The first official portrait of King Charles III has been unveiled at Buckingham Palace.
The 8 foot 6 inch oil on canvas shows a King Charles wearing the uniform of the Welsh Guards.
It was painted by Jonathan Yeo and has created quite a controversy.
The portrait is an excellent likeness of the King, but the red swirl has been a point of discussion. Predictably cultural traditionalists hate the painting.
I thought the great swirl of scarlet from which the King emerges is reminiscent of, well, a swirl of blood. And there was a lot of blood spilled when we look back into history. The wars of rival dynasties for the English throne, which claimed for example the life of King Richard III. The wars with other rival European states such as France and Spain as they jostled for European then global imperial supremacy. The slave trade. Royal history is often spattered with blood.
Whatever the meaning of the scarlet, a welcome relief is the butterfly which hovers above the King’s shoulder. This is a monarch butterfly, an insect much fussed over by environmentalists, of which King Charles is definitely one.
Personally I like the portrait and think it hits hard and is very well executed.
GrahamArt 
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