LONDON.- Family portraits from The Prince of Wales's personal art collection are on display in the special exhibition Prince & Patron at this year's Summer Opening of Buckingham Palace. Marking the 70th birthday of The Prince of Wales this year, the exhibition brings together over 100 works of art selected by His Royal Highness from both the Royal Collection and his own collection and created by artists supported by three of His Royal Highness's charities – the Royal Drawing School, The Prince's Foundation School of Traditional Arts and Turquoise Mountain.

An oil sketch by Michael Noakes (1933–2018) of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, 1973, was produced as a study for a painting marking the Silver Wedding Anniversary of Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh in 1972. The Queen Mother is pictured wearing Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee Brooch.

In a specially recorded message for visitors to Buckingham Palace, The Prince says of the portrait of his grandmother, ‘I acquired it from the artist as I felt it brilliantly captured her likeness and, above all, reminds me of the essence of her personality. I admire it often when in residence at Clarence House.’

In 2009, Nicky Philipps (b.1964) was commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery to paint the first official double portrait of Prince William and Prince Harry. Two preparatory oil sketches in The Prince of Wales's collection show Their Royal Highnesses wearing the regimental dress uniform of the Household Cavalry (the 'Blues and Royals'). The oils usually hang at Highgrove, the private residence of The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall, and are on public display for the first time in Prince & Patron.

A previously unseen sketch in pencil on paper by Bryan Organ (b.1935) for the portrait HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, 1983, in the National Portrait Gallery is also being shown at Buckingham Palace. In the finished portrait His Royal Highness is depicted at three-quarter-length, seated against a panelled interior.

Having grown up surrounded by the Royal Collection, The Prince of Wales has enjoyed a life-long passion for art and, as Chairman of The Royal Collection Trust and Patron of several arts charities, has promoted the creation and understanding of art worldwide.