Queen Camilla visited an artist collective after receiving a tip off from her daughter about the talent on show.
She went to Kindred Studios’ Shepherds Bush pop-up and delighted in telling the exhibitors about Laura Lopez’s trip to the workshop’s recent open day.
As she walked around the studios, previously used as accommodation by a homeless charity, the Queen told one artist: “It was Laura who told me about this, she said it was so fantastic -‘You’ve got to have a look’.”The Queen marvelled at the installations, including taxidermy mice, intricate embroidered textiles and stopped to admire a sweet painting of her step-granddaughter Princess Charlotte.
Camilla, 76, was warmly greeted by artist Cordelia Plunket, mother of her equerry Major Ollie Plunket who serves in The Rifles, the regiment of which Camilla has been colonel-in-chief since 2020.
Cordelia, an award winning film producer who has worked with global artists including David Bowie Adele, The Prodigy, Rage Against the Machine and Queens of the Stone Age, hugged the Queen before showing her exhibits, including a “spaghetti western” scene involving taxidermy mice and puppet dogs representing the famous Beatles Abbey Road album cover.
She said: “A lot of the pieces are very intricate and I’ve learned an awful lot from the other artists who have been working here, it’s an incredibly vibrant and cohesive community.”
Smiling as she was shown the graphic blood soaked mouse scene, indicating two mice in a gun battle with apparent inspiration taken from the Hollywood film No Country for Old Men, Camilla said: “It’s extraordinary.”
Meanwhile, the King has returned to Sandringham after spending just over 24 hours at his London home, Clarence House.
It is thought Charles visited the capital for his latest bout of cancer treatment following the announcement of his diagnosis last week.
Camilla is expected to remain in London because she is hosting a reception to mark the 100th anniversary of the Poppy Factory on Thursday.
As she walked around Kindred Studios, previously used as accommodation by a homeless charity, the Queen told one artist: “It was Laura who told me about this, she said it was so fantastic -‘You’ve got to have a look’.”
Kindred Studios is based in Shepherds Bush and has occupied two other London buildings since 2015. It provides affordable spaces for artists in properties between uses, increasing security for an otherwise empty building and bringing creative life to an area.
The Queen was drawn to a painting of her step-granddaughter Princess Charlotte by Mercedes Carbonell, who had created her version of a photograph released to mark the young royal’s second birthday in 2017.
The artist said: “The Queen liked it very much, I think Charlotte looks like Queen Elizabeth in the photograph.”
When Camilla met conservator Piran Harte in his workshop she seemed impressed by his studio crammed with wooden projects and said: “I can send you a few pieces”.
She was told how he reassembled a late 19th century Burmese wooden throne, now on display at the British Museum, that arrived in pieces and replied: “That must have been a labour of love.”
