Prince William depicted with fuller head of hair in flattering new portrait

The Prince of Wales has been given a flattering new look in a portrait for the cover of Tatler magazine.

William will front the magazine’s June issue with a fuller head of hair in a new portrait by Nigerian artist Oluwole Omofemi.

The painting, commissioned for the publication’s annual Commonwealth portrait series, shows the heir apparent wearing a navy suit with a blue tie.

It is set against a bright yellow background, similar to the one that surrounded Omofemi’s portrait of Elizabeth II four years ago.

That picture gave the late Queen a youthful look, resembling her image following her coronation in 1953 with dark hair and smooth skin.

The latest picture of William shows him beaming and is captioned ‘a prince for our times’.

Frequently pictured with a bushy cut in the 1990s, the prince has never spoken about his hair loss, which began in his early 20s, the Telegraph reported.

Male pattern baldness is a hereditary condition that affects up to 50 per cent of men by the time they are aged 50.

In his latest portrait, Omofemi has followed a long tradition of artists making their subjects look more flattering than they may appear in real life.

One of the most famous example’s of this was the 1939 portrait of Anne of Cleves by Hans Holbein the Younger.

It secured her a betrothal to Henry VIII, who promptly called off their short relationship after branding her, his fourth suitor, a ‘Flanders mare’, believing her to resemble a horse.

Henry VIII’s daughter, Elizabeth I, was also touched up in her famous Armada portrait, in which she is depicted with bright red hair and an unblemished white face, despite having by then long suffered from small pox.

Last year’s Tatler June edition was fronted with a portrait of the King and Queen, drawn by Philip Butah, for their 20th wedding anniversary.

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