The double portrait of Prince William and Prince Harry will in future years be a worthy public record of their younger selves. Nicky Philipps's oil for the National Portrait Gallery shows the princes in the formal uniform of the Household Cavalry, but in an informal pose – Prince William leaning on the doorframe and Prince Harry perched with one hand on his hip. They might be said to be lounging.

That is not to demean them, for there is precedent for lounging heroes. Also in the National Portrait Gallery hangs an admired canvas from 1870 by James Jacques Tissot of Fred Burnaby, in the same uniform of the Household Cavalry. He reclines on a sofa, a cigarette smouldering languidly in one hand. This, though, was the strongest man in the Army and a hero of Sudan. You shouldn't judge a soldier by his pose.