The Queen showed her witty side when celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz asked her to take her crown off because it was “too dressy”.
Dressed in full regalia, she gestured towards the silks, velvets and furs she was wearing and replied: “Less dressy. What do you think this is?”
The rare scene is captured in the controversial documentary Monarchy: The Royal Family at Work.
The programme led to the resignation of BBC One controller Peter Fincham who claimed it showed the monarch walking out of the photo session “in a huff”. He quit after being criticised in an official report into the affair. The pictures were commissioned to coincide with the Queen’s first state visit to America for 16 years in May.
American snapper Leibovitz, famous for her iconic photograph of a naked and pregnant Demi Moore, spent three weeks preparing for the 30-minute shoot.
Dressed in her heavy garb, the Queen said: “I’m not changing anything. I’ve done enough dressing like this thank you very much. “I’m sorry I can’t stay very long and it’s taken me such a long time to get all this on,” she apologised to Leibovitz.
Despite running behind schedule, the controversial snapper decided to change things at the last minute. “I think it will look better without the crown,” she said. “It will look better, less dressy because the garter robe is so extraordinary.” The Queen showed a hint of vanity and said: “I might have to go back and tidy my hair.”
Leibovitz was unfazed by her famous subject. She said after the shoot: “I just liked her feistiness. I was really impressed with it.”At first I wasn’t sure if she was kidding or not and then I realised she wasn’t and I thought this is going to be a five minute session. “She totally pulled herself back together and started enjoying herself.”
The documentary shows footage of the work of the Queen and other members of the Royal Family as they go about their duties. Following the controversy it was initially unclear as to whether it would be aired.
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