That Wilding Woman who ‘Launched’ the Queen
Dorothy Wilding: Self-Made Superstar Photographer
Imagine this Wilding woman, standing in front of this young princess
About to take those iconic pictures that launch her as the Queen.
“Chin up, Your Highness — No don’t smile. That’s it; remember who you are.”
Actually, I doubt that anyone alive knows what was said between them, and I most definitely doubt that Her Royal Highness had to be told to remember who she was. She had been in training to be the monarch since she was ten, and her father had just died. At 25, this young mother of two knew exactly who she was. When asked which name she would be taking as the new monarch, she had famously replied, ‘My own, of course.’
And on the other side of the camera…
In direct contrast to the princess’s pre-determined path, Dorothy Wilding, the woman behind the camera, was utterly and completely, self-made. With little formal training, she had taught herself photography and apprenticed at others’ studios to learn how to ‘retouch’ photos. Then in 1914, at the ripe old age of 21, she had opened her own studio.
