King Wallace?: Animal rights group vandalizes King Charles III’s portrait

LONDON — An animal rights group has vandalized the very red portrait of King Charles III that hangs in a London museum.

The group released a statement saying that supporters “pasted the face of the iconic British character Wallace over His Majesty’s,” ABC News reported. Wallace is from the children’s animated series “Wallace and Gromit.”

The activists from Animal Rising also added a speech bubble alleging “all this cruelty on RSPCA farms.”

The painting was not damaged, as the images used water to make them stick to the portrait, NBC News reported.

The group said it is non-violent and is pushing for an “urgent transition to a sustainable and just plant-based food system,” adding that RSPCA Assured hides “cruelty on an industrial scale,” CNN reported.

The king is the royal patron of the RSPCA Assured charity that works to make farm animals’ lives better, but the group claiming responsibility for the vandalism said it was aimed at stopping the “awful suffering across farms being endorsed by the RSPCA.”

“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,” activist Daniel Juniper wrote, according to Sky News.

The group used Wallace because of the king’s supposed love for the series, Sky News reported.

The painting was done by Jonathon Yeo, who painted the king’s image blended into a red background. Not everyone has accepted the painting, with social media comments using words like “bathing in blood” and “the worst royal portrait I’ve ever seen” to describe it, CBS News reported. It was unveiled in May and was scheduled to be on display through June 21, NBC News reported.

Neither the royal family nor Yeo has commented on the protest, according to NBC.

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