King Charles’ official portrait has been revealed by the Roayl family, two days after his coronation.
Following his crowning ceremony on Saturday, the royal couple posed for official coronation portraits at Buckingham Palace.
Photographer Hugo Burnand got behind the camera for King Charles’ official portrait, after previously acting as Charles and Camilla’s wedding photographer in 2005. (He clearly aced the assignment as he was tapped by the royals again to take the official portraits of Prince William and Kate Middleton on their 2011 wedding day), according to People magazine.
On Monday, Buckingham Palace released the first King Charles’ official portrait.
For the solo shot, King Charles was in full royal regalia in the Throne Room, wearing the Imperial State Crown and Robe of Estate while holding the Sovereign’s Orb and Sovereign’s Sceptre with Cross. For the portrait, he sat on one of a pair of 1902 throne chairs that were made for the future King George V and Queen Mary for use at the coronation of King Edward VII.
While King Charles’ official portrait shows him in the Imperial State Crown, he wore two crowns on his coronation day. During the ceremony, he was pronounced King with the St. Edward’s Crown, which weighs nearly 5 lbs and was first created for King Charles II in 1661. However, he exited Westminster Abbey in the Imperial State Crown. This particular crown is slightly less heavy — but just as stunning with its 2,868 diamonds and colored stones, including 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds and 269 pearls.
Despite some rain, the coronation festivities went off without a hitch. Well-wishers lined the streets to catch of glimpse of the Coronation Procession following the crowning ceremony at Westminster Abbey, then made their way to Buckingham Palace to see the royal family appear on the balcony to watch a flypast (which was scaled down due to the weather — but not canceled completely, as some worried might happen).
Esteemed royals photographer Chris Jackson shared a balcony snap from a different perspective — inside the palace! King Charles and Queen Camilla waved to the crowd gathered down The Mall in London.
“An honour to shoot ‘behind the scenes’ and a never seen before angle from today’s historic Coronation, what a day!!!!!! Save a 🥂 for me! 🇬🇧,” he captioned the pic on social media.
The coronation of the first of a British monarch in the 21st century — but that’s not the only reason it made the history books.
At the May 6 coronation, Charles, 74, and Camilla, 75, became the oldest King and Queen Consort crowned in British history.
The oldest British monarchs to be crowned before King Charles were King William IV (who became sovereign at age 64 in 1830), King Edward VII (who was 59 in 1901) and King George IV (who took the throne at age 57 in 1820).
Meanwhile, Queen Camilla broke the record previously held by Queen Alexandra, who was 58 when she was crowned as Queen Consort in 1902.