Youngest woman to paint the Queen unveils new portrait

Award-winning painter Isobel Peachey, 31, was commissioned by Cunard to create the picture, which will be hung in its new cruise liner – Queen Elizabeth.

The portrait is a three-quarter length painting and shows the sovereign sat in an ornate chair in the yellow drawing room at Buckingham Palace.

The Queen is dressed in blue and wearing Queen Victoria's collet necklace and earrings.

Ms Peachey said: "At my interview with Cunard, I answered many questions about how I would approach an important commission – but it was only at the end of the interview that the subject was revealed as the Queen.

"This was both a shock and a marvellous surprise."

Ms Peachey was last year named the winner of the BP Portrait Award's travel category and received 5,000 to visit Belgium and Switzerland to sketch and paint portraits of enthusiasts taking part in historical re-enactments.

The Burnley-born artist, who moved to London from Lancashire in her late teens, studied at Chelsea College of Art and Wimbledon School of Art from 1997 to 2001 and also took up a number of short courses at The Prince's Drawing School, founded by the Prince of Wales.

The painting was unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery last night.