The King and Queen were met with great fanfare as they had their official Coronation state portraits unveiled at the National Gallery today.
Charles, wearing a castle-themed tie and a navy pinstriped suit, nervously climbed the stairs with his wife Camilla. Camilla looked stunning in a scarlet crepe dress designed by Fiona Clare.
This morning, artwork by Peter Kuhfeld and Paul S. Benney was unveiled to commemorate the second anniversary of His Majesty’s crowning at Westminster Abbey on May 6, 2023.
In the paintings, Camilla is depicted elegantly dressed in her Coronation outfit by Bruce Oldfield, adorned with her robe of state. She is also seen wearing ‘Queen Camilla’s crown,’ previously known as Queen Mary’s Crown.
Charles, who is royal patron of the National Gallery, is depicted in uniform with the Imperial State Crown and his robe of state.
Mr Kuhfeld said he wanted to paint the King as ‘both human and regal’ while Mr Benney, who painted the Queen, said he hoped to capture her ‘humanity and empathy’.
Now part of The Royal Collection, the portraits were revealed in the Central Hall, followed by the reopening of the refurbished Sainsbury Wing.
Their Majesties fortunately appreciated the artwork, with Camilla, 77, saying ‘I just love it’ while the King praised the ‘wonderful composition’ of Peter Kuhfeld’s effort.
It comes as Mr Kuhfeld had said he hoped his depiction of the monarch captured ‘the man and the King’.
Mr Benny who painted the Queen, joined by her daughter Laura Lopes, said: ‘She said nothing but wonderful things about it, more importantly Laura liked it – you know when the kids like it you’re probably on the right track.’
The Queen could be heard telling the artist ‘I think it’s really lovely’.
Mr Kuhfeld, who took more than 18 months to complete the painting after five sittings with the King, said: ‘I think he was pleased. It’s a very odd thing for a sitter to look at themselves, I just hope that I’ve got an aspect of the man and King, I just think that’s very important.’
The artist was commissioned by the King to paint his sons when young boys and has also worked as Charles’ official overseas tour artist on a number of trips.
He added: ‘He’s a wonderfully interesting person in his own right, as a person, not King or Prince of Wales, just a very interesting person. And that was one of the things I was really keen in trying to bring out in the painting.’
Mr Kuhfeld said that during preparatory work for the painting, a period when his studio is closed to family and friends, ‘…my eldest granddaughter forgot, when coming to tell me supper was ready; she burst through the door and came to a standstill and exclaimed, “Oh! It’s the King!”‘
Raven Coetzer, aged nine, was invited to the unveiling and after meeting the King said about her grandfather the artist: ‘I think it’s really good, he did put his heart and soul into it.’
Mr Benny set up a studio in Clarence House’s garden sitting room for almost a year and the Queen sat for him six times when she had moments free: ‘I was able to go in and out and every couple of weeks I was in there.’
The artist added: ‘Extremely pleasurable on my part, I think Her Majesty the Queen enjoyed them. I like to talk when I’m painting – I’ve managed to develop that skill over the years, I’m able to do two things at once – so we had lots of talks and chats and stories.
‘Every time I’d leave, I’d be holding my tummy because I’d been laughing so much – the Queen’s very witty.’
He added: ‘My guiding principles in this commission were to both acknowledge the grand and historic nature of the coronation iconography with all the equipage of the monarchy and at the same time reveal the humanity and empathy of such an extraordinary person taking on an extraordinary role.’
Before leaving, Charles and Camilla toured the space and met participants in the gallery’s outreach education programme.
The artwork will be exhibited in the hall for the next six weeks, before being installed in Buckingham Palace’s Throne Room as part of the Royal Collection, where they will be on display for the palace’s annual summer opening.
They will form part of a long tradition of coronation portraits dating back centuries, with the earliest known example being a painting of James VI and I by Paul van Somer which hangs at Windsor Castle.
After unveiling the paintings in the central hall and posing for pictures with the artists, Charles and Camilla spoke with Kuhfeld and Benney, who were personally chosen by the King and Queen, being previously known to them from former royal commissions.
‘Hello Paul, lovely to see you,’ said Camilla, before beckoning over her daughter, Laura Lopes, who joined the King and Queen for the visit.
Camilla recalled how Laura, a gallerist, had seen the early stages of the portrait during her sittings with Benney at Clarence House.
‘It’s so incredible,’ Laura said, ‘it’s very flattering.’
Hitting her daughter playfully on the arm, Camilla joked: ‘Don’t say it’s very flattering! I just love it.’
Before leaving the gallery, Camilla was presented with a posy by eight-year-old Maria Finaldi, the niece of the gallery’s director. ‘Thank you, they’re my favourite flowers, and that’s a very good curtsey,’ Camilla told her.
And before making their way into the State Bentley, Charles and Camilla quickly greeted a group of well-wishers and school pupils who had gathered outside the gallery’s back entrance.
Ahead of the unveiling of the official portraits, artwork commissioned by the King to capture key moments from the coronation weekend was shared for the first time.
Paintings and monochrome images showing the Gold State Coach procession, heralds waiting to take part in events and the King and Queen during the Westminster Abbey coronation were revealed.
Charles followed a long-held tradition and commissioned five artists to capture significant events from the coronation weekend, with four of the creatives being former students from his Royal Drawing School.
Fraser Scarfe was outside Buckingham Palace and Gideon Summerfield at Trafalgar Square, Phoebe Stannard was inside Westminster Abbey, and artist and illustrator Shana Lohrey was invited to Windsor Castle to capture the atmosphere, crowds and ambience of the coronation concert.
Eileen Hogan, an Emeritus Professor at the University of the Arts London and a Royal Drawing School trustee, was commissioned to paint the coronation service – the first woman to be given the role.
Ms Hogan said: ‘When I was appointed to paint the coronation from Westminster Abbey, I was very aware that I was the first woman to be appointed in this historical role, and then I thought ‘What details could a painting bring that modern-day TV cameras could not?’.
‘The more I thought about it, my conclusion was that the stillness of a painting really isolates and intensifies significant moments, and emphasises meaning; whether that be ritualistic, spiritual, or simply extremely human.’
The coronation was held on May 6 2023, and Charles saw the finished pieces, now part of the Royal Collection, last September during a presentation at his Clarence House home.
Mr Scarfe, who is the Royal Drawing School’s head of education delivery, was commissioned by Charles to capture images from his recent state visit to Italy and became the first official tour artist to create images digitally alongside traditional methods.
He said: ‘There were so many incredible moments during the day.
‘For me, the real standout moment was the moment when Their Majesties went out onto the balcony and the crowds were able to come and stand in front of Buckingham Palace and celebrate the coronation.
‘And it was that moment that I thought really stood out to me; the joy of the people; the mass of people waving flags; and coming through to cheer and celebrate was such a special moment, and that’s really the moment I felt I should focus my largest work on.’
It comes as an exclusive new IPOS survey for the Daily Mail two years after the coronation suggests that the monarch is doing a good job.
Yesterday, the King and Queen stood alongside the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children as they waved to thousands of people from the Buckingham Palace balcony to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day.
They were joined by the Princess Royal, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and the Duke of Kent.
The family watched the spectacular display featuring the Red Arrows and a score of historic and current military aircraft, about an hour after viewing a procession through London of 1,300 members of the armed forces and Nato allies.
Their united front commemorating the service of those who fought to bring peace to Europe and the rest of the world comes three days after Prince Harry’s bombshell plea for ‘reconciliation’ following his court defeat.
The Duke of Sussex faced anger last week for sparking speculation surrounding his father’s health after saying he didn’t ‘know how much longer’ the 76-year-old has left to live.
In a bombshell interview with the BBC, Prince Harry, 40, revealed he wanted to reconcile with the royals, while alleging his father, the monarch, was not currently speaking to him.
‘There have been so many disagreements between myself and some of my family,’ he said: ‘Of course, they will never forgive me for lots of things but… there’s no point in continuing to fight anymore.’
He continued: ‘Life is precious. I don’t know how much longer my father has, he won’t speak to me because of this security stuff. It would be nice to reconcile.’
King Charles, who is still undergoing regular treatments as someone ‘living with cancer’, previously described the moment of being informed of having the disease as ‘daunting and ‘frightening’.
In a moving update he gave last week on living with condition, His Majesty reflected 15 months on from being given the diagnosis.
He thanked those who so ‘selflessly’ work giving care, comfort and reassurance to the 390,000 people who receive a new cancer diagnosis across the UK each year – more than 1,000 a day -as well as those working to treat the disease, research cures and fundraise for them to do so.’
