A Mid 20th Century Royal Presentation Portrait Photograph of George VI by Dorothy Wilding, signed and dated 1951 by the King

George VIs portrayed in Field Marshal's service dress unform.

Dorothy Wilding (1893-1976)

Dorothy Wilding was the favoured royal photographer of George VI and his family. Having established her first studio in Bond Street in 1929, she first photographed the future Queen Consort, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, This, in time, led to the double portrait of the royal couple that was subsequently adapted for the 1937 Coronation issue
postage stamps. The same portrait also led to the award of a Royal Warrant, making Wilding the first woman to be appointed an official photographer to the Sovereign. In George VI's coronation year of 1937, she produced the iconic official Royal Family coronation portrait. This acclaim led to the opening of a second studio in New York, where she photographed George Bernard Shaw, Douglas Fairbanks, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and Tallulah Bankhead and many others. After the sad passing of George VI on 6 February 1952 Wilding famously produced the striking portraits of Her Majesty which used on the newc definitive postage stamps  otherwise known as Wilding’s stamps.

Dorothy Wilding's surviving archives were presented to the National Portrait Gallery by in 1976 and formed the basis of a major N.P.G. retrospective exhibition and catalogue in  1991 entitled The Pursuit of Perfection.