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Kate Middleton admits she can’t keep kids still for photos as she launches Hold Still

 (PA)
(PA)

The Duchess of Cambridge is an avid amateur photographer whose pictures of her family have appeared all around the world.

However, even she has revealed the problems faced by any family snapper - keeping the children under control.

During a visit to the National Portrait Gallery she was shown one of the earliest family photographs in the gallery’s collection, one showing the inventor Sir Charles Wheatstone and his family from 1851.

After seeing the daguerreotype the Duchess exclaimed: “I just don’t know how they kept the children still!”

Curator Magda Keaney told her: “You can see there’s a little bit of blur, so they are not quite still.”

The Duchess’s visit to the gallery’s archives was to mark the publication of a book of photographs taken by members of the public recounting their experiences during the first lockdown.

Hold Still: A Portrait of Our Nation in 2020 is published a year to the day since the Duchess launched the project at the National Portrait Gallery.

Proceeds raised from the sale of the book will be split between mental health charity Mind and the National Portrait Gallery, helping to support arts and mental health projects across the UK.

During her visit to the gallery its director Nicholas Cullinan confirmed that the final 100 Hold Still images will become part of the gallery’s national collection.

They were chosen from more than 31,000 images submitted, and shown in a digital exhibition before being displayed across the UK as part of a community exhibition.

The Duchess also met with Hold Still entrants Lotti Sofia, Niaz Maleknia and Claudia Burton, whose photographs feature in the book.

Sofia, 31, a yoga teacher and photographer whose moody, atmospheric picture showed her housemate Pepter looking out of the window, described how her subject did not even like the picture.

Sofia, from Wandsworth in south London, told the Duchess: “She was just making a cup of tea. I just had my camera out and snapped her. It is a beautiful window.

“She didn’t like it, funnily enough. But she was the one who told me about the competition. She wanted me to submit a completely different picture, of a rubber duck!”

The Duchess spoke about the emotional power of the images in the book.

She said that when the judging panel was choosing the final pictures for the exhibition, “you would look at the image, then you would read the caption underneath… you felt like you had lived through the experience. That’s the power of photography.”

She told the three finalists: “These are personal moments you have captured, and it’s a great thing to share them with the world.”

Before the engagement the Duchess helped hide copies of the book in secret locations across the country in a project organised by The Book Fairies, a literary movement which urges readers to share books they have enjoyed by leaving them in public places for others to find.

In all 150 copies have been hidden by the Hold Still judging panel, including the Duchess, 46 Hold Still participants and 73 other “book fairies”.

The Duchess of Cambridge has hailed the “iconic” cover image of her Hold Still photography book and the powerful message behind it.

The Duchess, 39, paid a visit to the Royal London Hospital where she viewed a framed version of the portrait showing a nurse wearing PPE.

The image, titled Melanie, March 2020 by Johannah Churchill, was gifted to the hospital by the Duchess and the National Portrait Gallery and will hang in its main corridor as a reminder of the incredible efforts of NHS staff throughout the pandemic.

The Duchess of Cambridge with Catsou Roberts, Director of Vital Arts for Barts Health NHS TrustPA
The Duchess of Cambridge with Catsou Roberts, Director of Vital Arts for Barts Health NHS TrustPA

The book features 100 finalists, whittled down from more than 35,000 entries sent in during lockdown last May, forming a collective portrait of life during lockdown Britain.

“I’ve got memories of all these thumbnails across my dining room table and I was like, please can we have a few more than 100,” the Duchess laughed as she reminisced about the judging process.

“It’s about the stories. It’s about more than art.”

Looking at the portrait, she said: “It’s become really iconic, hasn’t it?

“Some of them had really powerful stories behind them and this one really stood out.

“I spoke to Johannah and she was so, ‘this is not about me, it’s about the people who I represent’. She was so humble about it.”

A photograph of nurse Melanie Senior, taken by Johanna Churchill, is on display at the Royal London Hospital in WhitechapelAP
A photograph of nurse Melanie Senior, taken by Johanna Churchill, is on display at the Royal London Hospital in WhitechapelAP

She said it was “fitting” that the portrait would now hang in the hospital with NHS staff who had worked through such tough conditions.

The Duchess, wearing a red coat by Eponine, also heard how staff and patients were introduced to art through a trailblazing project at the Barts Health NHS Trust.

She was told that art is commissioned by the hospital’s award-winning arts and health programme, Vital Arts, and displayed throughout its wards, waiting rooms and corridors.

On arrival, Catsou Roberts, director of arts and health for the Trust, who also provides the Vital Arts service, explained how each piece is commissioned for a specific site that is relevant to the patient group.

“What’s really nice is to bring art to people who have never had encounters with art before,” she said.

“Of course, there is trauma and tragedy in a hospital but there is also boredom.”

“Yes, people have time,” the Duchess replied. “It’s nice that they have time to reflect.

“It’s so fantastic that you’ve been able to incorporate art in lots of different ways.

“As a gallery, it’s a good introduction. Some people don’t feel they have got the knowledge to step into a gallery space.”

Ms Roberts explained that limited editions were also commissioned to sell to patients, staff or visitors, which are displayed along the hospital’s main corridor, which is where the Hold Still portrait will hang.

As they walked down the corridor, the Duchess asked: “Do you have a particular theme or is it artist led?”

She was told that each service had particular requirements, whether that was renal wards, children’s wards or staff rooms. “It’s very much about supporting new artists in their careers and making new art,” Ms Roberts said.

Explaining the effect the art has, she said one patient had admitted they never liked art before they came to the hospital.

The Duchess took particular interest in an art project for dementia projects, which involves a series of photographs accompanied by stories told by elder patients, recalling memories of their lives.

The project, called Being As You Mentioned, by artist Ruth Ewan, is designed to trigger memories in patients.

“This is so lovely,” the Duchess said. “So it stimulates memories?”

Viewing the other art for sale along the corridor, the Duchess asked if Ms Roberts used the colours and the light to position each piece.

“Do you get much feedback from the patients?” she asked. “So you can see the effect?”

The Duchess stopped by one colourful print by artist Kate Brice and was told it was made with ink and glitter. “Charlotte would love that one,” she said of her six-year-old daughter.

She was then shown into a room where examples of the art that adorns the walls of various wards were on display.

She was told how art by Ella Doran had been incorporated into the furniture in the children’s ward, printed on tables and curtains.

“The landscapes are designed to distract them but also to calm them,” Ms Roberts said.

Framed prints by artist Tom Gauld adorn the cystic fibrosis isolation wards, each offering intricate details for patients to follow.

The Duchess laughed as picked up a book by Chris Haughton called “Oh No, George!” She said: “That’s very appropriate” and was later given it as a gift for her son.

She said she “loved” a brightly coloured rug from a children’s ward featuring a character from one of Haughton’s books.

She was also shown art by jeweller Tatty Devine that decorates a children’s imaging ward. “It’s very scary equipment but art surrounds them,” Ms Roberts said.

“It totally changes the environment,” the duchess agreed.

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