Today is the 73rd wedding anniversary of Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh. It really is remarkable, even if they loathe each other and are currently being forced into living together after years of living separately. This was the year that Philip threw a fit about Liz demanding that they travel all summer during a pandemic, when all he wanted to do was stay at Wood Farm. They’re still moving Philip around – he was photographed this week at Windsor Castle, sitting on a sofa with the Queen as they looked at the handmade anniversary cards from their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It was said that Prince William and Kate’s three children spent hours making their card for Liz and Phil. There’s been no word on whether the Sussexes sent anything. Is Archie old enough to color or hold a marker? Probably not, right?
Anyway, I applaud Chris Jackson at Getty Images for making Liz and Phil look so life-like in this photo. The last time they did a photo together, it looked like a Weekend-at-Bernie’s situation, and there were widespread accusations that Phil had been A) propped up and B) that he had been Photoshopped into the photo. Also: I’m sad that they still make Philip wear a suit and tie. The man is nearly 100, the British Empire won’t collapse if the dude wears soft pants and a sweatshirt.
Meanwhile, plans continue unabated for Liz’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022. Which I still think is a jinx, but whatever. The government is already making plans to move around holidays so that this petty old lady can have four days to celebrate herself. She’s also making plans to limit the celebrations for her 95th birthday next year, just so they can really do a blowout bash in 2022 for the Jubilee. So, yeah, she’s not abdicating so Charles can be king.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red, Backgrid.
Can someone who knows more about photography explain the “glow” that outlines their bodies? It’s particularly obvious around their shoulders.
Maybe their social media team Facetuned them?
I think it might be a filter to dim the brightness coming from the windows. Good catch, I didn’t even notice.
They are carefully illuminating the shadows that are otherwise in the room and on their faces. This can be done in a photo editor without resorting to Facetune and I much prefer this to the drab photo they took previously together. This makes them look their age and alive at once.
Besides what might be traditional photography techniques, I think the glow outlines happen because of HDR (high dynamic range). This equalizes the brightness in different regions of the image separately. That’s why you can see what’s outside the window and inside the room at approximately the same lighting levels. In an un-HDR’d photo the light from the window would be so bright you wouldn’t see anything outside. HDR unfortunately has an uncanny flatness to it sometimes, because all the colors are intentionally close to the same illumination.
Interestingly, the human eye + brain can handle a massive variation in illumination. That’s why we can stand in a room and see the stuff inside and the stuff outside the window in detail. The photo sensors in digital or film cameras can’t adjust for the amount of light as well, so only the inside of the room or what’s outside the window can be captured with proper illumination. HDR takes several photos in a burst, each to get a different amount of light, and then copy/pastes the region with the best illumination into the final photo. That’s why you get a glow around some objects.
Photoshop brush tool lightening the exposure of their bodies and faces to counteract the brightness of the light coming in from the windows behind them. You see the opposite a lot now in real estate photos (when windows or lights are too bright in the raw file and the editor tries to darken it but instead it ends up looking dirty).
It’s haloing from artificially lightening/darkening only specific areas of a photo. Most likely they bumped up the shadows/lowlights. You also see it in bad sharpening/”HDR” photos, but I don’t think it’s that in this case.
Another carefully staged photo-op to calm the baying masses who are calling for Chucks head on a platter post S4 of the Crown.
The Royals really lucked out this year with Corona and Trump.
– Andrew got to sidestep hard core calls for extradition
– Filip got to play house with his ‘companion’ on Wood farm
– Betty got to have a break from her public
– Kitty got to do even less via zoom calls
– Chuck and Cammy avoided having milkshakes thrown at them during public engagements
All of the above and then some. Although according to the British media and rota rats ‘…..but Meghan…….’
This…doesn’t look like an actual photo. I feel like it looks like a painting or a CGI something. Is it heavily edited?
@Amy, I agree that this looks really off. Especially Elizabeth’s face. It’s almost like someone painted her, but used the wrong coloring.
It’s better than the photo for Philip’s birthday but am I the only one who sees a strong filter? The background especially looks pretty edited
It is okay to see an edited professional photo. Not everything is Kardashian photoshop.
They are probably in a room that is not very well-lit. What kind of “filtering” do you think is happening outside of that?
No need to get snarky. I’m not a professional photographer so I was asking. I’m not the only one with this question and not everyone knows about photo editing so next time cut the snark. Thank you.
Yeah I don’t know why they released an HDR photo of this event.
He would likely be horrified at being seen in public in soft pants and a sweatshirt. My Mother won’t walk to the mailbox without a full face of make up, done hair and an ensemble. She definitely lounges at home in fleecy pants and slippers but wouldn’t be caught dead in the light of day without being ‘done.’
My stepdad is like that, except he doesn’t *ever* wear casual clothes. Casual for him is a sweater over dress shirt and tie, dress pants. He’ll jump at any chance to wear his tux. He doesn’t own others kinds of clothes. Even painting the house, he was up on a ladder in a dress shirt (an old one), wool pants, tie.
My grandfather was like that. He changed into PJ pants strictly at bed time and changed before coming down in the morning. He opened one pair of jeans for working in the garden. Otherwise he wore slacks and sweetest and button down shirts. But I have friends who are like that too, I have a friend I have known for well over 20 years and have never seen in jeans (he doesn’t own any) and definitely not sweat pants.
That’s what I was thinking. Surely, he decides what he wants to wear?
My mother is the same way! She’s 83 and so has always worn a full face of makeup. But, she’s also slightly lazy, so she will sleep in her makeup (yup, been doing it for a long time and it never really messed up her skin; she’s very lucky) so she looks ok when she takes the dog for a walk, and then she gets cleaned up after that. It’s so funny! When I was a teenager, she said to me, “I hope you won’t be one of those weird women who doesn’t wear makeup,” which has essentially happened.
If I’m feeling like I want to wear make-up I MAY put on mascara. If we’re going “out” then maybe I will put on extra mascara but other than that, I don’t wear any makeup
My ex sis in law used to get up at 4:30 in the a.m. to get ready for work. Her outfit and makeup ABSOLUTELY had to coordinate. She had zero hesitation in wiping it off and starting over to get it “just right”
I’m not anti makeup, I just don’t have the patience
Filip seens to have this 1 suit he wears with a different tie for pic. That 1st photoshepped one and this one. They made him go to buckingham for a short stay not too ling ago, it orobably was staged for this photo. He went right back to his farm. This pic screams attention from the cambridges, still propping their kids anywhere because their the only this interesting about them.
I’m not sure how a 73rd wedding anniversary photo was made to draw attention to the Cambridges…but ok.
@Melissa: because that is how it was presented. The headline and photo were about how they were enjoying the homemade card from the Cambridge kids. It wasn’t a traditional anniversary post; there was definitely a choice made to highlight the Cambridges.
My grandmother was like that 😊. If anyone was coming over, or she was going out, she HAD to have her clip-on earrings and red lipstick on, and her hair “done”, even if (towards the end), it was just me giving her a wash/blowdry or set and comb out. Sigh… she died when I was 17, so it’s been a LONG time, and I still miss her so much 😞. But it’s a good, comforting memory.
@ OG I love that you have those memories. My Mom has long bemoaned the fact that I can go out in leisure clothes, hair in a bun and not a stitch of make up for days…but I will absolutely miss her telling me to stand up straight and for God’s sake go put on “at least” some eyebrows, mascara and lipstick.
Just came in to say this very thing. I doubt anyone is making him wear the suit—he’s of an age where I’m positive he’d be horrified to be photographed wearing his comfortable at-home clothes!
They are doing everything to let us forget about the crown season 4
Exactly. A 73rd wedding anniversary is not seen as a milestone anniversary although it sure is a long time. Since they basically live separate lives, making a thing about this is sure suspicious.
As far as I’m aware, 73 is not a milestone anniversary so why did BP feel the need to release a photo of the “happy” couple”? The Royal Family have had a rough two weeks with the Remembrance debacle and the release of the new series of the Crown. So let’s have a nice photo of granny and grandpa to remind the public that this is a loving and dutiful family. I still think Chris Jackson went overboard with the photoshopping but I agree it was better than the last picture of the two of them.
At their ages,any anniversary and birthday begins to be a milestone. And how many people can say they have been married for over seventy years,it is quite a big deal either way.
Yeah but there wasn’t any special photo for last year’s anniversary. Is this a proof of life photo because of the pandemic?
It’s not a milestone, but it is a “wow, that’s a super long time!” sort of thing. I mean, that’s a lifetime!
my grandparents celebrated their 72nd wedding anniversary last year (pre-covid), you better believe we celebrated it because at their age there is no guarantee of another year- and my grandmother passed away in June of this year so, their 72nd was in fact, a milestone.
They need to provide the masses with something to keep the propaganda train going. If people start getting used to your absence, they might realise that you’re not really needed.
All I can see is a performance. Everything is so performative, even their charity work.
Yes, I agree BUT they are 94 & 99 and I will cut them some slack for phoning it in.
This is the work of courtiers who need a distraction from the crown and the remembrance faux pas. This not the queen’s doing. She does what she’s told.
The whole royal institution is performative at this point. No king/queen is deciding to conquer neighboring lands or start up a new church. It’s waving from balconies and opening little curtains to reveal plaques.
LOL, no way the kids made that card. I mean, maybe they glued the pieces on exactly where they were told to do it by their nanny – but its too perfect. If kids were gluing stuff on a card like that it would be a lot messier (in a charming way.)
This is such a PR attempt to show how the royals are “just like us” – we don’t usually see them in more casual rooms like that, with a couch that does NOT look like its from the 19th century – usually the rooms we have seen at Windsor are the super formal ones. The casualness of this photo is so staged – just an old married couple relaxing on the couch in front of their big window, perfectly normal!
I will give them props for making it clear that they aren’t seeing family (or at least giving that impression.)
Does Chris Jackson have to quarantine before taking these pictures?
I think Chris is probably pretty far away from the couple in actuality with mask and gloves to boot. Cameras can zoom in and flashes/photo equipment can be strategically placed.
Considering how big and how high-ceilinged those rooms are (and have you seen how long those dining tables are??) they could all “be together” and STILL not be anywhere near each other! lol
But agreed, my first thought seeing this was “Where’s the kids’ card?? That “73” is too perfect, and too perfectly placed for kids to have done it (in my experience teaching grades 1-3 for 30 yrs). And yes, Archie, at 18 mos. can scribble out a picture by holding a crayon or marker (supervised, on a COVERED tabled, because you KNOW he will whip the hell with that marker across the paper! lol)
To be honest it reminds me of Harry and Meghan. The casual dress, the sofa being present, the bit of decor shown and coffee table. Even how close they are sitting seems strange to me. If Charles and Camilla do something similar, I will officially think this is another thing the royals copied from Meghan. I also don’t recall the royals being photographed in such a relaxed setting, although I haven’t been royals watching as long as some of you here (I only really came around when Meg enter the fold).
oh lordy you’re right. They’re copying Meghan’s Zoom calls!!! LMAO
I thought that, too. I thought OMG they have Harry and Meghan’s Montecito Mansion windows ! Lol. No wonder this is the first “Royal” room I’ve ever seen that I actually liked. I can’t remember ever seeing a photo of the royals in a room that didn’t look stuffy and haunted.
Getting 73 years together (in a happy union) is a wonderful gift. Few are so blessed. I hope I am very very wrong and that the gossip is very very wrong and that the gift isn’t wasted on these two. I hope at the very least they still love each other even if they aren’t in love with each other.
One last point I want to make…they have many grand children and great grandchildren at this point. Yet we mostly ever really see focus on William’s kids. I am glad there was at least mention of the other grandchildren and great grandchildren this time. Maybe that nicely done 73 card was done by one of the older sets of kids?
Oops, correction, I see the actual caption specifies it’s a card from William’s kids. There isn’t an actual mention of the other grand and great-grandkids? Sheesh.
Good catch. Quite a change from having a gold piano in the background.
I thought the same thing because they are usually much more formal. Who’d think that M&H making a few zoom calls from their sofa would get all the royals switching it up. Now they all want the couch with the plump cushions and background art and Knick knacks. It’s very weird.
Yeah, my 7 year old is very precise and probably could not have managed to color like that (z59 me it looks like marker). Unless that one is from one of Peter’s girls? Because my 9 year old could definitely pull that off and good point about the photographer, though if he stayed 6 feet apart and wore a mask, it was probably ok (except they should have been wearing masks too).
I cant tell if its marker or cut and paste – and I’ll admit I do know some 6-8 year olds who are VERY precise with their coloring, but the caption said that it was a card from the three Cambridge kids and while they may have scribbled their name, I highly doubt they did a lot more than that, lol.
Looks to me like someone measured out circles on a bigger sheet of paper, the kids colored and/or painted them in as well as they could, then that someone cut out the circles and the 73 afterwards. That’s why it looks so neat. In the picture on Twitter, you can see the pen or pencil outline of where the original circle was drawn on the orange circle in particular, and also on the 7.
That way, the kids wouldn’t have to be precise about their coloring. They also wouldn’t be very precise about gluing the cutouts on the card either, so someone else was obviously involved in that too.
It’s kind of a clever idea, actually to have kids fill in pre-drawn circles and then have them cut out. Not sure I’d sell it as “the kids totally made this” though.
I love the sofa. Looks expensive and comfortable and I love the peek into their private living space. So it’s not all gold pianos and oil paintings? Surprise, surprise! But, I think this is copying the “Meghan sits on her own furniture and gives us a glimpse of her private home” approach.
On the KP Instagram, you can see a close up of the card made “by the children,” and it’s very obvious that most of it was colored and cut out and pasted by an adult but a few of the polka dots looks like they were colored by the kids.
What I want to know is what’s on the inside of that card? From the picture of Phil looking at it, it looks blank. Where’s the message or the inside coloring or the signatures even? Is it seriously a prop card with no inside? Or did they photoshop the inside away because that’s “too personal”?
I’m a nanny and when I make cards with kids, I might come up with some kind of front of the card concept, like a cake. I cut out a cake from construction paper, paste it to the front, and the kids “decorate” the cake with stickers and markers and whatever. Or I might do something like cutting out the big “73” on this card by myself and pasting it onto the front. But then the inside of any card is a free-for-all of children’s drawings and scribbling and stickers and random pieces of construction paper that they paste in wherever they want. Usually half of the page is them signing their name because children write HUGE letters.
The inside of this card looks blank on the right side where the message and signatures usually are. And with the card up being held against the light from the window, we should be able to see whatever was on the left side (on the back of the 73 part) showing through. But I don’t see anything there either. Was it seriously just a prop and they only made the front of a card? Why? Is there a “real card” somewhere that they didn’t want to show because it’s “private” or too messy?
I find it funny now that Bulliam involved his children in everything LOL, and it is ironic that last year when H&M released a photo of Harry holding Archie with Chuck on Chuck’s birthday, Bulliam’s stans said Meghan is narcissism and everything about her
Oh, to have the confidence of a 94-year-old woman planning something two years from now!
ohhhh that comment made me laugh really hard haha
Archie can definitely scribble with a jumbo crayon at this point. Or paint with non toxic paint, they have fat brushes for baby hands.
I love everything about the queens look here. It is beautiful and classic and would still be suitable for a woman half her age.
for as long as I can remember, the Queen has always “teased” Prince Charles with the possibility of her abdicating the throne, and I don’t believe she has any intentions of doing so; she’ll be wheeled out of there, feet first…and Charles will do the same to his son William
ha ha, it serves Will right to have to wait, and Waity herself, it’s something she’s actually got experience at 😉
The photo looks very weird to me….the editing is making them look ghostly imo like a photo from the afterlife.
At this point, a suit to Philip is prob as comfortable as sweats are to us.
He’s always been a very dapper guy even back in the day at Balmoral pictures hiking and barbecuing with the fam in oikskins and Irish sweaters.
@beck the royals have been blatantly copying Meghan since she’s arrived, more so after she’s gone. Kate been SWF her style, William’s cookbook forward, and all of them have been copying her social media strategy. Now the queen and Philip are pictures relaxed in their home. 🤨Even Charles created a capsule collection similar to smartworks with net a porter which features sustainable fashion. The pieces also look like things Meghan would wear. The queen was featured in the forces for change issue this year, which of course was Meghan’s idea. And Charles also had a spread in Vogue. There are so many more examples as well. Meghan is the leader she’s the one bringing the change the monarchy needs they’re just mad they didn’t do it first. I’ve said this before but a Meg is the queen consort the my need not a Kate. They hate Meghan because they know she’s right.
I meant Will needs a Meg not a Kate .
You could have sworn that the Queen and Phillipe only have one grandchild and 3 great-grandchildren since everything thing revolves around those three. Nothing from Peter or Zara’s children’s who are more than big enough to draw something for their great grandparents. Why did they have to point out that the drawing was made by William’s children.
@Madamoira I also wondered why the card couldn’t have represented all the greatgrand children. It is all PR from The Cambridges, I bet you, they arranged for the photo op, and shamefully singled out their children, with the exclusion of the other 5. Peter, Zara and even Sofie& Edward, whose children are the queen’s grandchildren.
In their world, it’s all about the heirs a d succession only. The rest of the family are superfluous and exist to prop up the heirs and their egos. We see what they do if any of the others outshine the heirs.
The Queen is wearing the same broach she wore while on honeymoon at Broadlands.
those Cambridge kids sure are creative geniuses.
LOL!
THe critics of Meghan and Harry on social media are bashing them for not sending a card on Archie’s behalf. As if they have any clue if they sent a card or not.
Who ever photoshopped this gave the Queen one heck of a unibrow. It’s all I can see now.
She looks like one of the Monty Python guys dressed up as the Queen.
It took the kids *hours* to make that card?!? I don’t even see glitter.
It’s a nice touch, but the only thing it does is remind everyone that if you are not in the “center” you don’t matter in this family. I am sure Savannah, Isla, and Mia also sent cards. Savannah and Isla have had a particularly tough year, it would have been nice to show them some attention. I remember listening to the Duke of Kent talk during “The Queen at 90.” He was relating how his mother always told him and his siblings to pay attention to the “important” ones. He also shared how at Christmas the table is seated based on rank. This is during a family only celebration. I can’t even imagine. Wonder what all the folks screaming about staged photos are saying now. Just saw the Cambridges posted a photo of the card on their twitter. Giving it just as much importance as the photo of the Queen and Phillip. Imagine if another couple had done this.
omg they did post the card. Wow.
I know. I feel bad for all the other grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Hopefully their parents don’t let them really see all of the things while they are young.
They look like assholes for ignoring the other great grand kids. A wedding anniversary should be an occasion to celebrate the entire family not just the line of succession. Mia and Savannah and Anne’s other grandkids probably sent something nice too but they think this succession bs makes them look good. It doesn’t.
It’s also a reminder that Charlotte and Louis will be discarded soon enough.
I’m surprised it was not limited to a card by George. The Queen ignores all her other great grandchildren.
73 years of infidelity, racism, and shit fuckery.
Congrats, Petty!
DS9: 😂😂😂👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 and furthermore 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼😂😂😂😂. Nailed it!
Congrats to them I guess but this picture of them sitting and looking at through a magazine/book look like an art work not live human. They dont look lifelike
Agreed!
My kids would get in a knock-down, drag-out fight if one of them “shared” anything like Phillip is “sharing” that card.
Bitch, let her see it!
Does anyone else suspect her hair is a wig? Perhaps it’s that i’m not used to seeing her from that odd angle on the couch, but the ‘do looks as if it’s just perched there on top of her head in a very unnatural way. My auntie is also 94 and she started wearing wigs several years ago as what she’s got left is patchy and thin.
Not just the hair, but her makeup is God awful! She’s deathly pale, but a shit-ton of bronzer by her ears!
I dunno. Something about her face. That seems almost…I can’t quite put my finger on it. He actually looks more normal for his age in this picture, instead of a walking corpse.
73 years. Wow.
“I can’t believe they would stage this photo” said NONE of the British media. Bettys loyalty to propping up The Keens really infuriates me. All she’s doing is enabling Willie and Kate by basically saying she supports their behaviour.
Anyway that card was not made by children, it’s way too neat. They could have atleast made it a bit more crap and cover it in glitter to make it believable. I guess I should say well done nanny Marie on your artistic efforts.
Anyway congrats on 73 years of marriage, now let Big Phil get back to his mistress.
I was thinking the same thing. No way those kids made that card.
Well, PwBT DID say that Kate likes to color in adult coloring books “to relax” (hahahaha, yeah)… so maybe she did it, ripped it out, cut it out, pasted it down, and had the kids scribble their names inside 😄
It’s obvious that’s what Kate has been really working on during the lockdown since she’s not doing any engagements at the moment.
Whilst im happy for them, hard to ignore how these two found love and got married but made it impossible for everyone in their family to do the same. Shame on them. Especially the so called queen.
Are you sure they found love. Their “love story” sounded kind of creepy to me. He started corresponding with her when he was 18 and she was 13. He was a dashing man in a uniform so I’m sure she was smitten. He comes off as sort of grooming her and he fell into a cushy position with marriage to her and could still fool around on the side. Why do you think his advice to his children about marriage comes off sounding more like duty than love?
She got the “feels” for him off the bat. His uncle PedoMountbatten told him that, as a deposed Greek Prince, Liz was going to be the very best match he was going to/could get, so he encouraged the correspondence “romance”.
Are you sure they found love. Their “love story” sounded kind of creepy to me. He started corresponding with her when he was 18 and she was 13. He was a dashing man in a uniform so I’m sure she was smitten. He comes off as sort of grooming her and he fell into a cushy position with marriage to her and could still fool around on the side. Why do you think his advice to his children about marriage comes off sounding more like duty than love?
The queen tolerated his cheating and expected the other brides to do the same. It’s why Diana got no sympathy and Kate got a Royal Victorian Order.
That always made me so angry.
I don’t know a lot of background on these two – how do we know they loathe each other?
I don’t believe they loathe each other but instead bicker much of the time. If they do loathe each other then spending time more time together at the relatively small Wood farm after Balmoral would be out of the question.
That sofa looks so soft, it must’ve taken a couple of people to help them get up from it.
I think he probably enjoys wearing the suits. He has been in uniform, really, his entire adult life. Some people enjoy that sort of thing. He did marry a queen, after all. Seems like he would be into pomp and ceremony.
They’ve been married longer than many people have been alive so that’s an accomplishment in their world. If they need to throw out these nuggets, let them. This is their typical thing, with the symbolism of the future heirs on display as well.
So I see where Charles gets his sausage fingers.
I don’t at all begrudge the BRF from promoting the “center” only: the monarch and the heirs. That’s kind of the way it should be, keep it simple and direct, they are the ones who matter (for as long as the monarchy lasts). It’s the fact that the BRF have to constantly criticize Harry for leaving that is so enraging. Only the main line matters so why should they care if one of the branches wants to leave the tree? Isn’t that the right of the ones who aren’t in the primary line of succession? Why should Harry have to subjugate himself, his talents, his wishes, forever and ever to the heirs?