The monarch’s face was covered with a poster of the animated character Wallace, with a speech bubble reading: “No cheese Gromit. Look at all this cruelty on RSPCA farms.”
Animal rights activists have targeted a portrait of the King, appearing to paste over his face with the animated character Wallace.
A speech bubble, reading, “No cheese Gromit. Look at all this cruelty on RSPCA farms,” was also put onto the painting at the Philip Mould gallery in central London.
It is the first official portrait of the King since his coronation, created by artist Jonathan Yeo and unveiled at Buckingham Palace last month.
The group Animal Rising said two of its supporters were responsible for the stunt and that the artwork was due to the King’s love of Nick Park’s British stop-motion comedy series Wallace and Gromit, and his status as Royal Patron as set out by the RSPCA. It was targeted.
The Queen has previously revealed that inventor Wallace, who starred in hit Aardman films Techno Pants and A Great Day, and his dog Gromit are her husband’s “favourite people in the world”.
One of the people involved, Daniel Juniper, said in a post on the group’s website that they wanted to raise awareness of allegations of animal cruelty at an RSPCA-certified farm.
“We hope Her Majesty will find this amusing, but at the same time we urge her to think seriously again about whether she wants to be associated with terrible suffering on RSPCA-supported farms,” he said.
“Prime Minister Charles has made it clear he cares about the suffering of animals on British farms – now is the perfect time for him to get involved and call on the RSPCA to abandon the assurance scheme and tell the truth about animal farming.”
A video posted to social media site X shows two protesters approaching the painting and sticking the posters on with a paint roller before walking away.
Animals Rising – which the group says sprayed the posters with water to make them easier to remove – is calling on the King to stop supporting the RSPCA until the charity abandons its ethical food labelling programme.
The paintings are behind plexiglass so are not expected to be damaged.
spokesperson Orla Coghlan said: “Just as Feathers McGraw tricked Wallace into robbing a bank, the RSPCA has deceived the British public into believing that its factory farms are somehow suitable places for animals to live. The scenes at 45 RSPCA-certified farms highlight the lack of animal welfare practices.” Chickens, pigs, salmon and trout are farmed there.
An RSPCA spokesman said the charity “immediately launched an urgent investigation” after receiving the footage on Sunday but was “shocked by this act of vandalism”.
“We welcome critical scrutiny of our work but do not tolerate unlawful behaviour of any kind”, it said, adding that the charity’s “ongoing activities distract us from the really important work of looking after thousands of animals every day”.
A spokesman said the charity was “confident” the RSPCA-backed programme was “the best way to help farm animals now whilst fighting to transform their lives in the future”.
“We have responded openly and transparently to Animals Rising’s challenge to our farming operations”, it said.
“We understand that Animals Rising wants what’s best for animals, just like us, but their work is a distraction and a distraction from the work we are all doing to make the world a better place for all animals.”
Buckingham Palace declined to comment.
The portrait depicts the King in full uniform with the Welsh Guards, of which he became Colonel in 1975, and was originally commissioned in 2020 to mark 50 years of service to Draper’s Company in 2022.
Yeo will pose for the portrait four times between June 2021 and November 2023, at Highgrove in Gloucestershire and Clarence House in London.
Previous subjects of the famous portrait artist include Idris Elba, Cara Delevingne, Sir David Attenborough, Nicole Kidman, Malala Yousafzai, and former prime ministers David Cameron and Tony Blair.
In October 2022, climate change activists smeared chocolate cake on a wax figure of the King at Madame Tussauds, and artworks such as the Mona Lisa at the Louvre have been targeted by protesters.
Activists threw soup at a Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece in January, and in October 2022 members of the Just Stop Oil group used the same tactic against Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers at the National Gallery in London.
The following month, activists glued themselves to a Goya painting at Madrid’s Prado Museum.