The latest picture of the Queen includes a detail usually left out of official portraits – her handbag.

The Queen is rarely seen without her bag, and the new painting shows it beside her on the floor as she sits in Windsor Castle's white drawing room.

It was painted by award-winning artist Ben Sullivan to mark the RAF Club's centenary.

The Queen was at the institution in London's Piccadilly for the portrait's unveiling and chatted to Mr Sullivan, who won the BP Portrait Award in 2017.

He said about his sitting with the Queen at Windsor Castle: "I was saying it was quite cold when we did it because it was the end of February and she said, 'it doesn't look like I'm cold' so I think by then we had some extra heaters brought up.

"I think the idea was to capture something of the role of the monarch, but one tries to get behind that to the person.

"And I really like the idea her handbag was placed in front of the gilt chair.

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"It was almost happenstance that it was placed there but it gives some idea there's actually a person as well as a figurehead – it's personal.

"It's where she put it, and I thought I could take it out, but then I thought – actually it's quite a nice thing, a personal thing."

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