An English Holiday - The Puncture, 1928 (oil on canvas)

The Puncture and The Village Inn were two of eleven scenes in the series An English Holiday, commissioned by the British-Canadian business tycoon and politician Lord Beaverbrook early in 1928, for the dining room at Calvin Lodge, Newmarket. The model for The Puncture was Lady Louise Mountbatten, the Crown Princess (and later Queen) of Sweden. Much liked, but of a nervous and eccentric disposition, she was famed for her lack of road sense. Later in life she carried a small card with her on which were printed the words: 'I am the Queen of Sweden.' When her brother, Louis Mountbatten, asked for an explanation of this, she replied simply: 'Well, if I was to get knocked down in the street, nobody would know who I was. If they look in my handbag, they'd find out.'