Hours before King Charles III was scheduled to arrive in Australia, a lawmaker in Perth, Australia, offered free printed portraits of the British royal to constituents who visited his office. The photos of King Charles are available to Australians under a little-known government policy that allows any citizen to request and receive a portrait of the monarch.
This policy is unique in a nation where attitudes towards the British royals as Australia’s heads of state are becoming increasingly ambivalent. In other countries like New Zealand and Canada, obtaining portraits of the monarch involves different processes.
In Australia, individuals can simply visit their federal representative’s office and request a portrait. Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, demand for portraits of the monarch spiked. However, it took nearly a year for an official portrait of King Charles to be supplied to Australia by Buckingham Palace, which was finally provided in July.
Since then, over 17,000 copies of the portrait have been distributed to lawmakers. While the exact number of requests from the public is unknown, lawmakers have reported receiving numerous requests each time the program is publicized.
Despite some lawmakers finding the process of fulfilling portrait requests to be tedious, there is genuine interest from the public. One lawmaker mentioned supplying 85 portraits of King Charles to constituents and noted that colleagues in parliament have also experienced strong interest in the portraits.
