Princess of Wales praises King Charles’s watercolours during Omani state visit
The Princess of Wales praised King Charles’s paintings on Tuesday 20 October 2026, while the two of them looked at works on display during the Sultan of Oman’s state visit to Windsor Castle. Hello! magazine described the remark as rare praise from her for her father-in-law.
The display was in the Green Drawing Room at Windsor, shown after lunch. It drew on the Royal Collection, the art and objects held in trust for the Sovereign rather than owned by the King personally. For the first time, the King’s own paintings were part of a Royal Collection display during a state visit he has hosted. Two watercolours were shown. A watercolour is a painting made with transparent paint thinned in water. Both were painted by the King in Oman in 1995, when he was Prince of Wales. They are titled ‘Barren Landscape, The Escarpment – Jiddat al-Harasis’ and ‘Mountainous Desert Landscape, Wadi Mu’aydin From Sayq’.
According to Hello!, the Princess told a guest: “These were painted by His Majesty. He’s a very good watercolourist.” She also pointed to works by artists who had travelled with the King on his tours of Oman, and noted that he takes an artist along on different tours. The King, showing his work to the Sultan, said: “These are two of my own paintings.” He described having to be “very quick” in his process.
Other exhibits included a tiara sent by Sayyid Sa’id, Sultan of the Omani Empire from 1806 to 1856, to Queen Victoria in 1838 as a coronation gift. The Sultan also gave the King a painting, a traditional Omani ceremonial sword and an ornate framed photograph from the King’s 2016 visit to Oman.
The visit itself was announced in advance. A Royal Household press release dated 3 September 2026 said Sultan Haitham bin Tarik had accepted the King’s invitation to make a State Visit to the United Kingdom. A state visit is the most formal visit a foreign head of state can make, with set ceremonies and hosting by the monarch. The Sultan was greeted by the Prince of Wales on arrival, and the Prince and Princess of Wales joined the King and Queen Camilla to host him. The official Royal Family website reported on 21 October that the King and Queen had welcomed the Sultan to Windsor.
The state banquet was a dressed occasion. Hello! reported that the Princess arrived in a yellow gown and a tiara, and wore Diana’s diamonds, a royal heirloom around 160 years old. The same magazine reported that her gown caught under a chair during the banquet.
