What's This Picture Of King Charles Seemingly Staring At You From The Pit Of Hell? Memes About The King's Official Portrait Explained

Ronaldo's Bust. The MLK 'Embrace' Statue. Obama in front of a bush.

Historical figures portrayed in… offbeat art have always been a ripe topic for memes, and last week, social media was gifted a new entry into the genre's canon: Jonathan Yeo's portrait of King Charles III.

The striking portrait of the King of England was an instant hit in Photoshop memes, as Twitter and Reddit users had a field day taking the fiery red painting of the King and working it into a wide variety of jokes.

Why Do People Find King Charles' Portrait So Strange?

While some portraits of the royal family have generated controversy in the past, the general thought behind a Royal portrait is that it should portray the majesty of the subject's character without much artistic flourish. Portraits of Queen Elizabeth, for example, were relatively straightforward.

Artist Jonathan Yeo had been commissioned to paint members of the Royal family before, including Prince Philip and Queen Camilla, the wife of King Charles, before she took the throne. Both portraits share Yeo's style of prioritizing the faces of his subjects and having their outfits blend into the portrait's background, though in those portraits, Philip and Camilla are wearing muted colors.

In the case of Yeo's King Charles portrait, Charles' outfit is the bright red of the Welsh Guards military unit, and that becomes the dominant color of the piece. It certainly did not give many viewers warm and fuzzy feelings about the king.

Despite the striking color, the Royal Family is said to be pleased with the portrait, with Camilla telling Yeo, "You've got him." Yeo has stated, "My aim was also to make reference to the traditions of Royal portraiture but in a way that reflects a 21st Century Monarchy and, above all else, to communicate the subject's deep humanity."

How Has The Portrait Been Memed?

Judging from the memes made of King Charles' portrait, it seems social media thinks it's pretty cool — though maybe not in an "official Royal Portrait" sort of way, and more a "heavy metal album cover" way.

Most thought the portrait resembled the sort of macabre art one would see in a horror movie or on a psychedelic poster.

Additionally, on TikTok, a meme has developed in which the clip of Charles revealing the portrait is edited to show him revealing something else, though that's a bit of an offshoot from edits of the portrait itself.

For the full history of King Charles' Portrait, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.