This week, the British magazine Country Life published a drawing done by Prince George. The current issue of Country Life was guest-edited by George’s father, who also roped Princess Kate into giving a particularly incoherent interview for the magazine as well. George’s contribution was an illustration of a kingfisher. As soon as the drawing was released, people pointed out that it looks exactly like something done from a specific online tutorial. It’s more than possible that George “drew” the kingfisher himself with help from a video, and it’s pretty improbable that George would independently draw that specific bird in that specific way without any help, tutorial or tracing. Which led me to ask: why did Prince William put his son in that position? To be called a copycat artist, to make it seem like George is taking credit for a not-so-original drawing? Well, about that. The artist who made the video tutorial is now giving interviews. He’s nice about it, but yeah, he’s basically like… George watched my video.
Prince George’s talent is impressing a lot of people. A drawing by the future king was featured in a special edition of Country Life magazine that published on Wednesday Nov. 11, which was edited by his father, Prince William.
Tucked in the almost 300-page edition, is a detailed sketch of a kingfisher bird perching on a branch. The young royal drew the image, complete with fine strokes and various colors, before he turned 13 in July.
While many were quick to praise the young royal for his “incredible” artistic flair, others pointed out that the drawing looked familiar, speculating that George may have used an online tutorial to draw the bird.
Artist Matt Fussell, founder of The Virtual Instructor, tells USA TODAY in a statement Wednesday, Nov. 11, that he was “immediately struck” by the likeness George’s kingfisher had to the one in his digital lesson.
“While I can’t say for certain whether Prince George used my lesson, the similarities are certainly exciting to see,” he says. Fussell said that if the future king did use his lesson, he would be “absolutely thrilled.”
“It’s incredibly rewarding as a teacher to see someone take what they’ve learned and create something they’re proud of. And whether he followed my lesson or not, I think he’s done a wonderful job, and I hope he continues exploring his artistic abilities,” Fussell says.
Fussell adds that royalty or not, “seeing someone discover what they’re capable of creating is the best part of what I do. And if my lesson played even a small role in inspiring Prince George’s artwork, that would be a tremendous honor.”
This is fine to me – Matt Fussell is gently pointing out that George didn’t come up with this on his own, and Fussell is honored that George picked up on his art lesson. And truly, there’s nothing wrong with a kid tracing something or watching an artist’s tutorial or even outright copying a piece of art. That’s part of an amateur artist’s education too, figuring out how to do shadowing and how to create dimension, etc. The problem is that George’s father set up his son to receive praise and good press for copied work. The problem is the implicit dishonesty (speaking of, check out the hilarious edit below).
This never-before-seen drawing of a kingfisher was created by Prince George, aged just 12 at the time.
Explore its extraordinary history: https://t.co/hY3JUjDCEb
🎨 Prince George | Kensington Palace https://t.co/Qw8qYG1nkz
— Country Life (@Countrylifemag) November 11, 2026
https://t.co/XP2qNgLYeZ
— #NotMyKing (@NoKingCharlie) November 11, 2026
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.
-
- Trooping the Colour 2026 ceremony in celebration of King Charles III’s official birthday Featuring: Prince George Where: London, United Kingdom When: 13 Jun 2026 Credit: Cover Images
-
- HRH The Prince of Wales and HRH Prince George of Wales in the Royal Box during the match between Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) and Jannik Sinner (ITA) in the final of the Gentlemen’s Singles on Centre Court at The Championships 2025. Held at The All England Lawn Tennis Club, Wimbledon. Day 14 Sunday 13/07/2025.,Image: 1021812802, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NB: Fees charged by Avalon are for Avalon’s services only, and do not, nor are they intended to, convey to the user any ownership of Copyright or License in the material., Model Release: no, Credit line: AELTC/Ryan Jenkinson/Avalon
-
- 16/12/2025, London, UK. The Prince of Wales and Prince George with the CEO of The Passage Mick Clarke during a visit to The Passage in central London.,Image: 1061170332, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: © Kensington Palace. This image is free for use but may only be used for news or editorial reporting purposes. This image must NOT be used for any commercial or other use, save for news or editorial reporting and cannot be altered or amended in any manner or form whatsoever. All rights reserved., Model Release: no , Credit line: Andrew Parsons/Kensington Palace/Avalon
-
- The Prince of Wales and Prince George during the Together At Christmas carol service at Westminster Abbey in London. Picture date: Friday December 5, 2025.,Image: 1061270380, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no , Credit line: Aaron Chown/Avalon
-
- 12/07/2026. Wimbledon, UK. The Princess of Wales, Patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, and The Prince of Wales during the Gentlemen’s Singles Final of The Championships, Wimbledon.,Image: 1116182887, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: © Kensington Palace. This image may only be used for news or editorial reporting purposes. This image must NOT be used for any commercial or other use, save for news or editorial reporting and cannot be altered or amended in any manner or form whatsoever., Model Release: no , Credit line: Andrew Parsons / Kensington Palace/Avalon
-
- 08/09/2026, Windsor, UK. Prince George begins his first day at Eton College in Windsor, Berkshire.,Image: 1132442114, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no , Credit line: Matt Porteous / Kensington Palace/Avalon
-
- Paris, FRANCE – Prince William and his son, Prince George, enjoy the thrilling first leg of the Champions League at Parc des Princes in Paris. The royal duo shares a rare public outing at the high-profile match between PSG and Aston Villa. Pictured: Prince William, Prince George BACKGRID USA 9 APRIL 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: Best Image / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- Windsor, UNITED KINGDOM Members of the British royal family depart the Easter Matins Service at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. Pictured: Princess Charlotte, Catherine Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, Prince George, Prince Louis and Pri BACKGRID USA 5 APRIL 2026 BYLINE MUST READ: Zak Hussein / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- Royal family on the balcony during Trooping the Colour 2026 ceremony in celebration of King Charles III’s official birthday Featuring: William Prince of Wales, Princess Charlotte, Catherine Princess of Wales, Prince George and Prince Louis Where: London, United Kingdom When: 13 Jun 2026 Credit: Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR HELLO MAGAZINE**
Like we said the other day, the issue is all in the framing. There’s a difference between KP (and its press minions) praising George for being a talented artist (like his mother and grandfather, because apparently Kate is an accomplished painter now lol), and between saying “George created this with the help of this online tutorial, isn’t it amazing what we can learn from others.”
Presenting this as George’s original work just creates an unnecessary controversy that never had to happen. Its okay for the heir to the heir to not be The Best at something. It’s okay to give credit to someone else when its due – after all, that’s what a “normal” upbringing in a “normal” family would involve, right? but they basically set him for this criticism by acting like he’s the greatest 12 year old artist who ever drew a bird.
And yes, the artist’s response was very nice and appropriate.
Agreed, as usual. The artist’s comments were very diplomatic, but it was so wrong of William to put his child in this position in the first place. Poor George. It’s hard enough being a teenager, he just started at a new school, and now this nonsense is all over the press. William is truly such a terrible person.
Is there *anything* William can do without some sort of faux pas? Because I’m coming up with nothing.
Also bad was some media people talking about how talented keen is as artist.and the keen family fans wanting george to sell his art work. If scooter wants normalcy for the kids he should not promote george as great artist or try to.
I was recently thinking about their dynamics ( the whole wales family) it leads me to the conclusion that William is narcissist. Because carol is narcissist for sure , I have seen similarity between me and cathy for having narcissist mother. But with the help I can able to recognized the demage and heal. As for cathy, narcissist children often married a narcissist because they think it’s normal. It makes so much sense because that’s why no matter what / how many times billy humiliated her publicly or private , she was condition to this is normal behaviour because she doesn’t know what is normal. The one of the classic example narcissist mother doesn’t allow normal friendship to grow and cathy was conditioned to see all woman as her competition. This is why she doesn’t wne couldn’t have any friends. Pippa and even James doesn’t have any friends. All the adult middleton children running back to mommy. Billy is narcissist and they often see their partner and children as extension of them. His fixation of George is very obvious and also he started only acknowledges and seen photos with Charlotte after lilibet. Before that billy have two photos one in snow and other louis christening where he hold Charlotte. Before that he always have george as accessory to him. That’s why meghan seems to have so much empath towards cathy ( doesn’t change she is racist ) . That’s why William will not forgive harry and meghan because they exposed him and narcissist doesn’t forgave and they withhold affections. They weaponize their love and expect others to dance to their tunes.
As for billy shareing this , any praise george gets is because of him and his parenting . There are tell tell signs like explosive , rage etc because narcissist makes you walk on eggshells. Maybe thats why george was keen on boarding because of his father impulse fighting or walking on eggshells is too much for him.
This is @Chenni, 100%. As a fellow daughter of narcissistic parents, yes, people do tend to replicate patterns unless they break them and the breakage with a narcissist is not just breaking a pattern, it is breaking a whole family, because those people do not change and do not respect boundaries. They create dynamics of enmeshment, rivalry, obsessive point-scoring, and claustrophobia. Kate might have had a chance if she had married a normal guy. Between narc Carole and narc William she didn’t stand a chance. Doesn’t change that she was a hideous horrid person to Meghan, who is outside of any Kate family dynamic. But JFC. The narcs of this world have been put on notice by the Trump phenomenon and now we see them glowing in the light of day.
All William needed to do was add a sentence about George learning to draw online and credit the tutorial he used. There was no reason to be dishonest about this.
Exactly!
You are right. This is all that was needed. The drawing is really good and the kid have talent. But the dishonesty created a diversion and people talked about it non stop instead of the drawing.
This is the second time it happen. Maybe dishonesty is the norm for the Wales.
I suspect Scooter really thought George drew and painted the bird. He probably had no idea that it was basically paint by numbers because he probably is less involved with his kids than the palace broadcasts.
That is an excellent point, @GMHQ, and it also tells you a lot about the relationship between William & Kate, that she didn’t set him straight before he embarrassed himself on a national if not international stage. Like, if they talked more, he would not pratfall this way.
Perhaps Kate didn’t know either.
Giving someone else credit wouldn’t have occurred to Scooter.
It’s not even in the realm of what he thinks about.
True indeed! He and Kate are trying to take credit for modernizing the monarchy because of the social media and engagement style they stole from Meghan and Harry. If Meghan never happened they would still be doing the same old boring shit they did prior to Sussex Royal. Kate would still be wearing her coat and granny’s curtain dresses. I’ve noticed over the years how much they have copied the layout, color scheme, style and modernnity of Archewell’s website. It seems Archewell has had to changed theirs several times because they’ve noticed it too.
Sharing George’s art as if it was an original piece of work and celebrating Kate’s germ of an idea as her own is all part of a KP pr pattern. And it’s not a good look. It would be so easy to share these things without making it seem original. Tbc, George drew a lovely bird but his parents and their pr shenanigans are eye-rolling to say the very least.
Just as Harry always gives credit for Invictus to the US Warrior Games – easy to do and doesn’t take away from what Harry has later developed.
Oh my lord! Such an unforced error. But that’s the problem when your entire system is based on birth order and “divine” right to stolen riches and power.
I swear to god it feels like all W&K do is continuously make unforced errors. Just constantly. They’re forever stepping on their own rakes.
George always looks miserable – he’ll be even more miserable now.
Yes, poor kid he shouldn’t have been put in this position (by his father).
Just the other day, an article about Kate credited her for “the germ of an idea” about baby wellness, when in reality the research has been around for years. William is always happy to take credit for environmental innovation, centring himself rather the actual Earthshot contestants doing the science. Reportedly, he didn’t do much of his own work at Uni and he barely showed up for either his air ambulance training or his “bespoke” agriculture course later, although he wasn’t kicked out as most people would have been. Most of the Windsors wear military medals they didn’t earn. The Wales had titles that were bestowed on them even though they barely visit, let alone do any work that benefits their namesake community.
So, it’s not surprising if George has learned that he can just take and copy, and not bother to credit others, but it’s incredibly sad. Children learn quickly, and if they get praise only for work that can be “shown off”, they’ll do whatever it takes to achieve that. They’ll also learn to avoid anything new or where they might make a mistake, as they often think that only perfection makes them lovable. It’s a sad way to be.
There really should have been more criticism in the press for the whole “germ of an idea” BS which was such an obvious lie.
Promoting George’s artistic talent seems to be a thing. First there was a drawing of flowers, then the Christmas reindeer, and now the kingfisher. The flowers looked like something from a colouring book, the reindeer was revealed to be a copy of an image from a Christmas card, and now the kingfisher apparently done with the aid of a tutorial. This misrepresentation by KP is the bad thing. A reasonable thing is that George is interested in art. Enjoying copying art is a hobby. It could just be presented as such, with the hope that George is developing artistic skills, like so many other members of his family, etc, etc. This would normally be embarrassing for George, but who knows with the Windsors and the Middletons.
Yes, the copied reindeer! I was getting deja vu from this article, and I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it was that reindeer.
I would also add the mother’s day cards the kids made for their dead grandmother they never met (2015?). Including 5-year old Charlotte’s perfectly symmetrical heart with coloring that never goes outside the line, and cursive writing below about how much she missed Diana. Like we’re supposed to believe a 5 year old wrote that. Everything about that family is fake — ibclduing their photoshopped family pictures and “accomplishments.”
George is gonna love this once he’s back at school. George, the artistic prince. The next John Gould or Turner alongside dad, the would be statesman Churchillian king.
Poor kid.
Isn’t that what tutorials are for?
No, they’re not made for anyone to copy and then use that content in a commercial work (published in a magazine) as your own. I’m giving George a little slack here because he’s a kid and not the editor or publisher who should know better.
If you were to copy someone’s art, slap your own name on it and then try to sell it as your own work, I think you’d rightfully get in trouble.
The pity is that I think there is a much more interesting story to tell here – does George watch these tutorials often? Does he draw to relax? What inspires him about drawing wildlife? And did the original artist get his start drawing from nature, etc. Then, not only would the artist get credit but it relates to the whole nature/ country life theme.
@Jay, totally agree with your last paragraph— but that’s not W&K’s style. It always has to be about bragging with them.
Willy thinks Harry should never have married or had children because he was obligated by an accident of birth order to be Willy’s lifelong scapegoat. He has unleashed a 10 year long vicious smear campaign against the Sussexes in order have something to feed the rota to conceal his own lazyness and debauchery. He isn’t exactly brimming with common sense and moral fiber. He is an entitled tool. It wouldn’t even dawn on him that the creator of the tutorial should have been credited. It is also doubtful that Willy is involved enough with the kids to know a tutorial was even used. The reality is that Willy doesn’t live with them and isn’t a heavily involved parent. The older kids have probably boarded for years, but the press has kept it quiet to give him an excuse for doing @#$% all. The school run nonsense has always been a blatant lie.
It could have been a lovely article about helping your children develop their drawing.
Listen video or no video. It’s pretty damn good for his age. He’s just a kid. Boo hoo on parents, media let him be a kid who enjoys art
I feel bad for George.I hope he figures out a way to be his own person, and not a version of his dad.
His parents just embarrassed him, IMO. I wonder if they even asked his permission to submit his artwork like that. They are preemptively turning him into a fake and a liar, like his parents.
Poor kid. What a way to crush his budding interest and potential talent. He may be copying now, but by exposing him in this manner to the world, he can’t safely hone his skills and turn into a talented artist in his own right. Because they’ve probably embarrassed him and he may end up afraid to show an interest in anything again. Great parenting 🤦♀️