UK News 21-12-2001 Queen Has "Beard" In New Official Portrait who: The Queen what: Given five o`clock shadow in Golden Jubilee portrait where: Buckingham Palace, LONDON when: Yesterday snippet: "The Queen will not be amused she`s been given a five o`clock shadow in a new portrait," says The Sun after the Palace unveiled Lucian Freud`s Golden Jubilee painting yesterday, dismissed by the paper`s royal photographer Arthur Edwards as the work of a school pupil. But while Freud is widely regarded as the greatest living British painter, most of today`s newspapers are equally aghast. "The flesh on the canvas is lined and blotchy, the mouth set in a scowl," says The Times. "One eye appears to have raised itself above the other. The chin has what can only be called a six-o`clock shadow, and the neck would not disgrace a rugby prop forward." Her Majesty had to sit more than 70 times for Freud, who took two years to finish the portrait, according to The Mirror. "Possibly, he could have saved her the trouble by copying her Spitting Image puppet," says royal reporter Jane Kerr. Nevertheless, The Scotsman`s art critic Neil Cameron says the painting is "classic Freud". The Queen`s reaction is not known, although she is thought to favour a more traditional approach to portrait-painting. Her courtiers, "at least publicly, are gushing in their admiration," says The Scotsman. "Their opinions behind closed doors could well be different." [... more]

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