Former president of the RUA on sketching the late Queen Elizabeth II before completing his historic portrait

Northern Irish artist Colin Davidson, who is now renowned for his deeply impressionistic and impassioned portraits both of celebrities and victims of the Troubles, was commissioned to paint the Queen in May of 2016 when he attended the hallowed halls of Buckingham Palace, where Her Majesty took time to sit for him as he did preliminary sketches and took photographs before spending months composing his unique portrait of the late Elizabeth II.

The Bangor-based artist, who has painted everyone from Brad Pitt (who also asked for painting lessons with him) to Seamus Heaney, Brian Friel , Ed Sheeran and Angela Merkel, was naturally somewhat nervous as he stood before his easel with none other than the late Queen seated in front of him as he began to trace her outline at close range during a two-hour sitting at the palace.

“I first met the Queen during her visit to Belfast in 2012 when she attended the Lyric Theatre and I was invited to chat to her about some of my portraits which are displayed on the walls of the venue,” recalled the artist.

"This was the historic moment when she came here and shook the hand of Martin McGuinness.

“It was a Co-Operation Ireland arts event and I was talking the delegation through the portraits that are hanging there, and then since then between 2012 and 2016, the organisation felt that it would be appropriate to commission a portrait of Her Majesty, because she was its patron.

"As I talked her through the paintings I was naturally rather nervous, but I don’t think you meet the Queen without feeling that way.

"Protocol with Royalty is that you don’t speak until you are spoken to or ask questions.

"But in May of 2016 when she sat for me at Buckingham Palace I was told beforehand that really that protocol no longer applied, and that by all means I was allowed to chat away to her, to direct her and to ask questions.

"We really had a lovely couple of hours together and I do recall Her Majesty laughing at various moments.

"And I really strove to get that emotion, the real sense of her humanity behind the pomp and ceremony that accompanied her into the painting - if that makes sense.

"During the session I made a lot of drawings and took some photographs, and then I worked on the painting itself in the months after that.

"When I began to work on the portrait in earnest I did feel a heavy weight of responsibility because I was aware that I was painting possibly one of the most famous faces in the world.

"So there was that feeling of pressure.

"There was a real sense of gravity and responsibility, but yet, as an artist, I strove to capture a true sense of her warmth and her humanity.

"She was very happy to engage in conversation, was incredibly warm, and I don’t think there was a period during the sitting when we did not talk.

"She sat down at 11am on that day in May, although I cannot now recall the exact date, and the changing of the guard was happening outside, and she was laughing and even commenting on how appropriate it was that it was the Irish Guards outside.

"She very much put me at my ease.”

The painting of the late Queen in a green turquoise day dress was later unveiled at London’s Crosby Hall.

"I was asked beforehand what I would like the Queen to wear and if I had said I wanted her to wear her robes and a crown she would have been happy to oblige.

"But we decided to leave it up to the Queen on what she would decide to wear herself on the day.

"It wasn’t lost on her that this was an Irish painting of her, so I think that obviously had a part to play in the colour of dress she chose for the sitting.

"It speaks volumes to me that there were none of the trappings of the crown around her when she sat for me.”

Davidson worked swiftly on the painting afterwards, industriously covering his canvas in his trademark oil paint with impressionistic, almost kinetic brushstrokes to produce what has now become an iconic work in Northern Irish art from the former president of the Royal Ulster Academy, who first honed his craft at the Belfast School of Art in York Street.

"I tried hard to absorb her character and perfect the likeness of the Queen in the time that was allotted to me.

"I spent six months perfecting it and throughout I felt the pressure of getting it just-so.”

When the portrait was unveiled by the Queen at London’s Crosby Hall, Davidson was anxious to receive the monarch’s seal of approval.

"I was standing well back when she unveiled it and then her press representative told me to go and speak to her after the unveiling when there was a round of applause.

"So I went and spoke to her and the first thing I said was: ‘Are you still speaking to me Ma’am?’

"And she turned around and laughed and said: ‘Of course I am still talking to you’, and then she added that she thought the painting was ‘splendid’.

"That moment will always stay with me.

"This was an indomitable woman who, in my view, did a huge amount to aid peace here and to further Anglo-Irish relations.

"I feel immensely honoured to have had the privilege of painting a portait that will remain one of the greatest achievements of my career.”