'This is an insult': Kate Middleton's brand new portrait on Tatler cover sparks fury

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM: A new portrait of Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, is drawing strong criticism online, just one week after the portrait of her father-in-law, King Charles III, faced a similar response.

Tatler magazine commissioned a portrait of Middleton, wife of Prince William, eldest son of Charles, as part of a series featuring Britain's royal family. The portrait unveiled on Wednesday, May 22, drew significant criticism for not meeting expectations, appearing on the magazine's cover.

About Kate Middleton's portrait by Tatler Magazine

The magazine cited Kate's attire at the first state supper of Charles' reign in November 2022 as the inspiration for the photograph. She was dressed in a Jenny Packham gown, adorned with a bracelet once owned by Queen Elizabeth II, and wore drop earrings previously worn by Princess Diana.

Mag wrote on its X account, "Tatler's July 2024 cover completes a royal tryptic of historic magnitude with a new portrait of the Princess of Wales by British-Zambian artist Hannah Uzor."

Kate did not sit for the portrait of herself. Instead, the artist behind it, Hannah Uzor, a British-Zambian artist, sifted through over 189,000 photos of Kate to "capture her likeness," according to Tatler.

Describing her artistic process, Uzor said she tried to capture the "soul" of Kate in the painting. She said, "It's really important to capture the soul of the person, so I spent a lot of time looking at her and looking at her pictures, watching videos of her, seeing her with her family, seeing her in diplomatic visits, seeing her rowing or visiting children in a hospice."

She added,  "It has been really interesting for me to get a sense of who she is."

After attempting several sketches to capture Kate's appearance, Uzor decided to paint her in the Jenny Packham dress because it was "physically striking."

"[It] made her look very regal and very confident," she said. 

Kate Middleton's portrait receives wide criticism 

Uzor's work received trolling reactions online, with many commenters arguing the portrait does not look like Kate, who has been out of the public eye since January when she underwent surgery and later learned she had cancer.

A user wrote on YouTube, "The Artist do not have a talent at all. What an insult to the Princess of Wales." Another user said, "That's Tatler showing hatred towards Catherine, the Princess of Wales."

A user said, "Pay tribute to Catherine??? The artist must despise her. This is an insult! The KC painting has real technique whether you like it or not. This is a joke."

A user said, "Absolutely ridiculous. Cartoonists and caricaturists do a much better job."

A user said, "I'm sure they could have produced a better portrait than that. Awful and amateur attempt, no one would guess who it was supposed to be if it wasn't for the dress and tiara."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.