What a great granny! Queen cuddles Princess Charlotte as she poses with Royal youngsters, daughter Anne and her beloved corgis in three poignant portraits to mark her 90th birthday today 

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It is a portrait not only of a monarch, but of a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother too.

Taken by renowned American photographer Annie Leibovitz at Windsor Castle last month, this remarkable picture – which, in its lighting and composition, echoes the great royal oil paintings of the past – has been released by Buckingham Palace to mark the Queen’s 90th birthday today.

It was, said one who was involved in the process, a deliberate decision by the sovereign. For as much as this day has become a national celebration, it is also very much a family event too. After all, Elizabeth is a proud great-grandmother five times over.

The Queen is seen for the first time cuddling the youngest of her family, 11-month-old Princess Charlotte, in the picture which was taken just after Easter in the Green Drawing Room at Windsor.

Taken by renowned American photographer Annie Leibovitz at Windsor Castle last month, these remarkable pictures have been released to mark the Queen’s 90th birthday today. The first (pictured) shows Her Majesty surrounded by her grandchildren and great-grandchildren

Cheeky little Mia Tindall can be seen proudly holding up her great-granny’s £1,000 Launer handbag in a moment, says one who was there, that was totally unscripted. 

‘The moment with Mia was completely spontaneous, it was not staged at all. She just picked up her great-granny’s handbag and that was it,’ they said.

It was, they revealed, a ‘happy, chaotic, warm afternoon’ with the parents of the children all present and trying to catch their offspring’s eye.

‘Taking pictures of children is like herding cats but for that split second, it just worked. Annie [Leibovitz ] has children of her own and knows her stuff.’

The group portrait is one of three released today, the other two being of the Queen and her beloved dogs, and a rare and surprisingly warm shot of the Queen with her daughter Princess Anne.

‘There was a very definite idea behind the set,’ said a royal aide. ‘The Queen wanted a portrait of the youngest members of the family, the other end of the generational spectrum. You have the two youngest grandchildren, who are quite a lot younger than the others, and the great-grandchildren.

‘It was a happy, nice, relaxed afternoon. There was a lovely feeling to it. All the parents were helping to get the shot right – a classic composition, rather like an Old Master but with a modern twist.’

Family: The Queen wanted a portrait of the youngest members of the family - her two youngest grandchildren, who are quite a lot younger than the others, and the great-grandchildren. Pictured left to right: James, Viscount Severn, Lady Louise Alice Elizabeth Mary Mountbatten-Windsor, Mia Tindall, the Queen, Princess Charlotte, Savannah Phillips, Prince George and Isla Phillips

The children surrounding the Queen in this image are:

1. James, Viscount Severn, the eight-year-old second child of the Earl and Countess of Wessex. Born at Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey, he is currently tenth in line to the throne.

He was, in 2008, the first to be christened in a replica of the gown originally used by Queen Victoria for her children, commissioned by his grandmother the Queen, which has since been handed down the generations.

A slightly shy and cautious child by nature, as demonstrated by his sweet but awkward hands-in-pockets pose, James, like his sister Louise, goes to a small local school close to his parents’ Surrey home.

2. Lady Louise Alice Elizabeth Mary Mountbatten-Windsor, James’s protective elder sister who, despite a traumatic premature birth, is maturing into a confident and pretty young girl.

Louise, 12, who is 11th in line to the throne, was a much longed-for child for Edward and Sophie.

She was born four weeks prematurely in an emergency caesarean operation during which her life was in peril. She now bears an uncanny resemblance to her grandmother at the same age.

Last year her mother Sophie revealed that ‘premature babies can often have squints because they are the last thing in the baby package to really be finalised’. Louise required surgery to correct it but now she can see perfectly.

Modern family: The Queen is pictured at Princess Charlotte's christening along with Prince William, Prince George, and the Duchess of Cambridge, holding the little princess. Standing, from left: Michael Middleton, Pippa Middleton, James Middleton, Carole Middleton, The Prince of Wales, The Duchess of Cornwall and The Duke of Edinburgh

3. Mia Tindall, the chubby-cheeked toddler proudly holding up her ‘Gan-Gan’s’ handbag, is the daughter of former royal rebel Zara Phillips and her England rugby player husband Mike Tindall. 

The two-year-old is no stranger to the world of horses thanks to Olympian Zara and was sitting on her first pony even before she could walk.

More used to jeans and wellies, here she wears a rose-pink knitted cardigan, jean skirt and smart ‘party’ shoes with pretty frilled socks and her hair swept to one side.

4. Princess Charlotte, sitting on the Queen’s lap, is the newest addition to the Royal Family and fourth in line to the throne.

She appears as ‘ladylike’ as her doting father, Prince William, says she is, sitting bolt upright and crossing her legs.

She is wearing a flowered dress made by Spanish boutique m&h, which costs £21 and was a gift from her nanny, Maria Borrallo. 

Her £11 pale pink tights are by Amaia and the outfit is completed by a cardigan matching Mia’s. Charlotte’s brunette hair is swept to one side in a pretty pink bow, and she appears to be holding a plastic toy horse.

5. Savannah Phillips, elder daughter of Peter Phillips and his Canadian wife Autumn, is the eldest of the Queen’s great-grandchildren and 14th in line to the throne.

Savannah, five, who was not given any title at birth at the request of her parents, lives in what has been called ‘the family commune’ at Gatcombe Park.

She enjoys a hugely carefree existence, running around Princess Anne’s vast grounds, and was christened privately at a small Gloucestershire church.

Perched proudly on a pile of foam blocks, but holding daddy's hand just in case, Prince George poses for his very first postage stamp alongside his father, his grandfather – and the great-grandmother in this picture which was released by the Royal Mail yesterday

6. Prince George hides a delightfully mischievous nature. Indeed, on their recent tour to India, his parents apologised for not bringing him but said they couldn’t have risked his running around, while his father frequently describes him as a ‘cheeky little monkey’.

Although George, two, is a future king, his parents send their son to Westacre, a small Montessori nursery school close to their Norfolk home.

The prince is wearing a pair of burgundy shorts, believed to be by Rachel Riley, with a Peter Pan-collar shirt and a blue cardigan. On his feet are £7 Amaia Kids navy socks and smart blue shoes. His blond curls have been firmly swept to one side.

7. Isla Phillips, standing to her cousin George’s left, is Savannah’s three-year-old sister.

Today the Queen will officially mark her birthday with a walkabout in Windsor and an evening event with Prince Charles in which she will light the first of 1,000 beacons across the globe.

This will be followed by a private dinner at the castle for 60 of her closest friends and relatives, thrown by the Prince of Wales.

Picture that reveals the unique bond between a devoted mother and daughter

Most Royal Family photographs are charming, innocuous and, often, a teeny-weeny bit predictable. But once in a while an official picture comes along that is not just unusual, it is also revealing.

Just such a photo has emerged to mark the Queen’s 90th birthday with this remarkable portrait of mother and daughter – unusual because most family photos show the Queen surrounded by the men in her life, particularly her sons and grandsons, and revealing because of the message it conveys.

Here the smiles are soft and open and the eyes of both Princess Anne and her mother are appealing. This, you instinctively feel, is how the two women see one another.

Anne, so often portrayed as the imperious, haughty, glove-wearing Princess Royal, looks soothingly benign. And the Queen? Her contentment suggests there’s no one else she’d rather have by her side.

The second portrait is a rare and surprisingly warm shot of the Queen with her daughter Princess Anne in the Palace's White Drawing Room

That just might be the truth of this stunning photograph. For away from the formalities of royal life, the two women are exceptionally close.

Just look at the way Anne’s arm runs protectively along her mother’s back and how the Queen nuzzles into her daughter’s shoulder, both a reassuring presence in each other’s life. They are relaxed.

Yet over the years it has become almost obligatory to discuss the influence of Prince Charles, his brothers Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, and Prince Philip, of course, on the Queen.

Perhaps it was the way the fiercely independent Anne just got on with things and didn’t bring her problems home to Mummy. Even when her first marriage (to Captain Mark Phillips) went so catastrophically wrong, there was no emotional hand-wringing of the injustice of it all, as there was with the Prince of Wales at his marital woes.

There was no need for the Queen to indulge Anne, as she has had to indulge Andrew, her favourite son, through his gaffe-strewn years.

The Queen with her daughter Princess Anne in March 1960 - away from the formalities of royal life, the two women are exceptionally close

Nor has there been any requirement to mollycoddle her daughter as she has, on occasions, had to nursemaid Prince Edward over his errors of judgment.

Of all the royal children, Anne has always been the most relaxed and, in private, the most ordinary, a princess who wears her royal pedigree lightly and has never viewed it as a burden.

For all the testosterone that has surrounded our monarch, from her sons to the almost exclusively male senior courtiers at Buckingham Palace, the Queen has always relied on the counsel of women.

Until 2002 it was fulfilled by two significant figures, her mother and her sister.

But the death of Princess Margaret and the Queen Mother within six weeks of one another deprived the Queen of a critical support.

Of all the royal children, Anne has always been the most relaxed and, in private, the most ordinary, a princess who wears her royal pedigree lightly and has never viewed it as a burden

In the 14 years since, she has turned increasingly to her no-nonsense daughter. They speak plainly and warmly to each other.

And it is Anne, who many years ago, admitted with rare royal candour that she knew she was ‘not everyone’s idea of a fairytale princess’, who embodies many of her mother’s ideals.

Everyone knew what she was getting at – here was a real princess not blessed with conventional chocolate box prettiness. But all the same, a truly professional royal, not a pleasure-seeking hanger-on.

At 65 she has been married twice, has enjoyed international sporting success as a horsewoman and, thanks to her children Peter and Zara, has become a grandmother three times over.

There has also been talk of affairs and yet for four-and-a-half decades in public life she has scarcely put a foot wrong and her restrained but enthusiastic commitment to her official duties has earned the gratitude of the nation.

From the moment she decided with the birth of Peter almost 40 years ago not to handicap her children with royal titles, Anne has demonstrated her own ideas of what a modern monarchy should look like. There was never any standing on ceremony in the Phillips’ household.

Peter and Zara helped with the cooking in the kitchen and helped with mucking out the horses in the stables.

They were not smacked – though Anne threatened them often – but neither were they spoiled. They even went to the local village school. No wonder Anne later remarked how pleased she was at the way they had turned out.

The same could surely be said by the Queen about her daughter – often described as ‘the best king we never had’.

Within the Royal Family, of course, it is known how pivotal the Princess Royal is.

It is for this reason that whenever courtiers air Prince Charles’s plans to reduce the size of the family Anne’s name is never mentioned.

While Andrew and Edward have become accustomed to their older brother’s whims which will see their roles diminished, Anne is likely to have an enhanced position under a future King Charles.

This accords with the Queen’s wishes, too. The special relationship between mother and daughter was forged in the heat of the Charles/Diana marriage calamity.

Anne was a calming and steady influence for a Queen at her wits’ end over the Waleses.

Sometimes she would escape to Anne’s little flat in Dolphin Square where the princess would prepare her mother’s favourite dish of cheese souffle.

But more usually she was on the end of the phone as the Queen regaled her with the latest episode in Charles v Diana.

As she fretted over the future of her throne she saw in Anne the perfect foil to a Prince of Wales who looked during those crisis-filled days of the 1990s as if he would reign alone.

As the dramas dissipated in the early years of this century and with Charles happily remarried, mother and daughter have continued to enjoy the most affectionate of relationships.

That is the message of this photograph.

When the Queen poses with her son, grandson and great-grandson as she did earlier this week, it is all about the future of the monarchy. It’s also formal and it’s serious.

Posing with her daughter is about the present.

It is also about acknowledging Anne’s unique closeness – and signalling it to the world.

When the Queen poses with her son, grandson and great-grandson as she did earlier this week, it is all about the future of the monarchy. But posing with her daughter is about the present. It is also about acknowledging Anne’s unique closeness – and signalling it to the world

Always at her side, her most loyal little courtiers of all

They are as much a part of her cherished family as her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

And when she is with her beloved corgis and dorgis, the Queen is seldom happier or more relaxed. Smiling on the steps of Windsor Castle, a long way from the stiff formality of official portraits in glittering staterooms, she looks truly comfortable in the company of her four-legged companions.

Photographer Annie Leibovitz captured this touching vignette of Her Majesty with her two corgis, Willow and Holly, and two dorgis – corgi-dachshund crosses – Candy and Vulcan.

Smiling on the steps of Windsor Castle the Queen looks truly comfortable in the company of her four-legged and loyal companions

With one hand tucked in the pocket of her pale blue coat, the Queen could scarcely look more contented as she pauses on the stone steps at the East Terrace of the castle’s private grounds.

The canine quartet’s starring role in one of the monarch’s 90th birthday portraits is a fitting tribute to all 30-plus corgis who have shared her life for more than seven decades.

Lest anyone underestimate their place in her world, the Queen once proclaimed: ‘My corgis are family.’

The then Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth II) with two of her pet corgi dogs at her home in London in July 1936

Dr Roger Mugford, an animal psychologist who has dealt with canine discipline problems at Buckingham Palace for more than 20 years, recently observed: ‘When she’s talking about her dogs or her horses you see a completely different side to her: she relaxes. Dogs are great levellers, and they’re not influenced by social status, which must be a great relief to her. No wonder she enjoys being around them.’

Some have suggested it is the corgi breed’s natural unruliness – in contrast to the highly formal life she has to lead – that underlines her lifelong fondness for them.They have served as a refuge from the solemn convention she must follow in her public role, as well as providing her with an unending source of love and affection.

And as this extraordinary portrait shows, their loyalty to their mistress seems just as potent. With the exception of Candy, sniffing around near her feet, the dogs are all facing obediently in the right direction at least, as the camera shutter clicks.

The Marquess of Salisbury once remarked that the Queen ‘is the most remarkable controller of dogs ... she is a genius for it’.

Not always, of course, as many a footman, prime minister, lady-in-waiting or diplomat whose heels have been nipped may testify.

Former royal butler Paul Burrell was once knocked unconscious when he was dragged over the steps of Sandringham House by nine leashed corgis.

And the Queen herself needed three stitches and a tetanus jab when she was bitten on the hand in 1991 while trying to break up a fight between six of her corgis and two of the Queen Mother’s. But at dinner times, the corgis and dorgis always know their place, sitting obediently around Her Majesty as she feeds them a dinner of boiled chuck steak, poached chicken or liver and rabbit.

Holly and Willow, aged 12, are thought to be the 14th generation descendants of the Queen’s first corgi, Susan.

They, along with one of Her Majesty’s then corgis, Monty, were the pets that appeared in the James Bond sketch the sovereign recorded with Daniel Craig for the London Olympics opening ceremony.

The Queen was devastated when Monty, who was 13, died a couple of months later.

She is no longer introducing new pets or breeding corgis. Courtiers said she worried about lively young dogs around her feet and the danger she might trip over one.

But a more poignant reason emerged last year, when it was said she does not want to leave any behind when she dies.

At one stage she had some 13 corgis – who have an average lifespan of 12 to 13 years – but now there are just two, plus the two dorgis. Many of the Queen’s dogs have been descended from Susan, who was an 18th birthday present from her parents and even accompanied the then Princess Elizabeth on her honeymoon in 1947.

The breed became a firm favourite after her father George VI, then the Duke of York, bought a Pembroke Welsh corgi called Dookie in 1933. A second corgi, called Jane, joined the family soon afterwards.

The royal dorgis were introduced when one of the Queen’s corgis, Tiny, was mated with a dachshund called Pipkin which belonged to Princess Margaret.

Within Buckingham Palace, the approach of the Queen is sometimes heralded by the sight of her dogs scurrying around ahead of their mistress – a sight described by Princess Diana as a ‘moving carpet’.

And as the Queen celebrates her remarkable 90 years, her loyal dogs will no doubt remain faithfully at her side.

Within Buckingham Palace, the approach of the Queen is sometimes heralded by the sight of her dogs scurrying around ahead of their mistress – a sight described by Princess Diana as a ‘moving carpet’ (Pictured: Left, the Queen and her pets in 1980, and right, in 1994)

ANNIE LEIBOVITZ: THE EDGY PHOTOGRAPHER WHO SHOOTS HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY - AND NOW REAL MONARCHS

Annie Leibovitz was perhaps quite a controversial choice to photograph the monarch in honour of her 90th birthday

She toured with the Rolling Stones in the 1970s – and a past encounter she had with the Queen saw a BBC executive lose his job.

So Annie Leibovitz was perhaps quite a controversial choice to photograph the monarch in honour of her 90th birthday.

American Miss Leibovitz, 66, is best known for her artfully staged portraits of Hollywood royalty – as opposed to the real thing – for Vanity Fair magazine.

She has repeatedly broken new ground with her work on challenging subjects.

She pictured US president Richard Nixon resigning, photographed actress Demi Moore naked and pregnant, and was the photographer chosen last year to introduce transgender athlete-turned-reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner to the world.

Yet despite, or perhaps because of, the edginess of much of her work, Miss Leibovitz is one of the most acclaimed portrait photographers in the world. 

It was she who took the famous 1980 picture of Yoko Ono fully clothed alongside a naked John Lennon, just hours before the Beatles star was shot dead.

In 2007, a shoot she did with the Queen made headline news after featuring in a BBC documentary – whose trailer falsely suggested the monarch had ‘stormed out’ of the session when asked to remove her crown.

BBC1 controller Peter Fincham was forced to resign after it emerged there had been no storming out, and the unedited footage actually showed the Queen arriving for the photoshoot.

Miss Leibovitz was in a long-term relationship with the late feminist intellectual Susan Sontag, documenting much of their life on camera.

She has three daughters, two born to a surrogate mother.