Guernsey Press

Watercolours painted by the King to go on display at Sandringham

Charles is a keen artist who has said he finds painting so relaxing that it ‘transports me into another dimension’.

Published
Last updated

More than 40 watercolours painted by the King are to be displayed in an exhibition.

The collection, featuring interpretations of British landscapes and royal residences, will be put on view in the ballroom at Sandringham House in Norfolk.

The exhibition contains a range of scenes painted in the Welsh hills, the highlands of Scotland and at Windsor Castle, Highgrove, Birkhall Castle and the surrounding Norfolk countryside at Sandringham.

His Majesty The King’s Watercolours exhibition
Balmoral Castle, Aberdeenshire (2001), a watercolour painted by the King (Joe Giddens/PA)

He paints whenever his schedule allows and he usually takes his treasured sailcloth and leather painting bag with him on royal tours in the hope he will have time to do so.

His interest – fostered by his art master at Gordonstoun school, Robert Waddell – grew in the 1970s and 1980s as he was able to meet leading artists.

His Majesty The King’s Watercolours exhibition
The exhibition will be on show at Sandringham House in Norfolk (Joe Giddens/PA)

An exhibition at Hampton Court Palace in 1998, held to mark the prince’s 50th birthday, displayed 50 of his watercolours, while the National Gallery of Australia’s exhibition in 2018 to celebrate his 70th birthday showed 30 pieces.

Last year, 79 of Charles’s watercolours – the first full exhibition of his work in the medium – were exhibited at the Garrison Chapel in Chelsea, south-west London.

The atmospheric paintings depicted Scottish landscapes such as the Huna Mill in John O’Groats and Glen Callater near Balmoral, as well as outdoor scenes from Provence in the south of France and Tanzania in East Africa, one of his favourite places to paint.

His Majesty The King’s Watercolours exhibition
Terrace at Highgrove, Gloucestershire (1998), a watercolour painted by the King (Joe Giddens/PA)

The King admitted he was “appalled” by the quality of his early sketches.

He added: “I am under no illusion that my sketches represent great art or a burgeoning talent.

“They represent, more than anything else, my particular form of ‘photograph album’ and, as such, mean a great deal to me.”

His Majesty The King’s Watercolours exhibition
Sandringham House, Norfolk (1991), painted by Charles (Joe Giddens/PA)

In what was thought to be the first time a print by a reigning monarch has been sold at auction, a private British collector paid £5,738.

Prints Charles has done in the past have usually fetched between £400 and £600.

The exhibition will run from from April 1 to October 12 at Sandringham House.

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.