King Charles III’s widely discussed official state portrait by British artist Jonathan Yeo will go on public view at Buckingham Palace this summer, more than two years after its unveiling sparked international debate over its striking crimson palette.
Beginning July 10, visitors to the Palace’s Picture Gallery will be able to see the monumental painting as part of a new rehang of works from the Royal Collection. The portrait will be displayed alongside paintings by artists including Thomas Gainsborough, Anthony van Dyck, Sir Thomas Lawrence, and John Singer Sargent, placing Yeo’s contemporary commission within a lineage of royal portraiture stretching back centuries.
Unveiled in May 2024, Yeo’s portrait quickly became one of the most talked-about artworks of the year. The nearly 9-foot-tall painting depicts the King in the scarlet uniform of the Welsh Guards, emerging from a vivid field of red that dissolves much of the composition into an almost abstract haze. A butterfly hovering above King Charles’s shoulder—a symbol of transformation and the monarch’s longstanding commitment to environmental causes—provides one of the work’s few contrasting notes.
The portrait prompted sharply divided reactions upon its debut, with some critics praising its departure from the conventions of royal portraiture and others finding its enveloping red background unsettling. The image quickly spread across social media, where it inspired countless memes and cemented its status as one of the art world’s most viral moments of 2024.
Yeo, one of Britain’s best-known portrait painters, has built a career depicting politicians, actors, and cultural figures, including Malala Yousafzai, Idris Elba, Damien Hirst, and Nicole Kidman. He began work on the commission in 2021, shortly before King Charles acceded to the throne following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. The final painting reflects both moments in the King’s life, depicting him wearing the uniform of the Welsh Guards, of which he became Regimental Colonel in 1975.
The installation is part of a broader redisplay of the Picture Gallery following the completion of the Buckingham Palace Reservicing Programme. The refreshed presentation will bring together more than 100 works from the Royal Collection, including paintings that have not previously been exhibited in the space.
The return of Yeo’s portrait to public view offers visitors another opportunity to assess a painting that challenged expectations of royal portraiture and became an unlikely flashpoint in conversations about contemporary art, symbolism, and the enduring power of the painted image.
