Queen’s Zulu painting is given ‘colonial’ warning
A ROYAL painting of the Battle of Rorke’s Drift has had its description updated to acknowledge its links to imperialism.
It is among 62 works in the Royal Collection to be amended in the wake of the Black Lives Matter campaign.
Part of the Anglo-Zulu war of 1879, Rorke’s Drift saw 141 British soldiers defend a field hospital against an attack from 4,000 warriors. Eleven Victoria Crosses were won in the battle which was depicted in Zulu, a 1964 film starring Michael Caine.
The online description of the oil painting, by Elizabeth Thompson under commission f rom Queen Victoria, now notes: ‘This work is connected to colonialism and imperialism. Like all Royal Collection records, this work is subject to ongoing research as the Royal Collection Trust seeks to present fully the narratives represented in the collection.’
A bust of the philosopher John Locke in Kensington Palace has had its description updated to acknowledge his links to slavery.
He was an investor in the Royal African Company, which controlled the British slave trade.
The royal trust’s online description of the marble bust of Locke now notes he was ‘connected with the transatlantic slave trade and supported it politically’.
The description of a Windsor Castle bust of the Duke of Marlborough is another to have been updated. It now says: ‘The Duke of Marlborough was connected with the transatlantic slave trade and benefited from it financially.’
The duke won a crucial military victory over France in 1704.
The royal trust began reviewing hundreds of thousands of artworks in the Queen’s collection for colonial and slave links this summer. None have been removed.