An informal black and white photograph of queen Máxima has a central role in a set of stamps produced by PostNL in honour of her 50th birthday on May 17.

The queen’s face will be featured on five stamps, one of which is a black and white private photo made in New York in 1999, the year Willem-Alexander and Máxima met. The other four are more formal colour portraits by Robin Utrecht.

Designer Maud van Rossum, who saw the photo showing the profile of a slightly wind-blown Máxima in the king’s study during a televised speech, had no trouble getting permission to use the picture, she told broadcaster NOS.

‘I had no direct contact with the royal family myself, that was Post NL’s job. But it all went very smoothly,’ she said. Van Rossem called the photo a ‘beautiful, intimate image’. ‘I don’t think any queen was ever depicted on a stamp in this way,’ she said.

The stamps will go on sale on May 17.