- Web Desk
- Yesterday
King Charles portrait: Monarch engulfed by fiery magma
- Web Desk
- May 16, 2024
LONDON: Current British monarch King Charles III’s first official portrait was revealed to the public on Tuesday. It garnered subdued reactions instead of fanfare as netizens reacted with stunned silence rather than any ounce of enthusiastic.
British-based artist Jonathan Yeo painted the septuagenarian monarch’s first official portrait that was unveiled at the Buckingham Palace. The portrait was also posted online on image-sharing social media platform Instagram on the British royal family’s official account.
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If people expected something extraordinary from a portrait that took three years to be painted, it certainly did stun netizens and people around the world.
The portrait depicts King Charles as mere cartoonish black outlines, holding a sword and wearing a princely military uniform in an attempt to appear regal. However, the outcome resembles a single-coloured kaleidoscope, with the monarch emerging from a fiery hot magma background—reminiscent of the dramatic appearance of a villain from a show.
The uniform is intended to mirror the bright lorry red of the Welsh Guards. However, it blends entirely with the background of same red shade. The Welsh Guards are part of the foot guards regiment of the British army. The 75-year-old king was a regimental colonel in the 1970s, thus represented in the portrait.
The portrait is intended to convey regality, depicting the king as an imposing and fearsome figure capable of vanquishing enemies with a single slash of his sword. However, it presents the king in a lackluster manner, as if enduring the punishment of standing for hours on end wasn’t enough.
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A curious little butterfly is positioned near the king’s shoulder, clearly noticeable in the portrait. According to the painter, the butterfly symbolises the king’s transformation from a mere prince—albeit a crown prince—to the monarch of the most famous and influential royal family in the world.
“When I started this project, His Majesty The King was still His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, and much like the butterfly I’ve painted hovering over his shoulder, this portrait has evolved as the subject’s role in our public life has transformed.”
Yeo expressed optimism on how he did his ‘best’. The royal painter stated that “I do my best to capture the life experiences and humanity etched into any individual sitter’s face, and I hope that is what I have achieved in this portrait.” We certainly share that hope, Johnathan!
This isn’t the first time the royal painter has portrayed a member of the British royal family. Yeo previously painted Charles’s wife, Camilla, and even his father, Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II.
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King Charles’ portrait will be available for public viewing at the Philip Mould Gallery in the country’s capital for four weeks, starting Thursday (today). It will later join the collection of royal family portraits at Draper’s Hall in London.