The Prince & the Wine
I think it must be more difficult to be a prince in this day and age, rather than, say, 400 years ago when princeliness actually meant something. These days your average prince can’t start wars, doesn’t receive entire regions as a dowry when they marry and generally has no good reason to off their mother or father.
However, they do get to have their watercolors pasted on to First Growth Bordeaux.
Decanter reports that Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, next in line for the thrown of England and most famously, the husband of Lady Diana, will have one of his water colors grace the label of the 2004 Chateau Mouton Rothschild. When you consider the other artists that have been chosen for this honor (Picasso, Miró, Chagall) it’s a pretty impressive thing.
I’ve always been impressed with Prince Charles. But he’s gotten a bad rap. Between the size of his ears and his inability to pull away from his true love during his marriage to Diana, he ends up being characterized as either the villain or the dolt. The man is no dolt:
-He is a very thoughtful critic of modern architecture
-His interest in Philosophy, and his championing of it’s study, is neither common or modern
-His artistic skill are recognized as highly evolved.
-His interests, practical and theoretical, in Organic Gardening helped bring attention to the practice
-His support for Tibet and the Dalai Lama has been significant and effective.
-His accomplished fighter pilot skills
While it’s true that the Prince’s art would likely never have graced the 04 Mouton had he instead been a Duke or a Comte, I still rather like the choice.
However, were it up to me, I’d have chosen another British artist to grace the 04 Mouton. My choice would have been the great British photographer Bill Brandt whose examinations of the English landscape, the human form and British society are stunning.
I heard Charles was giving up painting and now wishes to be known as “the Prince formerly known as Artist.”
Now come on Tom, you didn’t really write this twaddle about Chuck, did you? I mean his critique of architecture is reactionary(Tom Wolfe’s is funnier, if equally wrongheaded), he served in the Royal Navy, not the RAF, and he is a talented amateur watercolorist, nothing more. I’ll give you the organic thing, but puhleeze write about something that matters. And if you persist in writing “it’s” when you mean “its”, we are sending you back to school!
ahem, yes, well, on the other hand, you’re a genius with PhotoShop; your label with the Bill Brandt image is superb.
“I’ve always been impressed with Prince Charles”
Couldn’t agree with you more. I love inbred, reactionary, morally bankrupt twits who honorably refuse to put their own toothpaste on their own brush.
For fook’s sake Tom!
Come on, Steve. Why hold back. Tell us what you really think. The same goes for you, Dave.
First, the inbreading thing isn’t the Prince’s fault. So, you can’t hold that against him. Second, I’m not sure “reactionary” is the way to describe Prince Charles. How about “progressively Traditional”? And as for his abilty to have a “Toothbrush Butler” at his side, I’m not going to fault him for that either simply because I’m not completely sure that given the opportunity and the means I wouldn’t employ one myself.
Dave: I’ll work on it, the it-its-it’s thing. But when I get so excited about a topic like Prince Charles’ watercolors I get overly giddy and forget myself.
But who puts the paint on his brush? There are a lot of real artists out there as your nicely rendered Bill Brandt label shows. Perhaps the Prince is a big customer of Mouton and the commission can be thought of as commercial inbreeding as well.
Wait a minute, this whole Prince thing goes against everything Fermentation stands for. . . clunk, clunk . . . I’ve got it! You’ve landed Prince Chuck Mac Daddy as a client! My apologies, ol chap! Good man, well met, etc. etc. Scratch all of my above comments.
The Prince is a right proper noble. . .
The Prince is a right proper noble. . .
Boy, what would it be like to do PR for the Prince of Wales. I can’t even imagne. At least you’d likely stay in nice hotels.
Thanks for the nice read