The Jewish sculptor to the stars who created likenesses of the Queen, Prince Philip and King Charles has opened up about her memories of working with the royals.

Frances Segelman spent many intimate hours getting to know each member of the Royal Family as she fashioned their busts in clay. All the works will be reunited for a special show, along with other royal artworks, to be launched in London this week.

“Charles is an extremely sensitive man — very, very caring,” says Frances, who made several trips to the then prince’s home, Highgrove, to sculpt him. “He was very worried about the planet and about what was happening to the world. He was very, very concerned. He is a very gentle person like his mother. They are both extremely lovely and caring.”

HM The King by Frances Segelman (photo credit Sophie Dunne)

Segelman's bust of HM the King

She remembers the Queen as being equally concerned about her subjects’s welfare. “When I was with the Queen in a room in Buckingham Palace, at that time the area outside hadn’t been pedestrianised and she was worried that there were so many cars, and so many people going into the road to take photographs, that someone would get run over,” she tells the JC.

Leeds-born Frances says she still sometimes has to pinch herself when she thinks about some of the famous people she has sculpted, ranging from Yehudi Menuhin to Boris Johnson.

A former model who had always loved art, she started sculpting when her two children were little and has never looked back, with each commission proving so popular that they led to several more.

The first member of the Royal Family she sculpted was Prince Philip in 2000, when she was commissioned to do a bust to celebrate 50 years of him working with the charity London Youth.

“To be honest, at first he was a bit grumpy and I was very nervous,” admits Frances. “And then he started talking about things that I didn’t know very much about like carriage racing.

"But when we had our second sitting, I was more relaxed and I’d researched some of the different subjects I knew he’d like to talk about. We talked about his painting and we ended up getting on really well.

“On our last sitting I remember being in the room at Buckingham Palace that is set aside for artists thinking, ‘I would love to come back here and sculpt the Queen.’” Seven years after working with Prince Philip, Frances got her chance to sculpt one of the most famous faces in the world for the charity Barnardo’s.

Her Majesty The Queen unveiling her sculpture by Frances Segelman for The Scout Association

The late HM the Queen unveiling her sculpture by Frances Segelman for The Scout Association

But before she even met the Queen she had some time with the monarch’s dresser Angela Kelly, choosing what jewels should be worn for the sittings.
“I went into this amazing room to choose the Queen’s jewellery and tiara,” she recalls. “I had a choice of three or four of each. It was an extraorinary experience being among these priceless jewels.
“Before I met the Queen, I was given a little lesson on how I should talk to her, and then I was put in the artist’s room with a cup of tea. I remember my hands were shaking with nerves. And then she was there, very unassuming. She sat in the chair and started talking.

“At first, I was very, very nervous. I have to measure everyone’s heads with callipers, going backwards and forwards with measurements and my hands were shaking so much it was difficult.

"After we had been together half an hour, Angela Kelly and a security man said, ‘We’re going to leave you to it’. And then it was just me in a room with the Queen. It was surreal.

“But she was an expert at putting people at their ease. She was chatting about the travels she’d been on and some of the guests they were expecting over the next few weeks. She was an amazing woman, a role model.”

Frances works with clay that is then moulded into wax. Bronze is poured into it using a method called lost-wax casting. It meant she has been able to make several reproductions of her sculptures.

The Duke liked his bust so much, he asked that it should be temporarily moved from Buckingham Palace to Windsor Castle for his 90th birthday. But for now visitors to Buckingham Palace can see Philip and his Lilibet together as busts that Frances created.

While Frances’s work with royalty along with the rich and famous is her bread and butter there is another project which is more of a labour of love.

A few years ago, she embarked on a challenge to sculpt as many Holocaust survivors as she can. She has already completed 13 and is aiming to do many more.

“I have met many amazing people but this project is the most worthwhile work of my life,” she says. “I feel very lucky at the range of people I get to work with and I never take it for granted.”

Majesty: A Tribute to the Queen featuring work by Frances Segelman, Rob Munday and Christian Furr is at the Quantus Gallery, 11-29 Fashion Str