It's a first behind the scenes look at a star-studded new play which itself takes a peek into the world of our most popular monarch, Queen Elizabeth II.

These new pictures show Anne Reid, Caroline Quentin, James Dreyfus and James Wilby in rehearsal for By Royal Appointment, a funny, poignant and celebratory new play about the kind of power that only a Queen can wield, which comes to Mayflower Theatre next month. 

The late Queen Elizabeth II was famous for her discretion. She never said anything in public that could ruffle feathers. But she had one way of expressing what she really thought – through her wardrobe.

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By Royal Appointment talks of the kind of power that only a Queen can wield – she charms the world through coats and admonishes her family through a carefully chosen hat.

But the Queen herself is uninterested in fashion, her look is managed by her designer, her milliner and most powerful of all, her dresser who was a working-class girl who goes from advising the Queen on the colour of her lipsticks to the real power behind the throne. But the dresser, like all royal favourites, is living on borrowed time...

(Image: Jonathan Phang) It stars national treasure Anne Reid as The Queen, doyen of stage and screen Caroline Quentin as the dresser, with Olivier award-winning James Dreyfus as The milliner and Merchant Ivory and Poldark legendary James Wilby as The designer.

The new play is written by Daisy Goodwin who created the hit ITV series Victoria and directed by former Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe, Dominic Dromgoole.

It comes to Mayflower Theatre from July 9 to 12.

Tickets from mayflower.org.uk

(Image: Jonathan Phang)