Before London went mad for Team GB, all eyes were on the royals. Happily, the National Portrait Gallery is here to remind us fickle Londoners who we really love, with a free exhibition dedicated to Mario Testino’s snaps of the Royal Family.
Opening next month, Mario Testino: British Royal Portraits consists of eight pictures including the official engagement portraits of WillenKate from 2010. Other portraits are from way back in 2003; one for when Wills was 21, and one of the three princely chaps together from their official 2004 Christmas card. You can also see the picture from Prince Harry’s 21st birthday, as well as a portrait of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, commissioned by British Vogue in 2006.
The NPG has previous form with Mr Testino: in 2002, the gallery showed Mario’s first ever UK-based show of various celebrity portraits. It received more than 168,000 visitors: the highest ever for a paid-for photography exhibition at the Gallery. We wonder if they’ll have similar success with pictures of our royals, rather than the celeb royalty on show back then.
Mario Testino: British Royal Portraits is on at the National Portrait Gallery, St Martin's Place, London, WC2 from 3 October to 3 February. Visit www.npg.org.uk to find out more.
