See Charles III’s Childhood Drawings | Smart News

Britain’s Charles III was crowned king last month in a lavish coronation ceremony.The portrait shows the 74-year-old wearing imperial crown and hold a golden sphere and scepter; Coins now feature his likeness.

But many years ago, the celebrity figurehead was just a normal little boy — and today, mementos from his childhood are worth a fortune. A collection of his childhood drawings was sold at auction earlier today.

“It’s a very moving collection,” said Charles Hanson, owner of Hanson’s Auctions. statement“These poignant childhood drawings and touching photographs remind us that far from the glitz, glamour, and demands of service to our country, our royals cherish the mundane, everyday moments of family life.”

The items belonged to the family of Henry Ramsay Maule, a royal correspondent for the Royal Press Service new york daily news. He received many items as materials all the queen’s childrena book he wrote about Queen Elizabeth II’s children under a pseudonym, and a palace-sanctioned biography of Prince Philip, who was writing when he died in 1981.

Charles painted these paintings in the mid-1950s when he was about 5 or 6 years old.Like many toddler drawings, these ten sketches were drawn with crayons and pencils and the subjects were animals (in this case, a pair of Carmine bee-eater) and his parents (Elizabeth and Philip).

“Given crayons and pencils, almost every child’s first drawing will depict their family. Our King is no exception,” Hansen said in the statement. “This series will help people understand more about his role as our monarch.”

in a sailor’s drawingCharles wrote a message to his father: “Dear Dad,” he wrote, “I would love to see you on the boat.” another picture There was a rabbit: “Happy Easter,” he wrote, “with love from Charles.”

Other items up for auction include royal letters, candid photos of the royals at their leisure, and a card young Princess Anne made for her father. The auction also features letters from George III, Queen Charlotte and other royal figures.

Earlier today, many of Charles’ paintings sold for thousands of dollars. According to a facebook post from Hansen. But King, an avid amateur painter, was no stranger to the big bucks his work could fetch. Between 1997 and 2016 he made more than £6 million ($7.75 million) selling his art, proceeds donated to Prince Foundationan educational charity, according to telegraphRobert Mendick.

Charles describes painting as “one of the most relaxing and therapeutic exercises I know”, an activity that “refreshes parts of the soul that other activities cannot touch” CNNLianne Corrillin.

Last year, an exhibition of Charles’ watercolors opened in London. In the writing on the wall, he explained that he was realistic about his artistic limitations. “I have no illusion that my sketches represent great art or emerging talent,” he writes, per smithsonian Magazine’s David Kindie. “They most importantly represent my special form of ‘album’, so they mean a lot to me.”