The Queen, the King, and Holography

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (the Queen) died peacefully at her country estate in Balmoral, Scotland on 8 September 2022. Simultaneously, her eldest son, Charles, became king and was proclaimed King Charles III at St James’ Palace, London on 17 September.

During her time on the throne, the Queen’s highly recognisable features were captured in several holograms and other heightened reality imagery – but does Charles share the same interest in the medium?

God bless the Queen

In 2004, Chris Levine was awarded a commission by Jersey (the largest of the so-called Channel Islands located off the coast of France but a self-governing dependency of the British crown) to produce a hologram portrait of the Queen. This formed part of the celebrations marking the 800th anniversary of its decision to swear allegiance to the English King John (see HN May 2004). Chris worked with Rob Munday and Jeffrey Robb of Spatial Imaging, who undertook the photo shoot to create the digital originals, which were then transferred to a holographic stereogram by John Perry at Holographics North.