King Charles III’s new portrait has sparked a wide range of interesting opinions across social media. However, most were caught off guard by the artist’s overwhelming use of the color red. “Why in the color ‘Red’? Red has meanings associated with shades of danger, violence, anger, malice, and aggression,” tweeted one user on X, formerly known as Twitter. Given the monarchy’s documented ties to colonialism, however, some people feel the color palette was intentional. “These royalties are so boring. His portrait while swimming in the blood of millions of people Britain has murdered, displaced, enslaved …” tweeted another.
Unfortunately, those tweets were far from the end of the negative reactions. “One of the creepiest royal portraits I’ve ever seen. Horrible!” wrote a user on Instagram. Other users entertained even more sinister theories about the royal portrait, claiming that it signified Charles’ spiritual destiny. “Looks like he’s going straight to hell,” wrote another user. “The King’s first official portrait. Are you kidding me. Was he exiting the fires of hell at the time?!” tweeted another user. Meanwhile, others likened the use of red not to fire, but to blood. “It looks like he’s bathing in blood,” wrote another. “I just see lots of blood … I hope that’s not an omen,” tweeted another user.
Other users compared Charles to the antichrist and other harbingers of death.
