Frances Segelman knew the dimensions of Queen Elizabeth’s face better than anyone else.
In fact, the same could be said for the faces of King Charles, Princess Anne, Boris Johnson and a whole host of other celebrities.
That’s because she is one of the UK’s most renowned sculptors who moulded busts of more than 400 famous faces.
The job has brought Frances face-to-face with Britain’s top royals.
She told Metro what they revealed during their sessions — and how they absolutely didn’t want their sculptures to look
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The artist is best known for her ‘live sculpts’, where she has just two hours to make a clay replica of a celebrity in front of an audience.
But when it came to the then Monarch in 2008, she had three private one hour sittings and months to perfect her work.
To get the Queen’s face just right, she needed to be just millimetres from her, measuring all her features and taking pictures for reference.
Frances told Metro: ‘I’ve got loads of photographs of her. All over her face from ups, down, under.’
While an aide or two would often be in the Buckingham Palace art room, they also had one-on-one time.
Full list of all the famous faces Frances has sculpted
- Eamonn Holmes – Broadcaster
- Boris Johnson – Mayor of London
- Dame Judi Dench
- Tony Hadley, former lead singer with Spandau Ballet
- Nigel Mansell
- Cherie Blair QC
- Lorraine Kelly
- Fiona Philips (GMTV Presenter)
- Ainsley Harriott (Celebrity Chef & TV Personality)
- King Charles III
- Jilly Cooper
- Vic Reeves
- Clive Anderson
- Denise Van Outen, live on ‘The Big Breakfast’, Channel 4
- Prince William (sculpted live on ‘This Morning TV’ from a photograph)
- Sven Goran Eriksson
- Vinnie Jones
- John Profumo
- Lord David Blunkett
- HRH Princess Anne
- Miriam Freedman – Holocaust survivor
- Dame Joan Collins
- Honor Blackman
- Bruce Forsyth
- David Webb, Brentford FC Manager, ex-Chelsea FC player
- Mr Motivator (GMTV)
- Billy Bremner (now standing outside Leeds Utd Football Club)
- Lord Julian Fellowes
- Sir Steven Redgrave
That’s when the longest-reigning monarch told the sculptor how concerned she was about picture-hungry tourists outside of Buckingham Palace.
Frances recalled: ‘Cars were going round Buckingham Palace. The Queen was terribly worried about anybody getting run over.’
‘She said, “I really worry about that a lot. I worry about that so much because they’re taking photographs and not looking where they’re going”.’
The Queen was ultimately delighted with her bust, with bronze models then given to the charity Barnado’s and the Scouts.
But a certain Prince Phillip did have one of his infamous outbursts over how Frances wanted to sculpt the Duke of Edinburgh.
It was her very first royal commission all the way back in 2000.
Her husband, the ‘incredible’ English businessman and philanthropist Jack Petchy, had suggested she mould the Queen’s husband with a smile.
Frances recalled: ‘I was nervous so to make conversation, I said to him, “I think I’m going to do you with a smile.”
‘Well, he absolutely didn’t want that. He said, “Absolutely not. I absolutely hate all those cheesy-looking pictures or sculptures.
‘So that was that. I knew that it had to be a serious piece. Apart from that, he was very easy.’
The pair then got on well over the next four sittings, with Frances learning some little-known facts about how the royal liked to spend his time.
According to the artist, the Duke of Edinburgh spoke at length about carriage racing.
She said: ‘He talked to me about it and I didn’t have a clue what it was.
‘So I read up on it for the second sitting. He also spoke to me about going on painting holidays.’
Prince Phillip’s bust ended up on display in Buckingham Palace and was completed for the charity London Youth.
In 2014, Frances then got the chance to sculpt the future King, Prince Charles, over four sittings at his residence in Highgrove.
She had glowing reviews of ‘extremely sensitive and caring’ royal, who was also concerned about the state of current affairs.
She said: ‘He was talking about the world, worrying about everyone. He just came over as a very, very special, caring man. Very sensitive too.’
Frances’ clay models safely made it out of the hallways at Buckingham Palace, Highgrove and St James Palace, she did suffer one disastrous mishap when molding none other than Dame Edna.
The TV star, portrayed by Australian comedian Barry Humphries, was making an appearance on BBC’s the One Show in 2013.
Producers asked Frances to do a live sculpt in record time, to be shown to Edna live on TV.
But the artist got to work behind the scenes, it all went terribly wrong.
Frances said: ‘I had my headstand and I had the clay – everything.
‘Just as I was working on it like mad, the table collapsed and it all fell on the floor.
‘I got it all back together quickly and I started again. After that I found her quite easy to do.’
Frances will be hoping for no repeats when she takes to the stage for another one of her iconic live sculpts next month.
She is due to model TV actor Ray Winstone at The Garrison Chapel on September 7, all in support of the charity Blesma, which supports limbless military veterans.
The event will be a highlight of her exhibition at the Chapel, at the Chelsea Barracks in London, remembering Frances’ key busts and other works.
Her 400-plus statues have not just been of royals, but of famous faces in the UK.
These include Dame Judi Dench, Dames Joan Collins and Joanna Lumley, Sir Derek Jacobi, Sir Simon Rattle, Nigel Mansell, Boris Johnson, and Lord Blunkett.
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