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Detail from showing paintings hanging on the wall of Buckingham House
Royal Portraiture

The Royal Collection holds royal portraits from visual works to decorative arts

STENT, PETER: LONDON

Charles II with the Royal Oak

c.1660-65

RCIN 602671

Many royal portraits were made without the input or knowledge of the sitter. Unlike state portraits or formal commissions, popular portraits can reflect how the wider public saw a monarch.

This portrait presents the head of Charles II (r.1660–85), surrounded by crowns, within a tree. It celebrates the famous escape of Charles II in Boscobel Wood, when the future King hid from Parliamentarian soldiers in the branches of a great tree after his defeat at the Battle of Worcester in 1651. Following the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the Royal Oak became a popular symbol of patriotism. 


    The income from your ticket contributes directly to The Royal Collection Trust, a registered charity. The aims of The Royal Collection Trust are the care and conservation of the Royal Collection, and the promotion of access and enjoyment through exhibitions, publications, loans and educational activities.