The 1964 photograph is part of a new exhibition at Buckingham Palace

An extraordinary and never-seen-before photograph of the late Queen Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, Princess Alexandra and the Duchess of Kent with their newborn babies has gone on display for the first time.

The black and white portrait taken by Princess Margaret’s husband, Antony Armstrong-Jones, Lord Snowdon, shows the four royal mothers gazing lovingly at their babies, who were all delivered within two months in 1964.

In a bumper year for royal births, the late Queen’s cousin, Princess Alexandra, welcomed her son, James Ogilvy, on 29 February, followed by Elizabeth II’s youngest child, Prince Edward, born on 10 March.

The Duchess of Kent had her second child, Lady Helen Taylor, on 28 April 1964, and Princess Margaret’s daughter, Lady Sarah Chatto, arrived on 1 May.

The photograph is included in the Royal Collection Trust’s new exhibition Royal Portraits: A Century of Photography opening on Friday 17 May at the King’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace.

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It is accompanied by a handwritten letter from Princess Margaret to her sister Elizabeth asking her “Darling Lilibet” to sign a print “as a souvenir of an extraordinary two months of delivery” for royal obstetrician, Sir John Peel, who delivered all four babies.

Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Margaret, Princess Alexandra and The Duchess of Kent – holding their newborn babies.© Snowdon
Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Margaret, Princess Alexandra and The Duchess of Kent – holding their newborn babies

This year, the foursome have all celebrated their milestone 60th birthdays, with new portraits released of Prince Edward, now the Duke of Edinburgh, released in March to mark the occasion.

Princess Margaret's letter to Queen Elizabeth II, 1965© Royal Collection Trust
Princess Margaret’s letter to Queen Elizabeth II, dated 1965

Meanwhile, Lady Helen Taylor’s family threw her an intimate birthday dinner with the former fashion muse’s niece, Lady Marina Windsor, sharing a glimpse into the glamorous soiree on Instagram.

In 1985, the late Queen hosted a special gala dinner and ball at Windsor Castle to celebrate 21st birthdays of Prince Edward, James Ogilvy, Lady Helen Taylor and Lady Sarah Chatto.

James Ogilvy, Prince Edward, Lady Sarah Chatto and Lady Helen Taylor pictured together to mark their 21st birthdays© Getty
James Ogilvy, Prince Edward, Lady Sarah Chatto and Lady Helen Taylor pictured together to mark their 21st birthdays

Once again, the four young royals were pictured together for a group photograph, with Edward and James looking smart in tuxedos, and Lady Helen and Lady Sarah wearing pastel ballgowns.

The exhibition charts the evolution of royal portrait photography from the 1920s to the present day through more than 150 items from the Royal Collection and Royal Archives.

It also features several previously unseen images, including the tender moment captured between the now King and Princess Royal, which was taken in Buckingham Palace’s Picture Gallery as part of a commission to mark Charles’s eighth birthday.

Taken to mark Prince Charles’s eighth birthday, this image of the future King and Princess Anne “is part of the first commission that Her late Majesty and Prince Philip granted to then Antony Armstrong-Jones”, says Alessandro Nassini© Royal Collection Trust
Charles on his eighth birthday with Princess Anne

“I think it would have been a fun sitting for the children,” exhibition curator Alessandro Nasini exclusively told HELLO!. “It is always exciting to share this kind of material with visitors. I love how the young photographer, then only 26, plays with the children and their reflections in the mirrored doors.”