Why we have never seen a photo of the Queen pregnant despite having four children

With people across the world paying tribute to the Queen on the day of her funeral, some social media users are wondering why they have never seen a picture of the monarch while she was heavily pregnant.

There were countless pictures taken of Her Majesty during her historic 70-year reign, however there are no pictures of Elizabeth II cradling a baby bump.

The Queen had four children, including her successor King Charles III, Anne, Princesses Royal, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.

While it has become expected to see other royals with their baby bumps on display; including Princess Diana, Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle, why have we never seen a similar picture of the Queen?

One Twitter user shared: “The Queen has 4 children yet, I've never seen any pictures of her visibly pregnant! I did some reading and at the time it was 'improper' to show her bump! She'd never even announce her pregnancy she'd say she's not taking any royal duties for a period then reappear with a baby!”

Another Twitter account wrote: “Over the last week I've seen approx 50 million pictures of the Queen at all stages of her life... not a single one of her pregnant. And she was pregnant a lot.”

While a third asked the internet: “Why have I never seen a picture of the Queen pregnant?”

The reason behind this has to do with past etiquette for royal pregnancies. In the past, Her Majesty’s pregnancies were never officially announced to the public.

When the Queen became pregnant with Charles in 1948, Buckingham Palace shared a statement that read: “Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth will undertake no public engagements after the end of June.”

Charles III was born in Buckingham Palace in November 1948, Princess Anne was born at Clarence House in August 1950 while the Queen gave birth to Prince Andrew at Buckingham Palace in February 1960 and Prince Edward was also born at Buckingham Palace in March 1964.

The closest picture we have showing the Queen with a baby bump was taken a month before the birth of Prince Andrew while she walked her dog.

Princess Diana was the first royal to give birth in hospital rather than the palace or a royal residence, when she welcomed Prince William in June 1982.

Royal biographer Andrew Morton said Diana chose a hospital birth over a traditional palace birth because of relentless media scrutiny: “I couldn't handle the press pressure any longer, it was becoming unbearable. It was as if everybody was monitoring every day for me.”

Now we finally know why we never saw pictures of the Queen showing off a baby bump.