英女王迎來88歲壽辰 王室公佈其最新肖像照

A portrait of the Queen by British photographer David Bailey has been released in honour of her 88th birthday on Monday.

The Queen celebrates her actual birthday on 21 April, and her official birthday on a Saturday in June, which this year falls on 14 June in the UK.

The black and white photo, which shows the Queen smiling, was taken in March. She is pictured wearing pearls, and a dress by Angela Kelly, who has served as personal assistant and senior dresser to her since 2002. The 76-year-old said: "I've always been a huge fan of the Queen. She has very kind eyes with a mischievous glint. I've always liked strong women, and she is a very strong woman."

The photograph, taken at Buckingham Palace, was commissioned on behalf of the government's "Great" campaign, which aims to promote trade, tourism, investment and education throughout the UK.

Recently-appointed culture secretary Sajid Javid said the portrait would help to support the aims of the campaign, which he said was to "showcase everything that is great about the UK to an international audience".

The British monarchy is one of the biggest drivers of tourism in the UK, and brings in an estimated ￡500m a year from overseas tourism, according to Visit Britain. According to "Great" campaign director Conrad Bird, the campaign has delivered economic returns worth more than ￡500mto the economy.據英國媒體報道，4月21日是英國女王伊麗莎白二世88歲的生日，此前一天，英國王室公佈了女王的最新肖像照以示慶祝。

英國女王每年慶祝兩個“生日”：4月21日是她真正的生日，有親朋好友與其私下慶祝；英國當局則通常選定6月的某一個星期六，爲女王慶祝官方生日，今年的具體日期爲6月14日。

這張黑白照片是今年3月在白金漢宮拍攝，由英國著名攝影師戴維•貝利操刀完成。照片中，女王笑容異常燦爛、雙眼神采奕奕。“我一直都是女王的忠實粉絲。她有一雙慈祥、親切的眼睛，同時閃耀着頑皮、淘氣的光芒。”76歲的貝利說，“我喜歡強幹的女人，而她是其中的佼佼者。”

新任命的英國文化大臣賽義德•加維德介紹稱，女王的最新肖像照是由一項名爲“非凡英國”（Britian is GREAT）的政府宣傳活動委託拍攝，該活動旨在推廣英國的貿易、旅遊、投資和教育產業，“‘非凡英國’項目將向世界人民展現英國方方面面的精彩和過人之處，女王無疑是最佳的形象大使”。

目前，英國王室是該國旅遊事業蓬勃發展的重要推動力之一，估計每年能夠帶來大約5億英鎊的海外旅遊收入。而“非凡英國”項目預計將創造超過5億英鎊的經濟收益。