ruby and sapphire bracelet incorporated entwined Es and Ps, a naval badge and two Roses of York to the Duke’s own design
Left: Pearl and diamond earrings, a 21st birthday present from her grandmother, Queen Mary, and worn by Princess Elizabeth at her wedding in 1947
Right: Her platinum and diamond engagement ring from Prince Philip was made using stones from a tiara that had belonged to his mother, Princess Alice of Greece