Duke and Duchess of Sussex Harry and Meghan replace Queen on banknotes in new Cambridge exhibition

Prince Harry £10 note
The £10 banknote is a work by Boo Whorlow called Harry of England/Ten Megs, a reworking of Banksy’s Di-Faced Tenner which featured Diana, Princess of Wales. Credit: Fitzwilliam Museum

Artworks in which Harry and Meghan take the Queen's place on "defaced" £10 notes are to go on display in Cambridge.

The exhibition, entitled Defaced! Money, Conflict, Protest, will be on show at the Fitzwilliam Museum from October until January next year.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex appear in a 2019 work by Boo Whorlow called Harry of England/Ten Megs, a reworking of Banksy’s Di-Faced Tenner which featured Diana, Princess of Wales.

In the work, Harry replaces the Queen while Meghan appears on the reverse with the message “Trust No Press”.

A image from the Fitzwilliam Museum exhibition with a defaced £10 note featuring the Duchess of Sussex. Credit: Fitzwilliam Museum

The museum said: "The exhibition presents a world history of protest from the last 250 years through currencies that have been mutilated as cries of anger, injustice, mockery or despair."

It is the first major exhibition to display money used as a public canvas for political and social rebellion throughout 250 years of history.

For the first time, it will showcase a new collection of defaced banknotes and coins which has been acquired for the museum by curator Dr Richard Kelleher.

Other pieces include a fake US $20 bill with US slavery abolitionist Harriet Tubman on it and a coin commemorating the Peterloo Massacre of 1819, when 15 people were killed at a protest meeting in Manchester as the working-class fought for political representation.

Artist Sean Kushner created a satire which features Donald Trump on a colourful $1 banknote saying: “Maybe bae will buy me a wall” with a smaller illustration of Russian President Vladimir Putin next to him, hinting at the alleged links between the two.

The Fitzwilliam Museum said: "Money is the perfect medium to highlight issues of wealth distribution, including the chasm between those at the top and the bottom, and the effects on those living in poverty.

"Money, both as a physical and theoretical entity, has been used by artists to draw attention to the links between government policy and the financial and banking systems.

Artist Sean Kushner's satirical bankbote which features Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Credit: Fitzwilliam Museum

"In our pandemic age where the use of money is increasingly being replaced by digital methods of payment, and against the backdrop of the current cost of living crisis, times of inflation and spiralling costs and debt, the exhibition’s themes in which currency has been, and continues to be, created and defaced remain urgently relevant," the museum added.

The free exhibition will run from October 11 to January 8 2023.


Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know: