The Royal Family at Buckingham Palace, 1913

Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor (King Edward VIII) (1894-1972), Reigned 1936.

Identify King George V (1865-1936), Reigned 1910-36.

Identify Queen Mary (1867-1953), Queen consort of King George V.

Identify Princess Mary, Countess of Harewood (1897-1965), Princess Royal; daughter of George V.

Identify

This striking family portrait shows King George V and Queen Mary with two of their children Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor (later King Edward VIII) and Princess Mary (later Countess of Harewood) in the opulent White Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace. It was commissioned by the publisher W.H. Spottiswoode, and the king and queen were closely involved with the portrait's development. They visited the artist's studio to assess its progress, and on one of these occasions applied royal blue paint to a Garter ribbon in the picture. When exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1913 critics noted its 'romantic impressionism … a veritable triumph over the formalism to which in such pictures we are accustomed.'