Britain’s Prince Charles has been named the first royal patron of the National Gallery.
The heir to the British throne was previously a Trustee of the Gallery from 1986 to 1993 and recently completed a tour of the gallery’s new Delacroix and the Rise of Modern Art exhibition, which opens this week.
Clarence House tweeted: "JUST ANNOUNCED: The Prince of Wales is the @NationalGallery’s first Royal Patron! (sic)."
Hannah Rothschild, Chair of the National Gallery Trustees, said: "As a patron of the arts, a passionate advocate for cultural life and a former trustee, The Prince of Wales is uniquely qualified to become the National Gallery’s first Royal Patron. It is a great honour for the institution and we look forward to working more closely with him in the years to come."
Meanwhile, Charles is one of the UK’s most successful living artists and has sold £2 million worth of lithographs through his shop at his home in Highgrove House.
Lithographs – which is the process of painting on limestone and printing the image onto paper – is the Prince’s favoured technique and has allowed him to make many copies of his paintings.
New figures from the Royal household of an analysis of sales of limited edition lithographs – conducted by Clarence House and passed to The Telegraph – show what the Prince has earned since 1997 from sales of copies of his watercolour paintings through the shop at his family residence.
However it is believed the total earnings, including sales from previous could be as high as £8 million.
Prince Charles named as first royal patron of the National Gallery
