The first official portrait of Kate Middleton, a.k.a. the Duchess of Cambridge, has been unveiled. And it is a bit… unfortunate.Maybe all the pictures I’ve seen of her to date have been photoshopped, and all the video footage online has been smoothed out, but why does she look like an early 70’s housewife that’s popped one too many Valium? The glassy eyes, the pursed lips, and the puffiness all make her look much older and frumpier than she really is. According to the artist, Paul Emsley,
‘The Duchess explained that she would like to be portrayed naturally – her natural self – as opposed to her official self. She struck me as enormously open and generous and a very warm person. After initially feeling it was going to be an unsmiling portrait I think it was the right choice in the end to have her smiling – that is really who she is.’
I know the Royal Family are not exactly the liveliest bunch, but this feels like a wasted opportunity to memorialize a very popular Duchess as the world sees her. Maybe they should have used this photo instead:
The video below provides a few insights into the process, and even there, you can see that the inspiration photo was a bit more flattering.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMwS49HTxHY
What do you think?
Official Portrait photo by The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall blog.
