Kate Middleton Portrait Receives Mixed Reactions (POLL); Somber or Gracious? See Here

The British Royal family has released the first official portrait of the newest royal, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge on Friday to mixed reactions from the public. The painting, which was created by artist Paul Emsley, will hang at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

The portrait, shows the 31-year-old with a faint smile, signature copper-brown locks and somewhat tired looking eyes. Reuters reported that National Portrait Gallery staff said the royal couple had visited earlier in the day and were "very pleased" with the portrait.

"Her family are also very pleased," Emsley added. "To me that's the ultimate test in a way, because they know her better than anyone else."

In a statement released by the Palace, Emsley said, "The Duchess explained that she would like to be portrayed naturally - her natural self - as opposed to her official self. She struck me as enormously open and generous and a very warm person. After initially feeling it was going to be an unsmiling portrait I think it was the right choice in the end to have her smiling - that is really who she is."

The portrait took two sittings, one in May and the other in June of 2012, the Palace stated. According to the statement released, the artists later used a series of photographs taken of the Duchess during the sittings.

Despite praise from the Palace, the portrait received negative feedback from the public. According to Reuters, many said that the portrait aged the duchess while others criticized the decision to have her smiling slightly.

The comments made on Twitter were also very negative, with many saying the portrait portrayed the young royal as "evil" or "creepy." One Twitter user, @zoesqwilliams wrote, "1st time I've ever felt admiration for Kate Middleton, that she's pretending to like this portrait."

In the comments section of an article written by British newspaper, the Guardian, someone wrote, "It looks like a portrait done by a relative, where the relative hasn't quite got it quite right, but the subject of the portrait would be far too kind to make any comment. 'Let's hang it in the attic' William will say."

The portrait was revealed just two days after the duchess' birthday and comes off the heels of her very public stay in a hospital for acute morning sickness after announcing she was pregnant.