Mark Ward was honoured and delighted to meet with Dame Judi Dench and present her Portrait to her in person.
On 8th August 2023, Mark made a special trip an hour up the road to the Edinburgh Playhouse, to meet face to face with the legend herself, Dame Judi Dench, and to present her with her portrait (pictures & video below)
After discussions with her team over the previous 6 months, the suggested date in August in Edinburgh worked best as Mark was unavailable until May/June, he’s based in Kelso in the Scottish Borders and Judi was due to perform in her one woman show at the Playhouse, hosted by Gyles Brandreth.
Expecting there to be a quick, simple handover and photo opportunity at the stage door, to Mark’s delight, he and his wife Jacqui were in fact invited in to reception, then taken backstage to Dame Judi’s dressing room where they spent around 15 minutes on their own with Judi, Gyles and Judi’s PA, chatting, taking photos and drinking champagne!
Dame Judi was delighted with her portrait, which even prompted an impromptu round of applause from Gyles (as you can see on the video) – Gyles, even suggesting that “The National Portrait needs a new one!”.
We spent a further 15-20 minutes with them as a few more guests arrived, with Dame Judi introducing Mark to everyone as her Portrait Artist.
What an amazing experience – and, to date, the video has had over half a million plays across social media and over 20k likes. Take a look below.
There will be further updates on this as Dame Judi was to send an image of where she hangs it at her home (if it doesn’t make it to the National Portrait Gallery first).
Thanks again to Dame Judi, Gyles, Sue Jennings and Judi’s team.