At the top of the blog directly from Security, which features every news clip about Queen Elizabeth’s condition on Thursday afternoon, features this photo, although zoomed in a bit more than the above. It was the Queen of England when she was photographed by Jane Barlow on Sept. 6, last Tuesday. In the Drawing Room of his beloved Balmoral Castle, he waited for Liz Truss, the new British Prime Minister, also the fifteenth Prime Minister who would soon shake hands with Elizabeth.

At first it was mainly a formal handshake moment (Truss towering over the queen in a black suit) that came out through the press agency. Truss replaces Boris Johnson in such a turbulent time, it is he who now has to take on a nearly impossible job and oh, oh, will he complete the task successfully? The photo is a great illustration for all kinds of political analysis.

But something else was playing in the background: the queen wasn’t feeling well. It is for this reason that the new prime minister was not summoned to Buckingham Palace, as is customary for these official events, but here, by the fire in the Living Room, a cozy room that has hardly changed since 1976, according to British media reports.

When it became clear on Thursday that the Queen’s health was seriously serious, the photo with Truss suddenly morphed into the image Barlow had previously taken of Elizabeth alone in the room. And suddenly everyone could see what the photographer had observed: it wouldn’t last long.

While I check the news page Security refreshed, photo persists. The Chronicle of the Predicted Death. All the royal courtesy is still there: the majestic space where every object has meaning, the Scottish frock, a reference to a country that wanted to leave England, but loved the head of state dearly – the Queen herself no longer exists.

The woman who sat on the British throne for seventy years, who still shook hands with Winston Churchill, who often valued service and duty above empathy and kindness, who was loved but also seen by many as the queen of a kingdom robbing and tearing itself all the way through history, the woman is missing in this photo. ‘Who he really is?’ asked French theorist Roland Barthes, after his mother died and he looked for her in the photographs he left behind. And then, somewhat worried, “Would I recognize him?”

Now, I’ve never had tea with Queen Elizabeth, but I suspect this image shows her as her relatives see her. How she stood there among the oversized furniture, leaning on the cane of her husband Philip, who died last year, with his head tilted and that bright smile: a grandmother delighted to see her (great-grandchildren) grandchild and her look advancing into the afternoon pancakes. Pure photographer luck for Jane Barlow, who snapped another iconic photo at the last minute.

The morning after he died, I refreshed the frozen live blog Security again. I had expected that this image would be replaced by a more ceremonial image, as almost all media reported soon after her death: an image of her queen in full royal attire, with a diamond crown, royal scepter, and a detached, looking look.

But still this one. Touch, I thought. Whoever Elizabeth is, here she is.