The first official portrait of King Charles III includes an unexpected detail that nods to his decades of climate activism.
Although the King is depicted in the oil painting wearing a typical suit, he styles it with a bracelet given to him by an indigenous Amazon leader.
The work was created by artist Alastair Barford, who previously painted Queen Elizabeth II.
Throughout her 70-year reign, Elizabeth II was the subject of about 1000 portraits that traced the decades of her life and the changing country she reigned over.
Mr Barford is a former Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust scholar, which makes the new commission of Charles a tribute to the late Monarch.
“I wished to capture his warmth and sensitivity, the empathy which came across in his interactions with the people he met,” Mr Barford said in a statement upon the portrait’s release.
“It was important that I captured a sympathetic expression.”
Instead of requesting Charles to sit for the portrait, Mr Barford used reference photos and his own observations of the King when he saw the Monarch at a reception last month.
The new portrait of the King will feature on the front cover of The Illustrated Coronation Edition, a royal-approved publication released to coincide with the coronation which will go on sale in the UK on Thursday.
The portrait’s release comes as King Charles and Queen Camilla prepare to head off on their first official state visit to Germany after postponing a visit to France due to widespread protests.
The King and Queen will touch down in Germany on Wednesday morning local time for a three-day tour of Berlin and Hamburg.
Charles and Camilla will first receive a ceremonial welcome with military honours at the Brandenburg Gate, a symbol of Germany’s reunification following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
The couple will then enjoy a state banquet with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier which is also expected to include distant cousins of the Windsor family.
