You get a portrait, and you get a portrait, and you get a portrait ...
The U.K., Australia, and New Zealand released their official portraits before Canada, but at least ours features a famous brooch worn by Queen Camilla. Oh, wait a sec ...
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We’ve waited and waited and waited for the first official portraits of the King and Queen of Canada. Had their planned May visit gone forward, we’d likely have gotten those new images in the spring, but King Charles III was diagnosed with cancer, that tour never made it out of the preliminary stage, and no portrait was released.
Meanwhile, government buildings and other entities across the country continue to display an official portrait of the country’s previous head of state, the late Queen Elizabeth II, on their walls. In the past 22 months, we’d gotten the King’s image on our coins and stamps while his portrait on the $20 bill is in the works but no one has seen an official portrait of Canada’s head of state.
Meanwhile, other realms began releasing their own official images of King Charles III. In January, the British government unveiled its official portrait of the monarch, who was wearing a Royal Navy uniform of an admiral of the fleet. The image was taken by Hugo Burnand who had taken the official coronation photos.
On Sunday, July 14, the Australian and New Zealand governments released official photos of the King and Queen. The photos were timed to a palace announcement that the regal couple would attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Samoa in October and combine that trip with an official visit to Australia, though they wouldn’t go to New Zealand because of medical advice of the King’s doctors.
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Three of the most senior realms had their official portraits. But there was nothing from Canada.
Grumble. Sigh.
On July 18, Canada released its official photos. They arrived four days after those of Australia and New Zealand and 679 days since the accession of the monarch, but they’re finally here. (I’m happy to see the images though don’t get me started on them choosing to offer them as clunky PDFs, rather than the industry standard of JPEGs, used by the other realms.)
What everyone immediately noticed is that the newest realm images are almost identical. In all official portraits for Australia, New Zealand, as well as Canada, the King is wearing the same blue suit and patterned tie while the Queen is wearing a blue dress by Fiona Clare. They were taken at the same time in the White Drawing Room of Buckingham Palace by photographer Millie Pilkington in June 2024. Even the number of images and their portrait style are exactly the same — each realm gets two of the couple (one full length, one three-quarter length), plus a solo image of the King and another of the Queen, both three-quarter length. Only their insignia and/or brooches are different.
As someone asked me if the insignia and brooches for the three nations were just swapped out in Photoshop — the answer is NO; look closely at the images and you can clearly see tiny changes to Queen’s hair as well as a change in the creases and shadows of the King’s trousers that makes it clear the images for all three realms were taken one after another in the same photo shoot.
Grumbles aside — though I’m still a bit irritated that Canada didn’t release its images at the same time as Australia and New Zealand — what does make this royal jewellery fan very happy is that Queen Camilla is again dipping into the palace jewellery vault — this time reaching for famous “realm brooches.”
In the Australian images, she wears the diamond Wattle Brooch given to the late Queen Elizabeth II during the Coronation Tour in 1954 while she dons the Maple Leaf Brooch that dates back to 1939 for the Canadian photos. (In her Kiwi shots, Queen Camilla wears the badge of an additional member of the Order of New Zealand, an honour she’d received in 2023, instead of the Silver-Fern Brooch, worn by royal women since 1953.)
Stay tuned for some fab royal brooches
I’m hoping to reduce my workload during the next two weeks and so will publish* newsletters about two beautiful pieces of royal jewellery: the Maple Leaf Brooch and the Wattle Brooch.
*if things remain quiet on the royal news front
Lookahead
July TBA: Release of the annual Sovereign Grant report, detailing the official expenses of the monarchy. The amount should be flat for the third consecutive year.
July 22: Prince George turns 11 (2013)
Aug 11: Balmoral Castle closes to the public ahead of the arrival of King Charles and the royal family for their summer holidays.
Aug 15: Princess Anne turns 74 (1950)
Sept 8: Second anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth II (2022).
Sept 15: Prince Harry turns 40 (1984)
Sept 26: Tom Parker Bowles, the gastro writer and son of Queen Camilla, publishes “Cooking and the Crown,” a book about royal culinary history, including recipes.
Oct TBA: King Charles and Queen Camilla will visit Australia on his first visit as monarch (and the first by a monarch in 13 years, since 2011). It will occur before or after CHOGM. There may also be a tour of New Zealand (would be the first by a monarch in 22 years, since 2002).
Oct 21: Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) begins in Samoa. The theme is “One Resilient Common Future: Transforming our Common Wealth.” It will be the first full CHOGM since the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the first presided over by King Charles III, who is the Commonwealth leader.
November TBA: Earthshot prize ceremony held in Cape Town, South Africa
Nov 9: Festival of Remembrance at Royal Albert Hall. All working royals are expected to attend.
Nov 10: Remembrance Sunday. All working royals will take part in commemorations at the Cenotaph in London
Nov 14: King Charles III turns 76 (1948)
Late November TBA: Usual timing for a state visit to the UK.
November 22: Royal Variety Performance at Royal Albert Hall
Early Dec: White-tie and tiaras diplomatic reception at Buckingham Palace (usually a Tuesday or Wednesday evening)
Dec 25: The King’s Christmas Message airs at 3 pm local time (10 am EDT).
My latest Royal Roundup segment on The Morning Show on Global Television (July 15, 2024)