<p>On 20 November 1947 Princess Elizabeth married Prince Philip, in a grand ceremony in Westminster Abbey. In 2017, the Queen and Prince Philip celebrated the 70th anniversary of their wedding and of an era-defining partnership.
</p><p>As heir to the throne, Princess Elizabeth’s courtship and engagement had been a source of great public interest, and the wedding itself provided a rare dose of glamour and spectacle for a post-war Britain that was still under rationing.
</p><p>Three months before the wedding, instructions were issued to the New Zealand Governor General from Buckingham Palace about the production of souvenirs for the occasion, and this provides an intriguing insight into how branding and imagery of the Royal Family was managed. 
</p><p>The Keeper of the Privy Purse, Ulick Alexander, advised that permission was not generally given for portraits of the Royal Family to be used on commercial items as it was seen as ‘undesirable’ to use this imagery purely to boost sales. However, during the build-up to the wedding this rule was to be relaxed. 
</p><p>Royal Wedding souvenirs bearing portraits of the Prince and Princess could thus be imported into New Zealand and produced locally, as long as certain conditions were met. The items for sale must be souvenirs in the sense of being ‘an article of a permanent kind which would be kept for its own sake as a memento of the occasion’, as opposed to ephemera (of which Alexander gives ‘articles of dress’ as an example). This exemption would apply for three months after the wedding, after which the prohibition on using Royal portraits would again be enforced. 
</p><p>Today, depictions of members of the Royal Family are still carefully managed by Buckingham Palace and the Lord Chamberlain’s Office. 
</p><p>Archives reference: ACGO 8333 IA1 3008 158/181/1
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<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/archivesnz/38442868722/">Permission for souvenirs for the Royal Wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip 1947</a>