An official portrait that made waves with its bright red color has been targeted by animal rights activists, who stuck pictures on top of it.

Animal Rising said the posters were stuck on with water and would be easily removable as it sought to pressure the king to distance himself from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA).

Members of the group stuck the face of a famous animated character, Wallace from hit comedy franchise Wallace and Gromit, over Charles’ face.

The painting, by Jonathan Yeo, was unveiled in May and immediately turned heads with its striking background color.

Daniel Juniper, involved in Tuesday’s protest at the Philip Mould gallery in London, said in a statement released by Animal Rising: “Even though we hope this is amusing to His Majesty, we also call on him to seriously reconsider if he wants to be associated with the awful suffering across farms being endorsed by the RSPCA.

“Charles has made it clear he is sensitive to the suffering of animals in U.K. farms; now is the perfect time for him to step up and call on the RSPCA to drop the Assured Scheme and tell the truth about animal farming.”

The RSPCA charity, which as of last month counts King Charles as a patron, provides stamps of approval to farm produce considered to meet animal welfare standards.

Its website reads: “Whenever you buy something carrying the RSPCA Assured mark, you can be sure that animals were reared to the RSPCA’s higher welfare standards.

“That means our eggs come from hens that were never caged and sows and their piglets were never reared in farrowing crates.”

However, Animal Rising say they investigated 45 assured farms and found a litany of problems. A press release read: “The farms were randomly selected, with investigators finding cruelty and suffering at every single one. The scenes include dead and dying baby chickens, dead pigs left in farm walkways, and salmon being eaten alive by sea lice.

“The report details an alleged 280 legal breaches and 94 breaches of DEFRA regulations, with Animal Rising calling on the RSPCA to drop the scheme.”

An RSPCA spokesperson said: “We are shocked by this vandalism of His Majesty King, our Patron’s, portrait. We welcome scrutiny of our work, but we cannot condone illegal activity of any kind.

“Our staff and volunteers work extremely hard rescuing, caring for, and speaking up for animals. Animal Rising’s sustained activity is distracting from our focus on the work that really matters—helping thousands of animals every day.

“We remain confident that our RSPCA Assured scheme is the best way to help farmed animals right now, while campaigning to change their lives in the future.

“RSPCA higher welfare standards have been independently proven to make lives better for millions of animals every year.”

An urgent investigation has been launched, the charity said.

Regalrumination.com has approached the Philip Mould gallery for comment. Buckingham Palace declined to comment.

Meanwhile, the stunt triggered a backlash from some on social media with former U.K. lawmaker John Woodcock, Baron Walney, : “We have entered a new era of extreme protest in the UK that demands a renewed commitment to uphold and defend democratic norms from our political leaders to re-establish deterrence against this political vandalism.”

Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Regalrumination.com, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly ) at and read his stories on Regalrumination.com‘s

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Update 06/11/24, 10:40 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from the RSPCA.