Dorothy Wilding (1893-1976) was a British photographer from Gloucester and the first female royal photographer. After studying alongside the photographer Marian Neilson she opened her own studio in 1914 and another in New York in 1937. She started photographing the Royal Family in 1928 and would proceed to photograph King George VI and his family, at his Coronation and produce the first image of Queen Elizabeth II for the Royal Mail stamps.

The cost of George VI's Coronation was £454,000, more than three times the bill for his father's 1911 ceremony. This was deemed necessary following the abdication of the new King's brother, Edward VIII, which shook the foundations of the British establishment to the core. It was the last great 'Imperial' royal occasion, celebrated throughout the British Empire, which then still included 'the Jewel in the Crown' India. King George and Queen Elizabeth were the last British monarchs to accede to the title Emperor and Empress of India.

Black & white photograph by Dorothy Wilding, signed and dated by the King and Queen, 1937, with Wilding's studio label on the reverse; image: 250 x 200 mm; mounted and framed: 430 x 370 mm

Cf. National Portrait Gallery ref: 29573 for another from the same shoot.