Dorothy Wilding
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Dorothy Wilding (10 January 1893 - 9 February 1976) was a noted British photographer from Gloucester. She wanted to become an actress or artist but this career was disallowed by her uncle, in whose family she lived, so she chose the art of photography which she started to learn from the age of sixteen.
By 1929 she had already moved studio a few times and in her Bond Street, London, studio she attracted theatrical stars and shot her first British Royal Family portrait of the 17-year-old Prince George (later Duke of Kent). This sitting eventually led to the famous Wilding portrait of the new Queen Elizabeth II that was used for a series of postage stamps used between 1953 and 1967. A previous portrait sitting of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon Queen Consort of King George VI had turned into a double portrait of the royal couple and was adapted for the 1937 Coronation issue stamp. That portrait led to her being the first woman awarded a Royal Warrant to be the official photographer to a King and Queen at their coronation.
