Did Princess Kate get the National Portrait Gallery to remove a painting of Harry?

The Princess of Wales has been the patron of the National Portrait Gallery for more than a decade. I think the idea behind the patronage was “Kate majored in art history and she can do very easy events around art.” For what it’s worth, Kate does seem to enjoy the patronage and they’ve set up some of “her” most successful schemes, like the pandemic-era portrait book. Well, now Kate is sort of getting the blame for the gallery removing one of their most beloved paintings: a painting of Prince William and Prince Harry in their Blues and Royals uniforms. The painting was done in 2010, commissioned by the gallery, and Harry and William both agreed to sit for Nicky Philipps back then. Well, the painting has “disappeared” from the walls of the gallery. Probably for good.

When the National Portrait Gallery in London reopens amid much fanfare later this month after a three-year, £35 million refurbishment, the eyes of the art world will be on its new public spaces, including a cocktail bar open late into the evening. There will also be much discussion about which pictures among the quarter of a million owned by the gallery have been chosen to be put on public display. But among the pictures that will remain hidden from view is one of the better regarded royal portraits of recent years.

When it was unveiled in 2010, Nicky Philipps’s portrait of Princes William and Harry was described by one critic as “thoroughly modern”. Sandy Nairne, then director of the gallery, called it “a delightful image which extends the tradition of royal portraiture”. These days, however, the painting might be regarded as a painful reminder of the rift at the heart of the royal family, and one that has particular resonance for the gallery’s patron, the Princess of Wales.

It depicts the Prince of Wales and Duke of Sussex in happier times, long before they fell out and Harry left the country to live a new life with his family in California. Both lieutenants in the Household Cavalry at the time, they are shown wearing the full mess uniform of the Blues and Royals. The gallery will not say why the picture has not been included in the hang for the official opening, but both the gallery and Kensington Palace say that the decision was not at the request of the palace.

However, questions are being asked in art circles about why a picture of great contemporary interest, and one which is seen as being of considerably higher quality than many modern royal portraits, is no longer available to be seen by the public.

A gallery spokeswoman said: “Decisions relating to the portraits on display at the National Portrait Gallery are made by the gallery’s curatorial team. With over 250,000 portraits in our collection, we are only able to display a small percentage within our building, however, as one of the world’s largest and most important collections of portraits, we regularly lend and tour our works, both nationally and internationally. This portrait by Nicky Philipps was included in a touring exhibition — Tudors to Windsors — which travelled between 2018 and 2021. The portrait was last displayed at the gallery between March and August 2018.”

[From The Times]

For what it’s worth, I doubt Kate “pulled rank” or whatever – I doubt she demanded that the gallery remove the painting. This reads like some stuffy royalists working for the gallery were like “oh no, we can’t exhibit the painting of the charismatic ginger prince, that will upset our patron and her incandescent husband!” Now, if William was the patron, then maybe yes, I could totally see him barking his demands about removing the painting. I just doubt Kate would. The whole thing is so funny and so sad – like, Harry just lives rent-free in all of their heads.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

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