A very red portrait of King Charles is being mocked on social media. But in some corners of the internet, the discourse is not limited to the aesthetics of the painting itself—but the meaning behind the use of all that red.
The painting, unveiled on Tuesday, marked the first official portrait of King Charles since his coronation last May. It depicts the monarch wearing the uniform of the Welsh Guards, with a butterfly nearing his shoulder, in front of a brilliant red background.
Some conspiracy theorists have rationalized that so much red could only mean one thing: Satanism.
“THEY AREN’T EVEN TRYING TO HIDE IT ANYMORE,” wrote one prominent right-wing X user.
Others have taken to photoshop to hammer the conspiracy home.
“Fix it…” one person commented, alongside a digitally altered version of the portrait that featured the King as Satan.
Another user’s conspiracy theory about the symbolism of the painting prompted a Community Note stating that red is the color of the Welsh Guards’ full dress tunic and that the artist has used similar abstract red backgrounds in other paintings.
“The colour red is associated with Satan, the monarch butterfly symbolises mind control, and black eyes in a dream symbolises a demonic entity,” the post with the Community Note under it reads. “When they tell you who they are, believe them.”
A number of social media users came up with another theory—that the portrait covertly depicts Baphomet, the devil goat image often associated with Satanism.
“[What] do notice when you mirror the image of King Charles’ portrait?” one user asked, with a mirrored image that was darkened in parts and purported to show the outline of Baphomet.
“Symbol’s such as Satanic Demonic Demons will always be their downfall especially when they are hidden in plain sight,” commented another person of the mirror image.
Conspiracy theories about the global elite being involved in Satanism is not a new trend. The prominent QAnon conspiracy theory, for example, has played into the idea for years, with those who buy into it believing former President Donald Trump is fighting a cabal involving high-profile Democrats, Hollywood, and other “global elites” running a child sex trafficking operation in order to fulfill Satanic rituals.
And that underlying conspiracy theory was evident in some of the discourse around King Charles’ portrait.
“King Charles. Satanists, pedophiles, extinctionists. This is what describes the people who wield the most power in the modern world,” an X user wrote. “They used to hide it. But now they don’t. They flaunt their love for satan through symbolism.”
The user continued: “Those who see it are branded conspiracy theorists, because the masses do not yet believe that our governments are in lock step with each other and are controlled by globalist organisations like the UN, WEF, and WHO. Our world is ruled by people who believe that earth of overpopulated and want to wipe out most of humanity. There is only one reason why not a single person that paid to rape, molest, and murder children on epstein island is in jail: They are the ones at the top.”
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