The Queen wore a pair of sentimental brooches to mark the beginning of her Platinum Jubilee year.
In a new photograph released in honour of Accession Day 2022 (the anniversary of the day Her Majesty became Queen), she can be seen wearing two brooches in the shape of ivy leaves on her green dress.
The brooches were given to the Queen as a 21st birthday present by her mother, which was the age Her Majesty took the throne. Her decision to wear the ivy clips for Accession Day is therefore significant, as they reference the beginning of her journey as Queen seven decades ago.
The new photograph was shared on the official Royal Family Instagram account and showed Her Majesty smiling with one of her iconic red despatch boxes.
A caption alongside the post explained that, “The Queen has received daily papers from her Private Secretaries, in person or via a red despatch box. The boxes hold documents updating Her Majesty on events in Parliament as well as overseas and Commonwealth matters, and State papers requiring her signature and Royal assent.”
A selection of other photographs showed Her Majesty at a number of other points throughout her 70-year reign alongside the red boxes.
One black and white throwback photograph is taken in 1959 and shows the young Queen at her desk in Buckingham Palace. Another shows Her Majesty smiling in a pink outfit in Balmoral in 1972.
The Queen became the longest reigning British monarch in 2015 and this year marks 70 years on the throne, known as her Platinum Jubilee.
