As a new official portrait of King Charles III is unveiled, a guide to the messages in recent royal iconography.
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In the year since the Coronation of King Charles III, the official images that have been unveiled – created by leading painters and photographers, etchers and engravers – reveal much about his interests. And one in particular comes through powerfully.
From the surface of countless objects encountered every day in the United Kingdom, including coins and postage stamps, intricate insignias and official portraits, a surprisingly personal message about the fragility of our world has begun to vibrate back – an urgent appeal enunciated in a vivid visual language that is remarkably fresh and new. To mark the first anniversary of the Coronation in May 2023, here is a symbol-spotter’s guide to the intriguingly eco-conscious iconography of King Charles III.
The Yeo portrait
If the first official portrait of the King to be unveiled since his Coronation is anything to go by, symbols of his devotion to ecological causes are likely to remain a leading leitmotif of royal iconography throughout his reign. The larger-than-life likeness, which measures 8ft 6in by 6ft 6in, is the work of British artist Jonathan Yeo, who has previously painted the King’s father, Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh, and Charles’s wife, Queen Camilla. Here, the uniformed figure of Charles appears to be emerging from a heavy haze – a vivid vermillion mist that tinges everything save the King’s incongruously serene face, his sympathetic hands (which rest on his sword’s pommel), and a small monarch butterfly about to land on his sovereign shoulder.
In any other era, perhaps, the rejuvenating insect’s invocation in such a context might be interpreted straightforwardly as an emblem of royal rebirth – a new monarch beginning to spread his wings. But here, the fug of crimson is too apocalyptic for such easy cheeriness. Some subspecies of the monarch butterfly are, after all, vulnerable to endangerment. Does the butterfly, once a predictable memento mori prop in Old Master still lifes, represent a wider warning – an exhilarating exhortation to pause and appreciate the fine, fragile, fleetingness of life?
