Kate Middleton Praises First Portrait, Declares It “Brilliant”

Kate Middleton is very pleased with her first official portrait. At the Friday morning unveiling of the Paul Emsley painting, the Duchess of Cambridge declared it “brilliant” while Prince William said it was “absolutely beautiful.”

The couple attended the unveiling at the National Portrait Gallery with Middleton’s parents and two siblings. After a 10 minute viewing, the group had breakfast with Emsley and his wife and daughter.

Emsley said he worked to fulfill Middleton’s wish to be “portrayed naturally — her natural self — as opposed to her official self.” “She struck me as an enormously open and generous and a very warm person,” he said. “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 was always aware of the fact that we would use the hair very much as a kind of a frame for the face, and not too much jewelry apart from the earring, to try to create something of her natural warmth, her natural serenity without too much busyness in the portrait,” he added.

Not everyone was thrilled with the results. Many critics and royal watchers used the words “dull,” “lifeless” and “gloom” to describe the painting.

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