King Charles III’s new royal portrait has fans drawing pointed comparisons to Jonathan Yeo’s divisive painting.
A new photograph of Charles, 75, was released on Saturday, June 29.
“A new portrait of The King has been released to mark Armed Forces Day. His Majesty is Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Services,” a caption on the official royal family’s Instagram read. “The photograph features His Majesty wearing his Field Marshal No1 Full Ceremonial Frock Coat with medals, sword and decorations.”
In the photo, photographer Hugo Burnand snapped Charles sitting on a gilded green chair in his military regalia while holding onto a ceremonial sword. His military cap and gloves sat beside the king on an end table.
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Several royal watchers immediately remarked in the comments section that the portrait was “way better” than a previous one that the monarch posed for.
“Wonderful! And it’s in Classic style. I love it,” one commenter wrote on Saturday, as another called it a “fantastic picture.”
A third fan added, “The old one was a truly [sic] portrait which described him. He was in hell on that portrait.”
Last month, Buckingham Palace unveiled a portrait of Charles painted by Yeo, 53, and commissioned by The Draper’s Company. Yeo’s painting was the king’s first official portrait since his May 2023 coronation. The picture, which is displayed at London’s Draper’s Hall, has since sparked criticism from fans about the use of the color red and overall artistic style.
“The only guidance [The Draper’s Company] gave me was the specific scale because they had other portraits of that size. And there was a preference for it to be in uniform, probably Welsh Guards,” Yeo told Hello! last month. “Other than that, there was no direction, which is exciting but a little bit daunting. A blank canvas.”
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Yeo specifically chose the red hue as a nod to the military branch.
“The red was inspired by the Welsh Guards, but I wanted the painting to be a little more contemporary and not get in the way of seeing the face and the personality,” he said. “The color was an early experiment and then I sketched it out and worked on the face, and the face and background worked so well. I just then worked on making sure nothing else interfered with the balance. It was a nice mix of the traditional and the contemporary.”
Yeo later confirmed to the outlet that Charles, who is currently battling an undisclosed form of cancer, approved of the piece.
“When I showed it to him back in November, when it was sort of three-quarters done … certainly the face was done, body was sketched and the color was mostly pretty much as it was, in the end,” Yeo recalled. “If he’d been appalled, I think, I might have rethought it and toned it down a bit. But he didn’t seem that way.”
