A new portrait of Queen Elizabeth unveiled by grandson

After a busy day of touring, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge wrapped up their duties yesterday with a state reception at New Zealand’s Government House.

In the portrait, the Queen wears a bright blue dress, pearls and simple platinum fern brooch, the same one that Kate wore when she arrived in New Zealand, on Monday. Ferns are an unofficial emblem of New Zealand.

New Zealand artist Nick Cuthell previously told TVNZ that he was honoured to have the opportunity to spend an hour with the Queen last fall at Buckingham Palace and that he was very excited for the big moment when William would reveal the portrait to the world.

“I think it’s a fairly elegant painting, simple, direct, and I hope it shows the subject in a good light”, he said in a TVNZ interview. “It’s literally a dream come true for me. And I’m thrilled that it’s going to be hanging here in the New Zealand Portrait Gallery on permanent public display. Monarchs have been painted for as long as portraiture existed, so to be part of that is a huge honour”.

Cuthell admitted that “he was a bit worried the work wouldn’t dry in time, with the final coat of varnish put on last week”.

The Daily Mail declared Kate's look a great success: “The Queen has long employed the trick of incorporating an item of national importance in her outfits when on foreign tours – and it appears that the Duchess has now taken a leaf out of her book”.

The couple had a busy day, first with a trip to Blenheim, where they honoured the memory of those killed in the First World War, and then later with a visit to an aviation centre.