In 1982, George Mulder wrote to Queen Elizabeth’s private secretary, Sir William Heseltine, to express Warhol’s desire to represent the monarch in a set of screenprints. While the Palace permitted the request, Sir William’s response was noncommittal: ‘While the Queen would certainly not wish to put any obstacles in Mr. Warhol’s way, she would not dream of offering any comment on this idea.’ This initially reserved reception was supplanted by a more curious and enthusiastic tone in 1985: upon seeing photographs of the screenprints, Sir William thanked Mulder and elaborated: ‘Her Majesty was most pleased and interested to see’ the images.

The Queen’s ultimate approval of the portfolio was made clear three decades later. In May of 2012 – the year of the Diamond Jubilee – the Royal Collection acquired a set of four prints from the deluxe edition of 30 with diamond dust. The works were exhibited later that year at Windsor Castle in an exhibition entitled The Queen: Portraits of a Monarch.

Soon after the Royal Collection’s acquisition of the set of prints, following a chance encounter at Sotheby’s, the owners of the present impression of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom were invited by the Keeper of the Queen’s paintings to a private tour of the collection at Windsor. The collectors recall seeing the four prints displayed under brilliant light to exaggerate their striking hues and glittering diamond dust. It is notable that the prints by Warhol, works that initially incited a distinctly wary reaction – (and incidentally, the only portraits of the Queen in the Royal Collection that the monarch did not sit for) – now form a central and cherished role in the Windsor collection.

The visit to Windsor Castle was preceded by a similarly exciting opportunity: the owners of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom had been asked in 2011 to visit the Warhol Archives in Pittsburgh. Through viewing cine recordings and in examining Warhol’s screens, they were given an insight into the working methods of the artist and his printer and collaborator, Rupert Jasen smith. The application of the ‘diamond dust’, which was reserved for an unusually small run of 30 prints, was of particular interest. Once each of the coloured layers of ink had been printed, a further screen of translucent ink was applied to the impressions selected for the Royal Edition. The ‘diamond’ flakes – in fact particles of crushed glass – were then added while the ink was still wet. The collectors remember an image of all four Queens from the Royal Edition resting against a wall while Warhol wandered in front of them with a flashlight, enlivening the diamond dust.

The present impression of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, an example of the coveted royal blue colourway, is one of two printer’s proofs aside from the deluxe edition of 30 impressions printed with diamond dust. The work has been in private hands since it was purchased from Sotheby’s in a previous Jubilee year. The present owners acquired the impression in July 2002, amidst the celebrations surrounding Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee, which marked the 50th anniversary of her coronation. It has since remained in the same Important Private British collection.