‘Harry said William had too much hair’

When the National Portrait Gallery reopened last month after a three-year closure, one of its best-known royal portraits was mysteriously missing. Nicky Philipps’s double portrait of Prince William and Prince Harry, painted in happier, pre-feud days back in 2010, was not included in the rehang.

The gallery was reopened by the Princess of Wales, its royal patron, but the director, Nicholas Cullinan, denied any pressure from Buckingham Palace. He suggested the portrait, which was commissioned by the gallery, would be brought back on show at some point. Perhaps they were just trying to avoid awkward photographs featuring Kate with the now-warring brothers in the background.

Sitting in her studio at her home in Kensington, west London, surrounded by completed paintings and works-in-progress, Philipps appears