[1] Ward completed his early education between 1984 and 1989 at Harrow School, where he took lessons in the history of art, in addition to life model drawing.
His work entitled Mick earned him the Royal Institute of Oil Painters Winsor and Newton Art Prize and he subsequently moved to New York where he continued his studies of Chuck Close, Eric Fischl, and Cindy Sherman.
[2][7] An avid supporter of the British Red Cross,[3] Ward has been part of its International Fundraising Committee, set up in 2004.
[1][3] After taking photographs of the Queen during a two-hour sitting at Windsor Castle, he carried out the work in secret in his converted garage in Burlington.
[2] He was influenced by past royal portrait painters including Anthony van Dyck and Sir Joshua Reynolds.
[7] His exhibition "Faces From The Dark" (2016)[1] was presented in Bermuda with the intention to "propound(s) the equality of all people regardless of race, background or religious bearing".
[7] Four years prior to the unveiling of the portrait of the Queen, Ward and his family moved from London to Burlington.