Richard Fitzwilliams (born 14 October 1949) is a British public relations consultant and commentator. He specialises in promoting exhibitions of figurative art such as those of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and the

Threadneedle Prize The Columbia Threadneedle Prize (formerly The Threadneedle Prize) is a major art prize, which showcases contemporary figurative art. It was launched by the Mall Galleries in 2008. The prize is open to any artist, eighteen or over, who is living or ...

at the

Mall Galleries Mall commonly refers to a: * Shopping mall * Strip mall * Pedestrian street * Esplanade Mall or MALL may also refer to: Places Shopping complexes * The Mall (Sofia) (Tsarigradsko Mall), Sofia, Bulgaria * The Mall, Patna, Patna, Bihar, India * M ...

. He is also a royal commentator and film critic, and has given over 400 television interviews and numerous radio interviews. He was Editor of ''The International Who’s Who'' from 1975 to 2001. He lectures on the British honours system and the British ''Who’s Who'', and writes and broadcasts on London arts events.

Professional career

Publishing

Fitzwilliams was Assistant Editor of ''Africa South of the Sahara'' ( Europa Publications) from 1972 to 1975. He then became Editor of Europa's ''

International Who's Who ''The International Who's Who'' is a Who's Who series of reference books of notable people worldwide that has been published annually since 1935. History The first edition was published in 1935 by Europa Publications. The eighth edition (1943-44 ...

'', the standard work of its type which was founded in 1935. He arranged promotion of ''The International Who’s Who,'' which received substantial coverage in Britain and abroad. His work on it was also closely linked to his leisure interests which include cinema, theatre, art, history (especially royal matters) and politics. Editing ''The International Who’s Who'' was compared by ''The Guardian'' to "

painting the Forth Bridge The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge across the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland, west of central Edinburgh. Completed in 1890, it is considered a symbol of Scotland (having been voted Scotland's greatest man-made wonder in ...

of fame". He writes and lectures on ''Who's Who.'' He has also discussed this reference book in numerous radio interviews, including BBC Radio 4's ''Today'' programme in 2009, and on BBC News.

Public relations

Since 2002, Fitzwilliams has been press consultant to the Royal Society of Portrait Painters promoting their annual exhibition at the

, their self-portraits exhibition in 2007 and their permanent collection at Girton College, Cambridge. Since 2008, he has been press consultant to the

for figurative painting and sculpture. hosted by the Mall Galleries. He has promoted the

Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize The Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize is an annual art award, intended to encourage creative representational painting and draughtsmanship. It gives out prizes totalling £25,000. The prize originated in London in 2005, with a collaboration between the Wo ...

since 2009.

Royal commentator

Fitzwilliams is a regular contributor on royal matters to

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

, BBC News Channel, BBC Breakfast TV,

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the hea ...

LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadcast ...

CTV News CTV News is the news division of the CTV Television Network in Canada. The name ''CTV News'' is also applied as the title of local and regional newscasts on the network's owned-and-operated stations (O&Os), which are closely tied to the national ...

, and an occasional contributor to

al-Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...

ITV News ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British television network ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the network in 1955, and has since conti ...

, and

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

( Jeremy Vine show). He was the live commentator for CNN on several royal weddings, funerals, state visits, and other major events. He has given interviews on the Queen’s Birthday and New Year Honours Lists for BBC Breakfast TV, BBC News Channel, Sky News and numerous radio stations for some years. He lectures on the British honours system. He also covers Royal Ascot for TV and radio. In March 2021 he was tricked by a fictional news company created by YouTuber pranksters Josh Pieters and Archie Manners into giving his reaction to the Prince Harry and

Meghan Markle Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (; born Rachel Meghan Markle; August 4, 1981) is an American member of the British royal family and former actress. She is the wife of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, the younger son of King Charles III. Meghan was ...

interview with

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...

two days before the interview was aired.

Film critic

Fitzwilliams's specialities as a film critic are epics, historical films, and films featuring royalty and maritime films, and he has lectured at the National Army Museum on war on screen. Besides numerous reviews, he has given obituaries on TV and radio for many noted actors and directors. He is a commentator on films and film awards ceremonies for CNN, CBS News, BBC News Channel, Sky News and Al Jazeera. He has been the weekly film reviewer for Talk Radio Europe on the weekly ''Movies and U'' programme since 2007 and reviews regularly for Siren FM (co-presenter 2011-).

Newspapers and magazines

Since 1997, Fitzwilliams has been a contributor to '' The London and UK Datebook'', for which he writes the Artscene column, reviewing London arts events, and reviews Royal Ascot and charity events for its Going Places section. He has written articles in ''The Daily Telegraph'' and ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

'' and ''The Express'' in 2010.'Honours system and Who’s Who' He wrote regular articles on international affairs for ''The Evening Post'' (South Africa) from 1978 to 1980.

References

External links

Richard Fitzwilliams official website

Entry
in Debrett’s People of Today 2011

at thepeerage.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzwilliams, Richard British film critics British public relations people Living people 1949 births