The cover of Horse & Hound on February 23 1952 could not have been more topical, nor appropriate. Following the passing of King George VI earlier in the month, a picture of Queen Elizabeth II featured on the front page, on horseback as you would expect from the magazine – you can find it here.
The magazine editorial the magazine noted, “Queen Elizabeth the Second has already proved her ability to wear the Crown and us assured of the love and loyalty of her subjects. That her reign may be a long and happy one with her husband and children is the prayer of us all.”
While the story in itself was of huge significance, the cover was also a landmark move for Horse & Hound for it was the very first time that it had been given over to a single photograph. In its earliest days in the late 19th century, the magazine had been dominated by text on the cover, generally in the shape of what we would come to call the ‘small ads’ in later years.
Change came in the early 1940s when the ads were replaced by editorial, along with a small photograph across the bottom of the page. This was replaced by a montage of photographs for the cover in 1951, which, the Queen’s photograph and the other occasional exception aside, continued until 1957 when a single image became the standard approach to the cover.
