[1] Boden declined to follow his two brothers, Ernest and Sydney, into the family business, and instead joined the Glasgow School of Art.
[1] Among his tutors at Glasgow were the portrait artists William Oliphant Hutchison, Francis Hodge, John D. Revel and Frederic Whiting.
[1] Boden and his wife later studied at Heatherley School of Fine Art in London, and worked together on illustrating books in the 1930s.
Among the honours Boden received were a gold medal at the Paris Salon, and he was appointed a Freeman of the City of London, and a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers.
[1] Following the war he began to paint portraits professionally, gaining a reputation for his depictions of actors such as Alastair Sim and Donald Wolfit, and the singer Boris Christoff.
[1] Boden painted 19 portraits of members of the British royal family, including ten of Queen Elizabeth II and five of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.