Shocked by King Charles III’s ‘bloody’, 'satanic' portrait? Here are 6 others that made people cringe

UK's King Charles III, recently in the news for his cancer diagnosis, is once again being talked about. This time, his first official portrait as a monarch drew mixed reactionsonline and from art critics.

The fiery red portrait, by Jonathan Yeo, shows King Charles III with a butterfly hovering on his shoulder. While it is said to depict a "21st-century monarchy" and to communicate the King's "deep humanity," many on the Internet were not pleased, some even calling it 'bloody' or 'satanic'.

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(Source: Reuters)

However, some art critics have hailed the art as revolutionary and path-breaking. The Daily Telegraph's art critic Alastair Sooke saidthe portrait will be "remembered for its fluorescence."

The UK royal family, however, is no stranger to divisive and downright weird portraits. Here are some of them:

1. A shirtless Prince Philip

(Source: Reuters)

In a portrait by Stuart Pearson Wright, the late Queen Elizabeth II's consort Prince Philip was shown bare-chested and with strands of cress growing out of his finger. It was widely ridiculed after its unveiling.

2. 'Vampirish' Kate

(Source: Associated Press)

A 2013 portrait of Princess of Wales, Catherine was pegged to be 'vampirish' and 'demonic' by some. The portrait was also brought back into focus after Prince Kate's sudden disappearance from public life, owing to her cancer diagnosis.

3. 'Corgi' Elizabeth

(Source: Reuters/Alamy)

In a shocking portrait of the late Queen, the monarch was depicted by Lucian Freud in a tiny avatar. Critics said the Queen looked like "one of her corgis who had suffered a stroke."

4. 'The Birth of Venus' royal portrait

(Source: Public Domain)

Artist Terry Duffy once recreated Botticelli's 'The Birth Of Venus' but replaced the heads with Queen Elizabeth, Princess Diana, King Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles. People called it 'not such a masterpiece.'

5. Diana as a bride

(Source: Reuters)

Princess Di's portrait by John Ward showed the enigmatic royal in her wedding dress in 1984. Some referred to it as a premonition of the great sadness that was to overcome the famous Princess later in life.

6. King Henry VIII's portrait

(Source: Public Domain)

Renaissance painter Cornelis Massys produced King Henry VIII's depiction when the monarch was heading towards the sunset of his life. Modern viewers have termed the portrait 'ugly' and 'shrunken.'

These were just some of the outlandish ones of the many portraits the UK royals have been subjected to, some termed 'masterpieces', some 'terrible.'

Well, terrible or not, all of them will surely be remembered in the annals of history. So will be the shockingly scarlet King Charles III.