William “Bill” Mundy — October 30, 1936 - July 2, 2025

ARTIST William Percy Mundy died peacefully at home in Henley on Wednesday, July 2. He was 88.

Bill, as he was known, was born in Wokingham in 1936.

He went on to become an apprentice lithographic artist in Reading at the biscuit tin makers Huntley, Boorne & Stevens.

Bill completed his national service in Singapore with the Royal Engineers during the Malayan Emergency, where he drew maps for use by the British troops in Malaya.

Upon his return he finished his apprenticeship and continued to work for Huntley, Boorne & Stevens designing biscuit tins, some of which can be seen in Reading Museum.

In 1960 Bill returned to Singapore, a country much loved by him, and eventually became regional director for Grant International Advertising Agency.

He spent many happy years in the Far East, living and working in Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok and it is here that he first started to paint miniature portraits as he could easily pack his paints and brushes in his briefcase when undertaking his frequent business trips around the region.

During his time in Asia, and as his skills as a portrait artist became honed and well-known, Bill became “The Court Painter” to the Johor Royal family in Malaysia. He was great friends with the Sultan, Ismail Al-Khalidi, and painted many portraits for the family, both large and small, including miniature portraits of all the then Princess Azizah’s children.

He was also commissioned to paint a miniature of King Bhumipol Aduladej in Thailand and presented two miniatures of herself to his daughter Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn at the Chitralada Palace in Bangkok.

While living in Singapore in 1962 Bill, then just 26 years old, noticed an advert in The Straits Times for an open competition to design murals for the new Paya Lebar airport passenger terminal.

He and his great friend and colleague Shamsuddin H Akib both entered and were delighted to hear that two of Bill’s designs, “Skyline of Singapore” and “Races and Religions of Malaysia”, and one of Sham’s, “Cultural Dances of Malaysia”, were chosen as the winning entries.

All were subsequently commissioned and installed in the airport. Bill’s cityscape mural was placed at the top of the staircase in the main concourse, measuring 12ft long, and remained in situ until Paya Lebar was replaced by the new Changi Airport in the early Eighties.

Bill returned to the UK in 1978 and, following his passion, became a full-time artist and a much-celebrated portrait painter, particularly in the field of miniatures.

He practised the revered English art of miniature portrait painting for more than 40 years, devoting his life to the artform.

Driven by his desire to create heirlooms for people that retain their intimacy and sentimental value for many centuries to come, just like the paintings of the old masters, he used traditional materials and techniques, such as painting on vellum with watercolours using a pointillism technique (painstakingly building up the painting through tiny dots of colour).

He was one of very few who kept the old traditions alive, as many turned to more modern techniques and materials. His body of work includes more than 800 miniature paintings and many hundreds of larger paintings, among them commissions from the royal families in the UK and abroad.

His work is renowned and revered around the world and he is represented in royal collections in the UK, Malaysia and Thailand, and at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, as well as many other private collections.

Bill was a highly regarded member of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors & Gravers (RMS), the Miniature Art Society of Florida (MASF) and the Hilliard Society of Miniaturists (HS) and was an elected Signature Member of the Miniature Artists of America (MAA).

He won every top award from the major miniature art societies in the world, often many times. No other miniature artist in recent memory has had such an influence across the world nor been represented in such a wide range of notable collections.

His work has been exhibited at the Royal Academy of Art, where two of his large paintings won Exhibit of the Year at the renowned Summer Exhibition in 1980 and 1982.

The calibre of a portrait artist is often demonstrated by their sitters. Bill’s most notable included the late Philip, King Bhumipol Aduladej of Thailand, Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah of Malaysia, the Sultan of Oman, the Sultan of Pahang, the Sultan of Johor, Mother Teresa, Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg, among many others.

He was commissioned to paint a miniature equestrian portrait for the late Queen Elizabeth II in 1995 and in 2011 he presented a commissioned portrait of Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh, to the Duke in Windsor on his retirement as chairman of the Prince Philip Trust Fund.

This year his larger than life-size portrait of King Charles III on his coronation day was gratefully received by Queen Camilla to hang in the family home.

His desire to keep the art form alive kept him lecturing and encouraging new talent in the field. His five published works shared his craft, most notably My Life In Miniature (2019). As part of his desire to encourage others, since 1983 Bill has sponsored the Mundy Sovereign Award, given for the best miniature portrait at the Royal Miniature Society annual exhibition. This award is recognised as the most prestigious miniature portrait award in the UK. In 2025 he also added the Bill Mundy Portrait Award at the Hilliard Society.

Among his other achievements, Bill was featured on the BBC’s Big Event in 2007, where he painted a miniature of Henry VIII live on air, and on Star Portraits in 2005, where he was one of three artists chosen to paint the comedian Adrian Edmondson from life.

Bill continued to paint full time until his death and was also working on his sixth book which will include more than 600 of his paintings and drawings and was his legacy to the art world. The family hope to complete the book for him.

He died peacefully at his beloved riverside home, where he painted all his works for the past 47 years.

Bill is survived by his wife Claire, sister-in-law Valerie, his three nephews Neil, Ian and Tim, and niece Louisa.

His funeral will be held at 11.30am on Thursday at St Mary’s Church in Henley.