Top marks to the producers of ‘Royal Paintbox’ for capturing such a candid side to the Prince of Wales in explaining his own thoughts on the Royal Family’s artwork and previous generations of the Royal Family.
One of the main things that was apparent from the start was Prince Charles’s desire to almost emulate previous generations of royalty in his landscapes. Painting similar landscapes at Balmoral to his great-great-great grandmother, Queen Victoria.
The Prince explained, “I think it was my grandmother [The Queen Mother] who encouraged me to observe or to look… I wanted to do more than just take photographs.”
We also learn many things about the Prince we didn’t know before through Royal Paintbox. We discovered that since 1985, he has had an artist accompany him on trips around the world so he can make up for not having time to paint when on official functions; we also learnt that recent evidence has promoted the idea that George III used arsenic in his hair, which some believe may have actually contributed to his madness.
Prince Charles goes through some of the most fascinating pieces of royal art during Royal Paintbox. Some of the most captivating are those of Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter; Princess Vicky who had such a talent for art that she could have passed for a professional.
We also heard the Prince talking about one of the most famous pieces of royal painting in recent times, painted by his own father the Duke of Edinburgh, called ‘The Queen at Breakfast’ (below), where he described his father’s interest in painting, which he says encouraged him to paint also.
‘The Queen At Breakfast’, by the Duke of Edinburgh.
We’re also acquainted with the work of The Queen’s niece, Princess Margaret’s daughter, Sarah Armstrong-Jones who is a professional artist, making a living from her artwork, being highly regarded for ‘not being afraid to experiment’ with new techniques.
Prince Charles concludes with the rather humbling, “With such a strong creative tradition, who known who the next royal artists will be”.
Overall, this is a very well structured documentary, offering a wonderful insight into a side of royalty we don’t always get to see, after the success of Our Queen a few weeks ago, this is another fantastic royalty-orientated documentary from ITV.
