"Time may change me/ But I can't trace time," sang David Bowie in the closing lines of one of his most famous songs, "Changes." But more than 40 years later, tracing time is exactly what he's doing. Earlier this week on his 66th birthday, the man born David Robert Jones released his first new single in nearly 10 years – the elegiac ballad "Where Are We Now?" – and in so doing, confounded expectations with his most surprising stunt in years: He finally looked back.

Bowie being Bowie, it isn't just the (very good) song itself that has people talking. Along with the new track, he also unveiled cover art that was immediately received with skepticism, bemusement and confusion by fans. No, the image was nothing like the emaciated, sexually ambiguous "Diamond Dogs" gatefold, or a return to his neo-fascistic mid-'70s period. It wasn't even akin to the dapper, tweed-zombie from 2002's underrated, "Heathen." Instead, the cover in question shows a repurposed image from "Heroes" with the iconic photo obscured by a blank square with the album title printed in stark sans-serif font:

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The colorful screenprints are based on a formal photograph of the queen wearing a tiara and necklace that was used during her Silver Jubilee celebrations in 1977.

They will form part of the Portraits of a Monarch exhibit starting in November at Windsor Castle. The purchase was announced Monday, but royal officials refused to say how much was paid for the portraits.

The purchase brings the distinctive style of the American artist to a collection of portraits of British rulers that dates back to the 15th Century.

"They are in a very interesting and contemporary technique that Andy Warhol really popularized, screen printing with wonderfully vibrant colors, in multiples," said Royal Librarian Jane Roberts. "They join a collection dating back 4, 5, 600 years. The fact that they are in a completely new technique is not surprising; things change."

Roberts said the queen had approved the purchase.

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