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Commonwealth Secretariat press release

The Queen’s new portrait to be unveiled on Commonwealth Day

4 March 2002

A portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II, Head of the Commonwealth, commissioned to mark her Golden Jubilee, will be unveiled on Commonwealth Day, Monday, 11 March 2002.
Painted by Nigerian artist Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy, it will be unveiled by Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon at a ceremony at Marlborough House, in London, headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Mr McKinnon said today: "We are delighted with the painting's inspired depiction of the Commonwealth, and its dignified portrayal of the Queen, who has achieved so much in nurturing and encouraging our family of nations."

The artist commented: "The Queen is a great communicator. She's observant, humorous, interesting and generous with her time. I hope I have succeeded in capturing some of these qualities in my painting. I also wanted to refer to the past and the present, and to show that the strength of the Commonwealth lies in its cultural diversity. I decided the best way was to show different places, buildings and monuments united in an imaginary panorama."

The full-length portrait shows the Queen standing at the window of a room in Buckingham Palace. Beyond the balcony is a composite view of some of the best-known sights in the Commonwealth: The Sydney Opera House, Australia; the Houses of Parliament in the UK; the Taj Mahal, India; Great Zimbabwe and Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe; the Kourion Amphiteatre, Cyprus; Montego Bay, Jamaica; the Kasubi Tombs, Uganda; King Njoya's Palace in the ancient Kingdom of Bamun, Cameroon; a First Nations totem pole from British Columbia, Canada; and the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

After five sittings at Buckingham Palace, the portrait was completed in the artist's studio in Suffolk, UK, in January 2002. After its unveiling, the painting will be included in an exhibition of portraits by the artist at the Royal Commonwealth Society, Northumberland Avenue, London. The exhibition will tour to The Forum, Norwich, in time for the Queen's Jubilee visit in July; and on to the Lowry Centre, Salford, for the Commonwealth Games in the same month. The exhibition includes a portrait of Chief Emeka Anyaoku, former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth.

Note to Editors:
Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy was born in Eastern Nigeria and took up painting as a profession in 1988. Much of her work is in pastels and oils, and her subjects range from portraiture and landscape, to pictures which capture the traditions and cultures of the African continent. She has exhibited widely and her work is represented in public and private collections in the US, Kenya, Nigeria, the UK, Swaziland, Malaysia, France, Spain, Grenada, Mozambique and South Africa

02/18 4 March 2002

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