The Wild Heist Story In The Duke Actually Happened IRL

Since The Duke hit cinemas on Feb. 25, viewers have been left puzzling over whether its art robbery heist is based on real events or just a work of fiction. Starring Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren, the film’s story follows 60-year-old cab driver, Kempton Bunton, who robs a valuable painting of The Duke of Wellington from the National Portrait Gallery, and holds the masterpiece ransom in the name of socialism. His demands? Better treatment for the elderly from the government and free TV licences for pensioners. Remarkably, Kempton Bunton’s story is based on a true story.

Who was Kempton Bunton?

In real life, Bunton was a retired bus driver who campaigned for free TV licences for pensioners, and was imprisoned on several occasions for refusing to pay his own. When the British Government bought an expensive painting called Portrait of the Duke of Wellington – by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya – to prevent it leaving the country, Bunton was incensed and began plotting to steal it from the heavily-guarded National Portrait Gallery in central London.

After successfully stealing the artwork, Bunton sent a letter to the Reuters news agency demanding a charity payment of £140,000 (the value of the painting, and equivalent to £3.2 million in today’s money) to fund TV licences for poor communities. They declined, and the painting stayed hidden in his Newcastle home for four years.

“He felt TV was a cure for loneliness for pensioners and war veterans and at that time there wasn't much else for people who were isolated and alone,” his grandson Christopher Bunton recently told the BBC.

How did Kempton Bunton rob the National Portrait Gallery?

Well, according to Bunton’s own account, he was able to figure out the security procedures at the National Portrait Gallery by simply chatting with the guards. When it came to nicking the portrait, he claimed to have entered and escaped out of a bathroom window down a ladder.

After returning the painting by leaving it at a railway station’s lost luggage department, Bunton eventually turned himself in to the police. At trial, he claimed that he was just “borrowing” the painting to make a statement, and quite incredibly, the jury agreed. In the end, he was sentenced to three months in prison for stealing the painting’s gold frame.

Does The Duke dig deeper into the story?

It turns out that Bunton’s account isn’t the whole story, however. The Duke digs into what really happened, informed by the thief’s own family, and newly surfaced documents relating to the legal case. According to Bunton’s grandson, it also explores the humanity behind the near-unbelievable story.

"It's an amazing headline, but for me what was important was to include the family side of the story,” Christopher says. “It's really all about a family drama and about working-class struggle and the factors that influenced the decision making… He was ultimately a good man for all his flaws and he wanted to do what was best for his family but he also wanted to help people who needed support.”