A starring role as the portrait at RAF Club
PEN...IT’S IN THE BAG
rescued from a conversation. Biographer Sally Bedell Smith says the royal handbag usually contains reading glasses, mint lozenges and a fountain pen, but rarely cash – except for a folded £5 or £10 note for the Sunday church collection – plus a hook to hang it underneath tables. relaxed mood, looking out towards Prince Philip’s rose garden.
“I wanted to show some humanity, to get beyond her role of monarch,” the 41-year-old from Suffolk said.
He had one sitting with her – in February this year for an hour and 20 minutes – and made sketches from which he produced the final work.
“I was saying it was quite cold when we did it because it was at the end of February,” Mr Sullivan said.
The Queen told him: “It doesn’t look like I’m cold. Very nice. It’s lovely to see it.”
Mr Sullivan used a small amount of artistic licence to include two RAF-themed additions that are not actually in the White Drawing Room.
A photograph in the background shows a Spitfire – with S for Strike written in by the artist – from 253 Squadron which his grandfather flew over Albania in the Second World War.
On the right of the painting appears part of Hurricanes in Flight, a painting by Eric Ravilious.
Sir David, a former Master of the Household at Buckingham Palace, said it was the 137th time that the Queen had sat for a portrait.
The work will now be displayed in the club ballroom.