Masterworks Representatives Get ‘Royal Invite’
With Royal Wedding fever taking over this past weekend, representatives from the Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art will get a slice of the excitement when they attend the 70th birthday celebrations for Prince Charles this Tuesday, May 22, at a Garden Reception on the grounds of Buckingham Palace, and possibly catch a glimpse of the newly married couple – Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
Prince Charles has been a patron of the Museum since 2003, and he will be turning 70 in November of this year. The Patronage Celebration in the Gardens of Buckingham Palace will celebrate Prince Charles’s birthday as well highlight his various patronages, which include charities in the arts, military and education.
According to a recent Tweet from royal correspondent Emily Nash of Hello! magazine, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are set to make the event their first official engagement after the couple’s wedding this past Saturday, May 19, and join Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall for the event.
Five members of the Masterworks team have been invited to the event, which will include Tom Butterfield, the Museum’s founder and creative director, and his wife, Gill.
Mr Butterfield said he’s “thrilled” to be attending the event, and noted that the Prince of Wales has extended his Patronage of the Museum for the next five years. Mr Butterfield said he is pleased that Prince Charles has kept Masterworks on due to his interest in arts and education, despite divesting many of his patronages in recent years.
“The fact that he put his name on our association back in 2003 when we were a bunch of renegades is thanks to Lady Vereker’s efforts, when we were beginning our campaign to build this Museum,” said Mr Butterfield.
“It was very useful to be given that recognition. Because for a lot of people they thought if it’s good enough for the Prince of Wales, it’s got to be good enough for me, and it helped the campaign enormously and we have never looked back since then.”
He added: “I’ve been proud of the notion that we’ve had this patronage, especially so early on in the start of the organization.”
Mr Butterfield said Prince Charles is an accomplished artist and has always had a passion for the arts. Along with contributing forwards to many of the Museum’s books and catalogues, Prince Charles has donated items to the Museum auction at black tie events, which has raised money for the organization.
Masterworks is celebrating 10 years as a purpose-build Museum this year, and Mr Butterfield added that the organization has been given the best birthday present from the Minister of Public Works Lt/Col David Burch, with the extension of the lease in Botanical Gardens.
Later this year, the organization will officially celebrate Prince Charles’ 70th birthday, with a special exhibition opening on his birthday on November 14. The occasion will also mark the 70th birthdays of the Museum’s curator Elise Outerbridge on November 7 and Mr Butterfield on November 21.
“I am looking forward to the event,” Mr Butterfield said of the special royal invite. “It takes the ordinariness of what we do on a daily grind here, and for a moment we get to be dropped into another world and we get to become part of that for a nanosecond.”
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