The Queen’s collection has its first casualty from the cultural purge of the Black Lives Movement and its influence, as the portrait of the war hero and notoriously verified slave torturer Sir Thomas Picton has been cleared from Windsor Castle on charges of his links to slavery.
The said torture happened while he was the sitting commander of the administration for Trinidad in the West Indies in the early 19th century. At the time, his infamous nickname spelled out as ‘Tyrant of Trinidad.’
It is to be noted that the reason for Picton’s portrait hanging at all in the Queen’s Windsor Castle gallery in the first place was that for centuries the man has been hailed as the most senior British soldier in the fight against Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, from which was brought Britain’s ultimate independent status from the Napoleonic empire, bringing about his downfall.
All in all, he has been the epitome of the noblesse oblige. However, recent days had campaigners barging for the termination of monuments and artifacts commemorating his name, as they weighed in on his cons more than his pros. Out of all the humanitarian atrocities that he has committed, his torturing of the 14-year-old slave girl is the most notorious, which led the Duke of Wellington calling him ‘a rough foul-mouthed devil as ever lived’ but ‘very capable.
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Picton’s portrait is the first to go from The Royal Collection Trust, which already boasts of 250,000-strong art collection which include the works but does not pertain to the collection display at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.
In the empty spaces where it used to sat, it now reads: ‘Picton’s punitive administration of Trinidad and his subjects’ enforced adherence to strict penal codes were the subject of contemporary controversy in Britain and the West Indies.
He was brought to trial in London in 1806, accused of carrying out torturous practices in jails under his jurisdiction. He was later partially exonerated, on the grounds that while he had committed illegal acts not befitting his role as military governor, the right to torture prisoners was recognised under the Spanish laws still enforced at the time.
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A trust spokesman said: ‘In terms of other records, work is underway within our curatorial teams to improve and update them, which will happen in the coming weeks and months’
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Replaced!