T.R.H The Duke and Duchess of York, Princess Elizabeth Country Life Magazine Portrait December 25 1926

T.R.H The Duke and Duchess of York with Princess Elizabeth Country Life Magazine Portrait, Frontispiece, December 25 1926. LX No. 1562.

The featured frontispiece this week is a portrait of T.R.H. the Duke and Duchess of York, with their infant daughter, Princess Elizabeth. Their Royal Highnesses sail in H.M.S. Renown early in the New Year to visit Australia and New Zealand. The Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother) with their firstborn, Princess Elizabeth (the future Queen Elizabeth II), who was then only a few months old.

• The "New Year" voyage mentioned is the 1927 Royal Tour of Australia and New Zealand, a major diplomatic mission
• Departure: Their Royal Highnesses set sail from England on January 6, 1927.
• The Ship: They traveled aboard the battlecruiser H.M.S. Renown, a vessel frequently used for royal tours due to its speed and prestige
• The primary purpose of the visit to Australia was to open the provisional Parliament House in Canberra in May 1927.
• In New Zealand, they visited several cities, though the Duchess was famously forced to cut her tour short due to a bout of tonsillitis
• Leaving Princess Elizabeth Behind: In a move that made headlines, the infant Princess Elizabeth did not join her parents. She remained in London under the care of her grandparents, King George V and Queen Mary.
• The tour was an immense public success, with over one million people gathered to see them enter Sydney Harbour alone.

This is an authentic original page from Country Life magazine, part of the iconic series often affectionately referred to as the “Girls in Pearls” portraits — elegant society images that captured a distinctive era of British publishing and portraiture.

Size: Approximately 13.75 x 9 inches (35 x 23 cm)

Condition: Very good for its age. As with all vintage magazine pages, light signs of handling or minor age-related blemishes may be present. Please review the large photo carefully for full condition details.

This original Country Life Magazine frontispiece portrait forms part of The Old Map Shop’s curated archive of society portraits published between 1897 and 2026.