The first official portrait of King Charles was revealed at Buckingham Palace recently, sparking a variety of reactions online.
One social media user compared the image to a challenging boss in the action RPG Elden Ring by FromSoftware, drawing parallels between the two.
During the unveiling ceremony on Tuesday, King Charles stood with Queen Camilla and artist Jonathon Yeo as they revealed the portrait. The painting, his first as King after his coronation, features him in the uniform of the Welsh Guards with additional red strokes overlaying the image.
Yeo explained that the inclusion of a butterfly in the artwork symbolizes metamorphosis and rebirth, offering a visual contrast to the military elements in the painting.
A butterfly can be seen on the King’s shoulder, a detail that is only visible up close due to the complex and layered design of the portrait, which differs from traditional royal portraits and has drawn comparisons to gaming aesthetics.
King Charles III unveils first official portrait since coronation, receives mixed responsehttps://t.co/c5hGiRu6Gw pic.twitter.com/z8hxaHJCJV
— TIME (@TIME) May 15, 2024
King Charles’s portrait reaches to Dark Souls III
Some reactions from the gaming community were less favorable to the portrait, drawing connections to different video games.
New Elden Ring art just dropped pic.twitter.com/WjgvYEMq0e
— Josh Scherr (@joshscherr) May 14, 2024
Another social media user suggested that the portrait could fit in with the classic picture walls in Doom, while others likened it to artwork from Dishonored by Bethesda Softworks, with a humorous twist involving Corvo stealing the King’s portrait.
https://t.co/wrMZQHYqwH pic.twitter.com/hqeEXopvwj
— Andrey Mironov (@andrey_magnus) May 15, 2024
Kotaku mentioned the similarities to Elden Ring and Dark Souls III, noting that the painting resembles environments in these games and could be a gateway to DLC content.
Image credit: Royal Family/X
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