Westport's Royal Connection

While Joel Kimmel may not be attending the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on May 19, the Ottawa-born illustrator’s connection to the soon-to-be royal couple will be forever etched in history.

The artist was commissioned by the Royal Canadian Mint to sketch the couple’s image for the commemorative coin that was launched Wednesday, 10 days before the much-anticipated wedding, which will be held at St. George’s Chapel inside the grounds of Windsor Castle.

Kimmel, 37, who lives in Westport, has sketched more than 25 images for the Mint. He spent the better part of the winter working on the special collector coin. As the snow fell, Kimmel began the creative process in his quintessentially Canadian backyard studio — once a canoe repair shop — and sketched the image inspired by the couple’s official engagement photo, using both pencil and paper and a digital drawing program on his tablet.  Read the full story.