Jeremy Houghton was artist-in-residence at both Highgrove and Windsor and spoke with both monarchs during his time there
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A Cotswold man who worked as artist-in-residence for both the Queen and the new King has said Charles will be “the perfect king for Britain for this moment in time”.
Broadway-based Jeremy Houghton met and chatted to Queen Elizabeth and the Prince of Wales while working at Windsor Castle and Highgrove House near Tetbury
He produced paintings of life behind the scenes at Highgrove where the Prince ran his sustainable farming business, and two years later, of the horses and stables at Windsor Castle during the centenary of the First World War.
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Both mother and son he described as kind, welcoming, well informed, interested in his work and incredibly generous with access to their homes.
Of Charles, Jeremy said: “I think he will be the perfect king of this moment in time. He accepts more than anyone that we are in a different era now and the monarchy has got to modernise and I think he’ll do that.
“It’s a bit of a honeymoon period right now but you can sense there will be the debates and he’ll have to steer the monarchy through some choppy waters.
“But I think he will do that and lay the foundations for a modern-day monarchy so that when William and Kate take over they will inherit an institution that is fit fort the next 100 years.”
Jeremy was equally complimentary about the Queen, saying: “She as an amazing monarch and an amazing woman, and I think it’s only now she’s gone that people are properly realising this.”
Jeremy spends his time as artist in residence around the country, painting journeys and occasions, favouring themes of light, space and passages of time. As well as Highgrove and Windsor, he has been commissioned to produce works on such occasions as Wimbledon, the 2012 London Olympics, and more recently the Platinum Jubilee.
He spent time at Highgrove in 2012 telling through paint of life behind the garden fence, and remembers sharing his finished work with the Prince on the huge dining table in the stately home.
“He loved the idea and loved the narrative story theme and when I laid out all my work before him, he told me the stories behind each picture,” said Jeremy.
“He’s incredibly generous, opening the doors to his private home, very kind, compassionate and interested in me and what I was doing. He’s also very well informed and knowledgeable about the countryside and way ahead of his time with his passion for sustainability.
“After seeing my work, he picked up the phone and rang his mother and said I should go and do the same for her, which I did at Windsor in 2014.”
Jeremy said that was another experience like Highgrove, yet with 1,000 years of history of both buildings and family. “I felt the heartbeat of the place were the horses and stables and because I was painting the things she loved most, she was fascinated with what I was doing.
“She had a complete, encyclopaedic knowledge of every horse and its lineage and it was lovely to have that bond with her. And when I had the exhibition of work at Buckingham Palace, the doors opened and she walked in with her corgis and proceeded to talk us through what my paintings depicted.”
Poignantly, it was also the anniversary of World War One so all the troops who were stationed inside the castle walls were wearing the same uniforms as back then as well as the gun carriages used in battle 100 years before.
“Ironically, the same gun horses that were there then, were the ones which carried her two days ago to Westminster.”
Jeremy believes we should all take this time to reflect and realise how lucky we are to have the monarchy institution. “I think King Charles will be accepted because now we have time to realise, do we want the monarchy or do we want someone like Trump? It’s a bit of a no-brainer.
“King Charles is an incredible man and Prince William looks like he’s got his head screwed on, so it looks like the monarchy is in safe hands.”
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