Eight years later, in 1988, Tom Wood would paint the then-Prince Charles, in what Sir Roy Strong, former Director of the National Portrait Gallery, once declared ‘the best portrait I’ve ever seen’ of the King. Charles himself commissioned Wood, having made an unexpected visit to one of the artist’s exhibitions. Impressed, the Prince of Wales told Wood: ‘you must do one of me’.
Initially, Wood declined, knowing that the strict protocols of a royal visit would compromise his artistic instincts. The Palace waived tradition, and the artist was invited for a series of sittings at Highgrove, where he got to know Charles, then 40 years old, on a more personal level: sitting down for tea; meeting Princess Diana, Prince William and Prince Harry; and, perhaps most significantly, walking around the then-Prince’s beloved garden, which inspired the composition of the painting.
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
The Prince sits, his suit dappled by light from the surrounding foliage, with head tilted towards the viewer, as if asking a question or considering a response. The trees and branches surrounding the Prince gesture towards his love of horticulture and his passion for environmentalism, while an urn symbolises his passion for classical architecture. There are also two, more shadowy, faces in the portrait, a reference to the three-headed portrait of King Charles I that the now-King grew up studying in Windsor Castle.