The American artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol once said 'I want to be as famous as the Queen of England'.

An initiator and exponent of Pop Art in the 1950s and 60s, he used photography, often not his own, to create secondary images which had an innovatory and rejuvenating impact on the nature of portraiture. This iconic set of portraits is part of a series entitled Reigning Queens, which included Queen Margarethe of Denmark, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Queen Ntombi of Swaziland, and is derived from an official 1977 Jubilee photograph by Peter Grugeon. The repetition of the four prints is reminiscent of postage stamps, reflecting the sheer quantity of images that exist of the Queen, but each print has a separate identity. Warhol has treated the Queen not as a monarch, but as one of the many celebrities he depicted, and he once said 'I want to be as famous as the Queen of England'. His approach reinvigorated the traditional presentation of royalty.

Sitter Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (1950-), Business executive and entrepreneur. Sitter in 5 portraits. Artist David Stefan Mach (1956-), Sculptor. Artist of 1 portrait, Sitter in 1 portrait. The portrait of Branson includes numerous postcards of the National Portrait Gallery's self-portrait by Dame Laura Knight. Sitter Diana, Princess of Wales (1961-1997), Princess of Wales. Sitter in 42 portraits. Artist David Bailey (1938-), Photographer and film-maker. Artist of 25 portraits, Sitter in 11 portraits. The wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1981 was watched by an estimated 750 million television viewers; with such intense public scrutiny, the changing image of the Princess was minutely documented through the 1980s, Bailey's classically elegant portrait marking a high point in her iconography. Commissioned by the Trustees and given by the Photographer, 1989.