The Princess of Wales has become the third royal to feature on the cover of Tatler in recent months after the magazine commissioned a new portrait of her.
The painting, by British-Zambian artist Hannah Uzor, is on the front of the July issue and is inspired by her appearance at the King’s first state banquet since coming to the throne.
Uzor, from St Albans, follows on from Sarah Knights, whose portrait of King Charles appeared last July, and Oluwole Omofemi, whose tribute to Queen Elizabeth II was on the commemorative Platinum Jubilee cover in 2022.
She said having to paint a portrait without meeting the Princess made her work in a certain way, telling Tatler: “When you can’t meet the sitter in person, you have to look at everything you can find and piece together the subtle human moments revealed in different photographs: do they have a particular way of standing or holding their head or hands? Do they have a recurrent gesture?’”
The artist said Kate’s recent announcement of her cancer diagnosis had given her a new perspective on the work “without a doubt”.
She said: “All my portraits are made up of layers of a personality, constructed from everything I can find about them”, adding Kate’s video explaining her illness showed “a moment of dealing with something difficult, speaking from the heart, having the courage to tackle it head-on”.
Uzor said Kate “has really risen up to her role – she was born for this. She carries herself with such dignity, elegance and grace” and added she could “sense with her the joy of motherhood”.
