His Majesty King Charles III is a portrait of King Charles III by Jonathan Yeo. [1] It was painted between June 2021 and November 2023, a period encompassing Charles's accession to the throne, and was the first official portrait of the King since his coronation. It was commissioned by the Worshipful Company of Drapers. [2]
Measuring about 8 feet 6 inches (2.59 m) by 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m), the work is in a vivid red and shows Charles in the uniform of the Welsh Guards. [3]
Yeo explained his abundant deployment of the colour red in stating ..."The colour was an early experiment and then I sketched it out and worked on the face, and the face and background worked so well," and then went on to say ...."I just then worked on making sure nothing else interfered with the balance. It was a nice mix of the traditional and the contemporary."
Above his right shoulder is a butterfly, symbolising his accession. Katie Razzall, writing for the BBC, described it as "a vibrant painting". [3] Queen Camilla reportedly told Yeo approvingly: "Yes, you've got him." [3] It was displayed at the Philip Mould Gallery in London from 16 May to 14 June 2024. From the end of August it will be displayed at Drapers Hall. [1]
The portrait has received many mixed and memetic reactions on social media sites such as Twitter for its red colour scheme, which has been compared to "flames, blood, and horror films". [4] This was brought to Yeo's attention by his daughter; he expressed flattery over the reaction. [5]
The work has been compared to Francis Bacon's 1949 painting Head IV . [6]
Protestors from the Animal Rising collective attached posters depicting Wallace, of Wallace and Gromit , with a caption, to the glass case of the portrait, in June 2024, in protest against the conditions in "assured farms" accredited by the RSPCA, of which the King is a patron. [7]
Charles III is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms.
Peter Mark Andrew Phillips is a British businessman. He is the son of Anne, Princess Royal, and Captain Mark Phillips, and a nephew of King Charles III. At the time of his birth during the reign of his maternal grandmother Elizabeth II, he was 5th in the line of succession to the British throne; as of 2024, he is 18th.
In the United Kingdom, the Accession Council is a ceremonial body which assembles in St James's Palace in London upon the death of a monarch to make formal proclamation of the accession of the successor to the throne. Under the terms of the Act of Settlement 1701, a new monarch succeeds automatically. The proclamation confirms by name the identity of the new monarch, expresses loyalty to the "lawful and rightful Liege Lord", and formally announces the new monarch's regnal name, while the monarch and others, in front of the council, sign and seal several documents concerning the accession. An Accession Council has confirmed every English monarch since James I in 1603.
St Edward's Crown is the coronation crown of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. Named after Saint Edward the Confessor, versions of it have traditionally been used to crown English and British monarchs at their coronations since the 13th century. It is normally on public display in the Jewel House at the Tower of London.
The coronation of the monarch of the United Kingdom is an initiation ceremony in which they are formally invested with regalia and crowned at Westminster Abbey. It corresponds to the coronations that formerly took place in other European monarchies, which have all abandoned coronations in favour of inauguration or enthronement ceremonies. A coronation is a symbolic formality and does not signify the official beginning of the monarch's reign; de jure and de facto his or her reign commences from the moment of the preceding monarch's death or abdication, maintaining legal continuity of the monarchy.
The Coronation Chair, also known as St Edward's Chair or King Edward's Chair, is an ancient wooden chair on which British monarchs sit when they are invested with regalia and crowned at their coronations. It was commissioned in 1296 by King Edward I to contain the Stone of Scone, which he had captured from the Scots. The chair was named after Edward the Confessor and for centuries it was kept in his shrine at Westminster Abbey. The Coronation Chair was last used at the Coronation of King Charles the III and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey in 2023.
Timothy Hugh Stewart Duke, FSA is a retired officer of arms at the College of Arms in London.
Robert John Baptist Noel is an officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. He has been Clarenceux King of Arms since October 2024.
Jonathan Yeo is a British artist of contemporary portraiture who was educated at Westminster School. He rose to prominence for having painted Kevin Spacey, Dennis Hopper, and Cara Delevingne, among others. GQ described him as "one of the world's most in-demand portraitists."
Elizabeth II was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She had been queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during her lifetime and was the monarch of 15 realms at her death. Her reign of 70 years and 214 days is the longest of any British monarch and the second-longest of any sovereign state.
James Alexander Philip Theo Mountbatten-Windsor, Earl of Wessex, styled Viscount Severn from 2007 until 2023, is the younger child and son of Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, and Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh. He is the youngest nephew of King Charles III. He was born during the reign of his paternal grandmother Elizabeth II, at which time he was 8th in line to the British throne. He is currently 15th.
The Prince of Wales is sometimes presented and invested with the insignia of his rank and dignity in the manner of a coronation. The title is usually given to the heir apparent of the English or British throne. An investiture is ceremonial, as the title is formally conferred via letters patent issued by the monarch.
Prince George of Wales is a member of the British royal family. He is the eldest child of William, Prince of Wales, and Catherine, Princess of Wales. George is the eldest grandchild of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales. He is second in the line of succession to the British throne behind his father.
King Charles III is a 2014 play in blank verse by Mike Bartlett that premiered at the Almeida Theatre in London. The play is a future history account of the accession and reign of King Charles III of the United Kingdom, and the limiting of the freedom of the press after the News International phone hacking scandal.
Katherine Mary Razzall is an English journalist and television newsreader. She currently works for BBC News as its media editor and culture editor, having previously been a Newsnight reporter.
Operation London Bridge was the funeral plan for Queen Elizabeth II. The plan included the announcement of her death, the period of official mourning, and the details of her state funeral. The plan was created as early as the 1960s and revised many times in the years before her death in September 2022.
Head IV, sometimes subtitled Man with a Monkey, is a 1949 painting by Irish-born British artist Francis Bacon, one of series of works made in 1949 for his first one-man exhibition at the Hanover Gallery, in London. It measures 82 by 66 centimetres and is held in a private collection.
The coronation of Charles III and his wife, Camilla, as king and queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, took place on Saturday, 6 May 2023 at Westminster Abbey. Charles acceded to the throne on 8 September 2022 upon the death of his mother, Elizabeth II. It was the first coronation held since Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953 nearly 70 years prior.