It was supposed to be a unifying national moment: a multimillion-pound coronation-era splurge to ensure King Charles III’s avuncular likeness would be peering down at you while you paid your parking ticket, worshipped God, or tried to avoid eye contact in a police station.

However, a program to distribute portraits of Charles to community institutions around the U.K. has been revealed as expensive and unpopular following a Freedom of Information request by the avowedly republican Guardian newspaper.

Around 20,000, or 31 percent, of institutions offered the portraits of the king in naval garb accepted. At a cost of £2.7 million ($3.7 million), it means that each royal likeness cost around £135. More than 46,000 eligible public institutions rejected the offer, a 69 percent miss rate.

Oliv

See Full Page