PM Transcripts

F 77/ 133
ItA UST ( A
PRIME MINISTER
( This statement has also been released in London)
FOR PRESS 7 JUNE 1977
AUSTRALIA'S GIFT PORTRAIT OF THE QUEEN
To mark the occasion of the Queen's Silver Jubilee -the twentyfifth
anniversary of her becoming Head of the Commonwealth as
well as of the beginning of her reign the Prime Minister of
Australia, the Right Honourable Malcolm Fraser, today ( 7 June
1977) presented a portrait of The Queen to the Commonwealth
Secretariat.
The portrait, painted by the Australian artist, Mr. Paul
Fitzgerald, will be hung at Marlborough House, the headquarters
of the Commonwealth Secretariat.
The Queen is wearing a sapphire and diamond tiara, a necklace,
and a bracelet. The necklace was a wedding present to The Queen
from her parents, the late King George VI and Queen Elizabeth,
the Queen Mother.
The Queen wore the tiara for the first time in 1964. She is
portrayed wearing a dress of chiffon, printed in pink, mauve,
orange and yellow, with the soft cowl neckline and long floating
sleeves. The artist has depicted The Queen in front of an imaginary picture
of the Earl Marshal's proclamation of her accession to the Throne,
being read by the Garter King of Arms, from the balcony in Friary
Court, St. James's Palace. This is one of four places from which
the heralds traditionally proclaim the accession of a new sovereign.
This event took place on 8 February 1952, two days after the death
of King George VI, and the day after The Queen's return from Kenya,
where she had learned of the death of her father.
The depiction of this scene recalls that the picture has been
painted to mark Her Majesty's Silver Jubilee.