Queen Elizabeth II’s handbag is the stuff of legend, inspiring numerous articles whenever it appears in public and she uses it to send not-so-secret signals to her staff.
Yet it’s not every day the queen’s purse has the honor of being included in a royal portrait.
This week, the queen, with a Launer London handbag on her arm, attended the unveiling of a new portrait commissioned for the 100th anniversary of the Royal Air Force Club. Sitting at the queen’s feet in the painting is a black patent leather Launer handbag.
The portrait, which artist Benjamin Sullivan began working on in February, shows the queen in a light blue dress sitting in the White Drawing Room of Windsor Castle.
The artist explained the handbag’s presence in the painting to Sky News: “It was almost happenstance that it was placed there but it gives some idea there’s actually a person as well as a figurehead – it’s personal.”
“It’s where she put it, and I thought I could take it out, but then I thought – actually it’s quite a nice thing, a personal thing,” Sullivan said.