The Queen at 90: four generations

There will be many special images of the Queen to enjoy over the coming days, weeks and months as she celebrates her 90th birthday. It is an historic moment - the first time a British monarch has reached this milestone celebration. And as festivities get under way, a special set of stamps is being released featuring a special photo of four generations of royalty together.

The Queen with her heirs in a special photo for her 90th birthday

The image of the Queen with the three princes who will each, in turn, succeed to her throne has been commissioned by the Royal Mail and will feature on special stamps released to mark the royal birthday.  The photo was taken by Ranald Mackechnie and has been released just ahead of a visit to the Royal Mail by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh who have an engagement at the Windsor Sorting Office today to help mark the 500th anniversary of the postal service.

.@RoyalMail celebrates #Queenat90 with a specially commissioned Stamp Sheet of 4 generations of the Royal Family pic.twitter.com/ypzbjdB6T1

— BritishMonarchy (@BritishMonarchy) April 20, 2016

The new photo shows the Queen, in blue, with her heir, the Prince of Wales at her side. Second in line, the Duke of Cambridge, is in a chair to one side with number three in the succession, Prince George, all but stealing the show standing on a pile of books and smiling a grin just about as cheeky as any he has ever flashed at the cameras.

George and his Gan-Gan - a close up from the new photo released by Royal Mail

Another set of six special stamps, featuring major moments from the Queen's 90 years, have also been released.

The special stamps released for the Queen's 90th birthday by Royal Mail

There will be many more in the days to come but this special generational photo has put the royal stamp on the start of the 90th birthday celebrations.

There is a special page about the Queen at 90 here.