Why will a portrait of Harry and Wills be excluded from the National Portrait Gallery’s walls after the art centre’s £35million revamp?
- Bosses at gallery appear to be sensitive to the stand-off between the princes
The bitter rift between Princes William and Harry and their wives has long cast a shadow over the Royal Family, and the feud even threatened to eclipse last month’s Coronation.
The bosses at one of London’s top art galleries appear to be sensitive to the stand-off, opting not to show a portrait of the pair in happier times for this month’s grand reopening.
The National Portrait Gallery’s £35million revamp features a host of new public spaces and a late-night cocktail bar.
Art lovers will be able to marvel at a selection of the gallery’s 250,000 works chosen to go on public display. But Nicky Philipps’s 2010 portrait of William and Harry will not be among them, according to The Times.
The portrait depicts the brothers, who were at the time lieutenants in the Household Cavalry Regiment, in their full Blues and Royals mess uniforms.
The bitter rift between Princes William and Harry and their wives has long cast a shadow over the Royal Family, and the feud even threatened to eclipse last month’s Coronation
The bosses at one of London’s top art galleries appear to be sensitive to the stand-off, opting not to show a portrait of the pair in happier times for this month’s grand reopening. The National Portrait Gallery’s £35million revamp features a host of new public spaces and a late-night cocktail bar
The portrait depicts the brothers, who were at the time lieutenants in the Household Cavalry Regiment, in their full Blues and Royals mess uniforms
It was captured a decade before Harry and his wife Meghan acrimoniously quit the Royal Family for a life in California, from where they have launched a series of stinging attacks on the prince’s relations.
At the time of its unveiling, the portrait won plaudits for its ‘thoroughly modern’ depiction and was described by Sandy Nairne, then director of the National Portrait Gallery, as ‘delightful’.
Decisions made by curators
The gallery – which counts the Princess of Wales as its patron – will not reveal why the well-regarded regal picture has not been included among the works on display for its reopening.
However, both the gallery and Kensington Palace have insisted the decision was not at the request of the Royal Family. A spokesman for the gallery told The Times: ‘Decisions relating to the portraits on display at the National Portrait Gallery are made by the gallery’s curatorial team… We are only able to display a small percentage within our building.’
Ms Philipps, who was commissioned by the gallery, was originally supposed to paint the two princes at Clarence House but was not happy with the light and asked if they would pose at her home in Kensington, west London.
