An artist’s extraordinary ‘re-imagined’ paintings of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle certainly got you talking – but for all the wrong reasons
These extraordinary portraits of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have certainly provoked a strong reaction among Mirror readers.
With their unusual style and rather leftfield nod to history, the paintings were always going to prove divisive. They are the work of artist Dan Llywelyn Hall, who re-imagined Harry as Charles Edward Stuart – better known as Bonnie Prince Charlie – and Meghan as Queen of England Dame Elizabeth Grey, who was married to King Edward in 1464.
Harry’s piece is named Spectre Of The Bonny Prince, while Meghan’s is called Returning White Queen. Almost three thousand readers vented their displeasure with the portraits in our poll. Here’s how you voted:
No, don’t like them – 2,903 votes
Yes – looking good 579 votes
They’re ok – 191 votes
Am not sure – 129 votes
Other – 201 votes
‘What was the medium – finger paint?’
Readers certainly weren’t shy when it came to expressing their feelings on the artworks. Here’s what some people had to say:
Keith201: “If these paintings are the present ‘acceptable’ standard, there must be only a very few [if any] who can actually paint reasonable likenesses. It hink I would prefer Picasso at his most outandish ‘Cubist’ period.”
Budbud: “What was the medium – finger paint?”
Jellybean66: “Looks like Harry has been in Meghan’s jam pots.”
Zeinab Tippie: “This painting of both of them was so comical to see, along with who they compared them to. Harry I could see it. I think they’re both a joke.”
Armadillo: “A waste of time, paint and talent.”
Whatnowthen: “I wouldn’t want him to paint my portrait.”
Carrycot4: “It’s so funny! It’s so bad It’s almost good. My husband could do better and his artistic talent is zero! It reminds me of those pictures you used to see by elephants with a brush in their trunks. Hilarious!”
Eriq: “Looks like a six-year-old painted them with their fingers.”
810hugs: “Oh dear, what is it with artists painting royals in a terrible way recently? First Charles and Kate’s, now these two appalling monstrosities. Is there a secret artists’ revolt going on?”
Ghostwriter: “I have a six-year-old whose drawings are better than these ‘portraits’, and are on display at the fridge gallery free of charge for anyone visiting our house to view.”
Jerrymyer: “Think the artist stole his three-year-old’s colouring book …”
Reimagining the royals
Llywelyn Hall, the youngest ever to paint a portrait of the late Queen Elizabeth, said: “In Harry’s case, I have entered the story before he met Meghan the young partygoer with his future very much in the balance, a bit like the Bonnie Prince I have likened him to. I thought putting Meghan in the role of the White Queen, who was a Queen Consort and possibly the most influential ‘outsider’ in Royal history, might have a fine irony to it and not necessarily beyond the realms of reality.”
At just 32, Hall was commissioned by the Welsh Rugby Union in 2012 to create a portrait of the Queen, for which she sat at Windsor Castle. Since then, his Royal portfolio has expanded to include a portrait celebrating Prince William’s journey into fatherhood, a live painting of the state funeral of the late Queen, and the coronation procession of Prince Charles.
