Two works by Welsh artist Dan Llywelyn Hall, depicting the Sussexes as “contested and marginalized figures of royalty”, risk igniting the powder within the English royal family.
They spend happy days under the Montecito sun. Far from London, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are nevertheless regularly talked about. This time, for two new portraits in which they are represented as “historical royal figures” by Dan Llywelyn Hall, a Welsh artist who had already created a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II in 2013. Works which will be sold at auction on July 4 on the occasion of the new exhibition “The Reign” at Burlington House in London.
In these paintings, the Duke of Sussex is depicted as Charles Edward Stuart, known as “Bonnie Prince Charlie” and “a pretender to the throne in the late 18th century,” the HuffPost . His wife Meghan, meanwhile, is depicted as “Dame Elizabeth Grey”, Queen of England by marriage.
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“Contested and marginalized figures of royalty”
Interviewed by the BBC on the show “Radio Wales Breakfast”, Dan Llywelyn Hall explains that it “seemed to him that these characters on the razor’s edge of public opinion were perfect for drawing comparisons with distant monarchs”. The artist justifies his gesture: “In Harry’s case, I entered the story before he met Meghan – the young party boy whose future is at stake, a bit like Prince Bonnie to whom I I compared.”
If Dan Llywelyn Hall draws a parallel between Harry and Bonnie Prince Charlie, it is because both are “contested and marginalized figures of royalty,” adds the HuffPost. For her part, Meghan Markle is compared to “a queen consort”, “probably the most influential outsider in royal history”, Dan Llywelyn Hall still ironically tells the BBC. Enough to revive the tensions that have existed within the Windsor clan for several years, and attested by the resounding “Megxit” that occurred in 2020.
