Royal permission granted to hang Queen's portrait at town hall

portrait of the Queen in her youth is set to take pride of place at Maidenhead Town Hall - but only after permission was granted by the Royal Household.

On Monday, the Mayor of Windsor and Maidenhead, Cllr Andrew Jenner, was formally presented with the work, which depicts the Queen at about 26, by Maidenhead-based artist Reg Denison and the painting is now set to be placed in a prominent position in the Mayor's Parlour at the hall, in St Ives Road.

Reg, 79, had painted the portrait for a competition run by a national newspaper but, after missing out on the closing date for entries, decided to donate it to the council.

But the former medical artist found donating the picture was easier said than done, after rules on hanging paintings of the monarch in public offices meant Cllr Jenner's predecessor, Cllr Colin Rayner, had to write to the Royal Household for express permission to put the painting up.

The household gave the go-ahead, and the picture is set to finally go up after impressing the mayor.

He said: "I just can't believe how lifelike it is. It's captured the Queen at that age marvellously.

"I'm very impressed. I thought it was an older picture. I didn't realise it had just been painted."