King Charles III started painting while he was a student in Scotland and has been doing so for almost 50 years.
King Charles began painting in the 1970s as a result of Robert Waddell, the Scottish Gordonstoun School’s art teacher, inspiring him. The Moray Firth beaches can be reached on foot from the school’s 200-acre campus of woodlands.
His paintings were first displayed in 1977 at Windsor Castle, where he only exhibits his watercolor creations. The works of the Duke of Edinburgh, a painter, and designer whose sketches aided in the creation of the stained-glass windows in the Private Chapel of Windsor Castle, as well as those of Queen Victoria, a passionate watercolorist, were also on display.
His earlier works frequently featured family homes, including this 1986 painting of Castle Mey. The Queen Mother once lived in the castle.
Scotland’s north coast is where Castle Mey is situated. It was the residence of Queen Elizabeth II’s mother, the Queen Mother, who was particularly close to King Charles.
He spent his formative years and frequently returns to Scotland, where he completed many of his paintings.
According to The Telegraph, he likes to paint at a pond in Helmsdale, Scotland, where he also fishes.
Balmoral Castle is one of his favorite locations to paint, as seen in the image below.
The king prefers to paint outdoor scenes, favoring mountains, streams, and the surroundings of the Queen’s estate at Balmoral. He has donated all proceeds from his artwork to The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund.
Queen Elizabeth II lived at Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, until her passing. Prince Albert first bought the house in 1852 for Queen Victoria.
These surrounding hills are one of many scenes that Charles has painted in the area around Balmoral.
Balmoral was thought to be Queen Elizabeth’s favorite home, where she spent her summer vacations.
“I think Granny is the most happy there. I think she really, really loves the Highlands,” said Princess Eugenie in the documentary “Our Queen at Ninety.”
According to The Telegraph, he has stated that he prefers watercolors because they dry more quickly, allowing him to avoid keeping his security detail waiting too long.
According to The Telegraph, he received instruction from some of Britain’s most well-known artists, including John Napper, John Ward, Hugh Casson, Edward Seago, and Derek Hill.
The king’s artwork has been on display in numerous exhibitions and charitable occasions.
King Charles continued to exhibit his work after his initial exhibition, and it quickly gained enormous popularity both domestically and abroad. Although he modestly refers to himself as an “enthusiastic amateur,” The Daily Telegraph reported in 2016 that he was one of the nation’s best-selling living artists between 1997 and 2016, earning an estimated £2 million from the sales of copies of his watercolors.
The Royal Collection Trust has displayed his work. For his 70th birthday, he also held a sizable exhibition at Buckingham Palace.
The painting “Lochnagar from the Gelder Cottage,” shown below, was on display at the Windsor Castle exhibition Royal Paintbox: Royal Artists Past and Present.
The Old Man of Lochnagar, a children’s book about an elderly cave dweller who meets a bubble-blowing sea god named Scoticus, was written by him and Hugh Maxwell Casson in 1980.
At a charity reception for International Nursing and Nurses Day, he displayed many of his watercolor paintings.
In 2018, he highlighted the “unsung” work of nurses and praised their dedication to helping those who were injured in the Grenfell Fire, which claimed the lives of 71 people when a residential structure caught fire.
Watercolors by King Charles have been displayed all over the world, including this 1989 painting of Double Haven Bay in Hong Kong.
The former prince and Princess Diana traveled to Hong Kong in 1989 to inaugurate the Cultural Center, a $600 million development on the waterfront in Tsim Sha Tsui.
In 1986, he was spotted painting in Kyoto, Japan.
According to the Los Angeles Times, King Charles and Princess Diana visited Kyoto in 1986 and took part in a tea ceremony as well as visited temples and Zen gardens.
The king has spent a lot of time in Switzerland, where he enjoys painting picturesque mountain scenes while staying at the Klosters ski resort.
According to the Daily Mail, King Charles’ preferred ski resort is Klosters in Switzerland.
In 1997, one of Klosters’ paintings was featured on an annual ski pass because of how much he valued his creations.
He held a private party to commemorate 40 years of skiing at Klosters in 2018. He narrowly escaped an avalanche there in 1988. According to The Daily Mail, he stated: “I’ve never forgotten the sound of it. The whole mountain apparently exploding outwards … vast clouds of snow. I thought to myself My God, the horror …”
In the UK, stamps bearing his artwork have been issued.
The Royal Mail featured several of the king’s watercolors on its stamps in 1994, including this one of Scotland’s Sutherland region’s Arkle mountain.
The Scottish Highlands’ extreme northwest corner is where Arkle is situated. The mountain is largely composed of Cambrian quartzite, which when viewed up close gives it a glistening appearance.
His depiction of Dersingham in Norfolk, England, appears on this British postage stamp.
The royal family frequently spends Christmas at their residence in Dersingham.
