Andy Warhol and the Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II

Andy Warhol’s portrait of Queen Elizabeth II is a limited edition silkscreen from the Reigning Queens series of 1985. The series features large portraits of four reigning queens: Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Beatrix of the Netherlands, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, and Ntfombi Tfwala of Swaziland (now Eswatini). In 2022, the Canadian auction house Heffel broke all previous records by selling one of these portraits – part of the Royal Edition, a deluxe print run of only 30 copies with diamond dust – for approximately 820,000 euros!

The original photograph of Queen Elizabeth II used for Andy Warhol’s portrait was taken by Peter Grugeon at Windsor Castle in 1975, and published in 1977 for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee. According to auction house experts, the Queen is wearing the Grand Duchess Vladimir’s diamond and pearl tiara, a diamond and pearl necklace, and a blue sash with a medallion portrait of her father, George VI. Her expression, reminiscent of the Mona Lisa, is warm yet dignified, and she appears to look beyond the photographer. 

The story behind the creation of the Reigning Queens series has been documented. In 1982, Warhol’s European dealer and publisher, George C.P. Mulder, wrote to the Queen’s private secretary, Sir William Heseltine, expressing Warhol’s wish to produce a series of silkscreen portraits of the monarch. The initial response was polite but not entirely positive – “Although the Queen certainly does not wish to hinder Mr. Warhol, she would not dream of offering any comment on this idea.” However, three years later, the Queen saw photographs of Warhol’s silkscreens and was enthusiastic about them. In 1985, Warhol created the Reigning Queens series, which included the portrait of Elizabeth II. 

The Queen has shown great appreciation for Warhol’s series over the years. In 2012, she purchased a suite of four prints from the Royal Edition with diamond dust, and then exhibited them at Windsor Castle in the exhibition The Queen: Portraits of a Monarch, alongside other famous works of art depicting the Queen, such as those by Annie Leibovitz, Dorothy Wilding, and Lucian Freud. 

As mentioned earlier, one of Andy Warhol’s works featuring the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II was sold by the Canadian auction house Heffel Fine Art in 2022 for approximately 820,000 euros, in an auction that started with an estimate around half of the final price, significantly surpassing the previous record held by Sotheby’s at 640,000 euros.