Portrait of King in Field Marshal uniform released to mark Armed Forces Day

Armed Forces Day portrait of King Charles - HUGO BURNAND/ROYAL HOUSEHOLD/PA

The King gazes directly at the camera, posing in full military uniform in a portrait released to mark Armed Forces Day.

Seated in the Grand Corridor at Windsor Castle, the monarch is resplendent in his Field Marshal No1 full ceremonial frock coat, complete with an array of medals and decorations.

He is holding a ceremonial sword, his Field Marshal’s cap, white gloves and baton placed on a table alongside him.

The monarch, who is head of the Armed Forces, was photographed by favoured society photographer Hugo Burnand last November, before his cancer diagnosis.

Mr Burnand said he was “very proud” of the image, in which the King is fully engaged with the viewer.

“It is a mix of formality and informality, which draws you in,” he told The Telegraph.

“The King wears his medals with pride but they are not the main feature of the picture.”

The Royal family has a long and proud association with the Armed Forces and always marks Armed Forces Day, an annual celebration of service personnel, their families, veterans and cadets, which falls on the last Saturday of June each year.

The King is a former serving Naval officer while his sons, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex, served respectively as an RAF search and rescue pilot and an Apache helicopter pilot in the Army.

As Commander-in-Chief, the King meets regularly with the chief of the defence staff and the single service chiefs. He also holds a string of military affiliations.

The new, previously unseen portrait was taken after Mr Burnand suggested the King sit for an update to his 60th birthday portrait.

Official 60th birthday portrait of the then Prince of Wales - HUGO BURNAND/PA ARCHIVE

Mr Burnand had taken the photograph of the then Prince of Wales in 2008 to mark his landmark birthday. The Prince was then depicted in a similarly regal yet relaxed pose, wearing the ceremonial uniform of the Welsh Guards.

Of the most recent portrait, Mr Burnand said: “It was not on the official schedule of photographs that I was engaged to take that day.

“When the King arrived, I suggested that maybe we do an update of the 60th birthday portrait, it being 15 years on.

“He seemed to think that was a good idea and so we slotted it into the schedule.”

The resulting image immediately became one of Mr Burnand’s favourites.

“It is a good example to me of what a good portrait is,” he said. “And that is a true collaboration between the photographer and the sitter. Many are just the photographer’s own opinion of the subject.

“But as we are able to collaborate, which I have the luxury of being able to do, we are able to talk. And sometimes we don’t even have to talk, we know what each other likes.”

As part of the same shoot last November, Mr Burnand also took the image of the King in Naval uniform that was released in January as the official portrait to be hung in schools, council buildings and courtrooms in an effort to boost “civic pride”.

In order to prepare for his first solo shoot of Charles since he ascended the throne, Mr Burnand was invited to Windsor Castle to view a series of portraits and images of former monarchs, which duly informed and inspired him.

Many were depicted with a crown on the table beside them.

The decision to capture the King alongside his military cap and gloves was considered a modern nod to the traditional style.

King George V, by Frederick W Elwell - ROYAL COLLECTION TRUST

Mr Burnand was particularly influenced by a 1932 painting of George V by Frederick Elwell, for which he posed in the uniform of the Colonel-in-Chief of the Scots Guards, the hat of the Order of the Thistle and a pair of white gloves resting on a table to his right.

Another portrait that became a reference point was a James Tissot oil painting of Frederick Burnaby, an Army intelligence officer, posing with his legs crossed in military uniform, a dominant red stripe on his trousers..

Mr Burnand said of his own portrait of the King: “I love the three points of red; in the painting behind him, his hat and his trouser leg.”

The photographer also had the honour of taking the official Coronation portraits at Buckingham Palace on May 6 last year, describing at the time how he wanted to depict the monarch as “the real man” that he is. “He is of his age. With that comes wisdom and experience and all those things,” he said.

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