King Charles III and Queen Camilla unveil their coronation portraits

London: When King Charles III last year unveiled the first official portrait of his reign, the artwork caused a stir.

On social media, some users said that the painting, which depicts the king surrounded by a red glow, made Charles look like he was bathing in blood. Others said that the portrait, by Jonathan Yeo, made the king appear to be burning in hell.

So Tuesday, King Charles was perhaps hoping for a better reaction when he unveiled his official coronation portrait — an artwork by Peter Kuhfeld showing the king in the regalia that he wore two years ago for the lavish crowning ceremony. In the work, sunlight from a nearby window makes the crown, sat on a plinth, appear to glisten.

The monarch also unveiled a second official portrait, by Paul Benney, of his wife, Queen Camilla — an almost photorealistic depiction of the queen wearing her silk coronation dress and staring out at the viewer.

Coronation portraits have for centuries been a traditional part of the crowning of a monarch. Queen Elizabeth II’s, by Herbert James Gunn, showed her in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace, the crown and scepter on a table beside her — symbols of rule that traditionally appear in coronation portraits.

On social media, the immediate reaction to Kuhfeld’s work was more positive than it had been for Yeo’s effort. “Fortunately, it’s not an all-red painting like the first one,” one commenter wrote. “Soooo beautiful,” another added.

Both Kuhfeld, who is in his early 70s, and Benney, 65, have long-standing professional relationships with the king. In 1986, Charles commissioned Kuhfeld to paint his sons, William and Harry.

Kuhfeld has said that Charles’ patronage helped to kick-start his career. “My name started to be bandied around London,” the artist said in a 2012 interview. “Whatever I was doing for the prince was in demand.”

Later, Charles paid for Kuhfeld to accompany him on several royal tours, including to Iran and to Japan, asking the artist to paint whatever inspired him.

In a news release Tuesday, Kuhfeld said that the painting had taken him “over a year and a half to complete” and that he had “tried to produce a painting that is both human and regal, continuing the tradition of royal portraiture.”

Benney, who also paints more abstract works (two of which are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collections), has long associations with the royal family, too. In 2015, he painted Queen Elizabeth stroking a horse, and in 2022, Charles commissioned him to paint Holocaust survivors’ portraits for display at Buckingham Palace.

Before Tuesday’s ceremony, Benney had posted on his website about the job of painting Camilla, revealing that she had sat for him multiple times at Clarence House in London. At one point, Benney said, security guards brought the coronation crown from the Tower of London for him to “sketch and scrutinise.”

In a news release Tuesday, Benney said that he wanted to “acknowledge the grand and historic nature of the coronation” in his painting, while also revealing Camilla’s “humanity and empathy.”