Late Queen’s portrait to be displayed in Primate’s Chapel in Armagh after archive option challenged

The issue of what to do with Queen Elizabeth’s portrait arose at the September 2024 meeting of the ABC Governance, Resources & Strategy Committee meeting, when it was decided to place a framed portrait of King Charles III in the mezzanine area of Craigavon Civic Centre, in lieu of the Queen’s portrait.

Relegating to storage the portrait of such a long-serving monarch, however, was an option which some councillors had an issue with.

Speaking at the September 2024 committee meeting, Cllr Kate Evans (UUP, Craigavon DEA) remarked: “With regards to the portrait being changed over, I don’t have any issues with the portrait of the Queen being replaced with the King, but I do have an issue with the Queen being placed in storage.

“She was the longest-serving monarch, and I think we could maybe find a better place to put it, than put it in storage. I would propose that we possibly move it to the Palace [Demesne in Armagh] instead.”

ABC Legal, Governance and Monitoring officer, Kate McCusker said she would look for suitable locations.

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Four months on, at the Governance, Resources & Strategy Committee meeting held on January 8, the senior council officer came up with two possible locations – the Primate’s Chapel and Armagh County Museum.

She commented: “Members will recall that at September’s committee meeting, I was asked to investigate possible locations where the portrait of the lake Queen could be relocated to.

“One option is Primate’s Chapel in Armagh. This is a small chapel which is located next to the Palace. It’s where the late Queen conferred city status on Armagh in 1995, and a plaque was erected in the entrance to the chapel to record this event. The portrait could be erected above that plaque.

“The second option is that the [portrait] is archived to the County Museum.”

Cllr Evans proposed going along with option 1, that is, the Primate’s Palace.

The proposal was seconded by Deputy Lord Mayor, Cllr Kyle Savage (UUP, Lagan River DEA), who remarked: “I think it’s very fitting that the portrait of our late Queen will be where she conferred city status on Armagh.”

François Vincent, Local Democracy Reporter