London’s National Portrait Gallery mothballs picture of Harry and Meghan

The National Portrait Gallery has said it won’t put up a picture of Prince Harry and Meghan that it acquired earlier this year.

The black and white image by photographer Misan Harriman – a friend of the Sussexes – was taken when the couple attended the opening of the One Young World summit in Manchester two years ago, after they dramatically quit royal life and moved to California.

But last night a spokesman for the gallery, whose patron is the Princess of Wales, said: ‘The portrait of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex was acquired for the Gallery’s photographs collection in May 2024. 

Following cataloguing and its digitisation, the portrait was added to our website at the beginning of this month. There are no current plans to display the portrait in the gallery.’

The National Portrait Gallery has said it won’t put up a picture of Harry and Meghan, just months after acquiring it

A spokesperson for the gallery said that the picture was added to its website but that there were no plans to put it on display (file photo)

Although the Princess of Wales is the gallery’s patron, she has no say over which portraits are added to the gallery’s collection

It comes after The Mail on Sunday revealed that the Royal Collection has no photographs of Meghan in its vast archives of more than a million objects.

Mr Harriman is a globally celebrated celebrity and social photographer who became the first black man to shoot a cover of British Vogue in the magazine’s 104-year history.

The National Portrait Gallery holds one of the world’s greatest collection of portraits, but its patron Kate has no say over which are added to the collection.

There were rumours last year that the Princess was secretly pleased when a controversial portrait of her, painted by artist Paul Emsley, was removed from public view.