Of all the images of Queen Elizabeth II, writer Elizabeth Holmes thinks most about this black-and-white photograph taken 1952, less than a year into the queen's reign, at the Commonwealth Prime Ministers Economic Conference. In front of an ornate backdrop stand nine mostly old, male leaders from around the world. And in the middle of the pack is the 26-year-old Queen of England clad in a voluminous tiered-skirt gown, elbow-length gloves, and a sparkling tiara. Her hands are folded neatly in front of her, holding her clutch, and her face is set in an even smile, a glaring reminder that she became queen as a very young woman, and on a male-dominated global stage. "To me," Holmes writer, "the photo sums up so much of her legacy and her appeal, explaining the outpouring of grief happening now. Elizabeth is standing resolutely in her position, with her relentless femininity on full display. She dispensed it early on as a way to dazzle and delight, to win hearts around the globe and lay the foundation for her time as a benevolent ruler (at least in the public imagination). The power she depicts is glamorous and graceful, the most romanticized ideal of royalty. The institution’s violent, horrifying history replaced by a nurturer, a mother of a nation." Read Holmes' full essay at the link in bio.