Buckingham Palace has been covered with giant portraits of the queen made using 200,000 self-portraits of children.

The portrait has been created using British children aged between four and 16 who were asked to make their own self-portraits in any style using drawing, textiles, 3D, painting, graphics, and photography in honour of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, reports the Press Association.

It is part of Face Britian, a collaborative project launched by The Prince's Foundation for Children & the Arts on 14 September 2011 to celebrate young people.

According to PA, 24 video projectors have been used to cover the front of the palace with animated images and effects, including two 15x10 metre images of the queen. The portrait will be on display every night from 20:30 to 23:15 until Saturday.

"We had to get the queen's approval, of course, because we're projecting on to the front of her home. I'm delighted to say Her Majesty loved the idea and loves the imagery. She had a little sneak preview earlier this week and gave it her full approval," the Press Association quoted Jeremy Newton, chief executive of the foundation, as saying.

"Face Britain is about empowering children to explore their identity creatively. In this project they have used the arts to communicate how they see themselves, giving us all a unique snapshot of our country's future generation," he added.

Several celebrities including, Tim Bentinck, Derren Brown, David James, Jeremy Irons, Amir Khan, Felicity Kendal, Tracey Emin, Fearne Cotton, Quentin Blake and Rankin, Cilla Black have given their support and contributed to the organisation.

The project has been created by British projection artist and designer, Ross Ashton, who has worked on several projects including the FIFA World Cup, St Patrick's Day, Birmingham light night and London New Year's Eve.

According to BBC reports, the portrait will be shown on big screens at 18 locations across the UK. The self-portraits of Singer Adele, Jamie Oliver and Sir Cliff Richard will be auctioned online from 3 May, while that of the Prince of Wales will be auctioned on 9 May.

The organisers hope that the giant portrait will break the previous Guinness World Record for most artists working on the same art.