King Charles has visited around 100 countries carrying out diplomatic duties on royal tours. And now, unique artwork capturing many of those trips can be seen for the first time in a new exhibition in the Buckingham Palace Ballroom.
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King Charles speaks with artist Claudette Johnson at the King’s Tour Artists exhibition reception.
The exhibit The King’s Tour Artists, included as part of the Palace’s summer opening this year, showcases more than 70 works of art from the King’s private collection. The images by 43 different artists were taken throughout 70 royal tours to 95 countries and regions since 1985. The King and Queen viewed the exhibition today during a reception to mark 40 years of the start of the King’s initiative of bringing artists on tours.
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Queen Camilla speaks with artist Toby Ward while looking at a map on display.
“It is His Majesty’s project, it’s his scheme. It’s wonderful to see it and to be able to display it,” exhibition curator Kate Heard, Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Royal Collection Trust, told T&C. “It celebrates 40 years of patronage on the part of His Majesty, it is celebrating that incredible tradition of taking artists on tour. These wonderful works have such variety. The fact that each artist responds in their own way, is given the freedom to respond in their own way, it’s a real act of exciting patronage.”
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The King shakes hands with British painter Martin Yeoman, who joined Charles on several overseas tours.
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Tom Halifax holds a painting he gifted to King Charles.
This is the first time the tour artists’ works have been brought together and many are on display for the first time. The earliest is a watercolour from a 1985 trip to Italy and the most recent is from the King and Queen’s 2025 visit to the same country. Striking pieces on display include 2007 portraits of Charles and Camilla by James Hart Dyke from a visit to the Gulf States.
Visitors to the Palace this summer will also get to see the King and Queen’s official Coronation portraits on display in the Palace’s Throne Room. The Palace is the permanent home of the portraits following their month-long display at the National Gallery.
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The Art of Royal Travel: Journeys with The King book on display at the exhibition.
Credit: townandcountrymag
