King's portrait for public buildings unveiled

15 January

King Charles — Image caption,
The portrait will hang in thousands of public settings, from hospitals to police and fire stations

By Sean Coughlan

Royal correspondent

The portrait of the King that will hang in public buildings such as courts and government offices has been unveiled.

Taken in Windsor Castle, it is a very traditional formal portrait of the King in an Admiral of the Fleet uniform, with medals and honours on display.

Public bodies such as schools and councils can request a free A3-size, oak-framed copy of the photograph.

But there were criticisms last year when the Cabinet Office revealed the portrait scheme's £8m budget.

The picture was taken by photographer Hugo Burnand who had also taken the official pictures of the Coronation and the King and Queen Camilla's wedding photos.

The reign of the late Queen Elizabeth II lasted so long that there wasn't a single official picture hanging in public buildings, but a range of pictures from different eras.

And there will be no obligation to replace these, with the Cabinet Office saying the portrait of King Charles can hang alongside existing pictures of the late Queen.

The new official portrait could be shown in thousands of public settings across the UK, from hospitals and council offices to police and fire stations.

Public bodies were invited to apply for the King's new photograph in November, but a spokesman for the Cabinet Office said there were no figures for how many requests had so far been received.

'Shameful waste'

Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden hopes as many organisations as possible will receive one.

"Displaying this new portrait will serve as a reminder to us all of the example set by our ultimate public servant," he said.

But when the cost of the portrait scheme was announced last year as £8m, anti-monarchy group Republic called it a "shameful waste of money" and said the government had "lost the plot".

When schools were invited to apply, there was an ironic response from National Education Union leader Daniel Kebede, who posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: "Out of glue sticks? Leaky roof? Damp entering through that cracked window frame?

"What your school needs is a picture of King Charles printed on 'high quality' paper."

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