Vegan activists deface portrait of King Charles III to protest animal cruelty

By Aysu Bicer

LONDON (AA) - Two vegan activists from the Animal Rising group defaced a portrait of King Charles III on Tuesday in the Philip Mould Gallery on Pall Mall to raise awareness about animal cruelty.

The portrait by Jonathan Yeo was defaced with stickers featuring characters from the children's series, Wallace and Gromit.

Footage of the incident shows the protesters using rollers to affix an image of Wallace, alongside a quote from the series: "No cheese, Gromit. Look at all this cruelty on Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) farms."

The activists targeted the portrait to highlight what they described as "indefensible" conditions on RSPCA Assured farms, an issue brought to light by an Animal Rising investigation.

The activist group issued a statement explaining their choice of target, citing Charles's known fondness for Wallace and Gromit and his role as Royal Patron of the RSPCA.

They hope their actions will prompt the king to reconsider his association with the organization.

Daniel Juniper, a former Early Years Practitioner and one of the protesters involved, said: "With King Charles being such a big fan of Wallace and Gromit, we couldn’t think of a better way to draw his attention to the horrific scenes on RSPCA Assured farms! 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."