King Charles is the face of sustainability — literally!
According to The Telegraph, the 77-year-old monarch “loved” a brand-new eco-friendly portrait created in his honour using coffee waste, salvaged flowers, and reclaimed wood. Titled ”The King of Sustainability,” the piece pays tribute to His Majesty’s decades-long commitment to environmental advocacy and was privately hung at Buckingham Palace after being presented to him last month (October).
Commissioned in March as part of a wider cultural and sustainability project, the portrait comes from artist Michael Shellis, who cycled around London on a Lime bike to gather everything he needed. He collected petals from St James’s Park, wood from a skip, and even visited St Paul’s Cathedral and the Royal Parks for materials.
Shellis drew inspiration from the King’s 2010 book Harmony: A New Way of Looking At Our World, which calls for a “revolution” in humanity’s attitude toward nature and emphasises that the human and natural worlds “cannot be separated.”
The commission came from sustainability campaigner Taz Khan, founder of London’s Community Kitchen and the Urban Farmer Project. Khan said meeting the King in 2022 inspired him deeply.
“After that, I read his book and I understood it. He became my role model and I wanted to pay homage to him,” he told The Telegraph.
Khan ensured the piece used only waste and symbolic natural materials, even dyeing flower petals with coffee grounds. After showing the King a video of the finished portrait, he recalled, “He absolutely loved it. He asked if I would bring it over to him.”
The artwork will now go on public display at Mansion House on November 21 during Treloar’s “Beyond the Frame” event.