Coronation Portraits of English and British Monarchs

How English and British monarchs chose to be seen at the start of a reign: robed, crowned or with the crown jewels within reach. The gallery runs in reign order, from the oldest surviving painted portrait of an English king to Charles III, who has both an official coronation photograph and a painted state portrait. The test for a place is an official portrait of the monarch in coronation or state robes with the crown or other regalia, made as the defining image of the reign. Many were copied for embassies, governors and town halls, so some photos show a studio version rather than the first canvas. Gaps are real: no such portrait survives for several Tudor and Stuart rulers, and Edward VIII was never crowned.