Overall: 33cm (13in) x 25cm (10in)
Three quarter length portrait photograph of the Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII and Duke of Windsor (1894-1972) in civil dress wearing Brigade of Guards tie and British Legion lapel badge. Signed and dated lower right on the image ‘Edward P / 1928’. Signed lower left by the photograph an stamped verso with the studio label numbered 7825-A verso. Contained in silver presentation frame engine turned decoration and easel back; the arched top engraved with the Prince of Wales’s feathers. Maker’s mark of Charles Henry Dumenil, London. Hallmarked London 1918.
Edward VIII (reigned 20 January 1936 -11 December 1936), as Prince of Wales became the first Patron and of the British Legion in 1921. It brought to gether four veterans organisations: the Comrades of the Great War, the National Association of Discharged Sailors and Soldiers and the National Federation of Discharged and Demobilised Sailors and Soldiers, and incorporated the fundraising department of the Officers' Association. Approximately 18,100 members joined in 1921 and by 1928 there were roughly 220,000 members.
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Hugh Cecil Saunders (1890-1974) practised under the professional name of Hugh Cecil. Educated at Tonbridge School and Queen’s College, Cambridge, he established a successful studio in Grafton Street in London in 1923; his work regularly appeared in the weekly Sketch, Tatler and Bystander. Cecil Beaton suggested he was influenced by the style of Baron De Meyer. In 1925, the Prince of Wales sat for the first of many royal sittings. Later Cecil produced the official photographs for the Edward VIII postage stamps. Cecil’s studio continued to operate throughout the Second World War.