St Albans street artist captures 'friendly and confident' King

A street artist who has painted a mural of the King in a shopping centre said he wanted to capture a "friendly and confident" look.

Ant Steel's image to celebrate the King's Coronation is in the Christopher Place shopping centre in St Albans.

"I wanted to try to do something that was soft and friendly, because in a lot of the pictures that I've seen, he doesn't tend to smile a lot," he said.

He added that he wanted to capture a "confident smile".

Norwich-born Ant, who has lived in the Hertfordshire city for six years, is the current artist in residence at St Albans Cathedral.

He said he wanted to do something that was "really colourful and energetic", to fit in with the celebratory weekend.

"A lot of young people have commented on it and said they really like it," he said.

"I know that polls have said the older generations are for the King and the younger generations aren't that sure, but I think doing something like this really helps the younger generation get behind the King."

His previous spray-painted work in the city included a black and white image of Queen Elizabeth II as a young woman for last year's Platinum Jubilee.

He said it was "very, very different" from the image of her son.

"We went for that black and white picture because it was just so classical - and to think at that moment in time she was a young woman but she had to run the country," he said.

"In some ways this is his [the King's] moment of taking over - he's not young, but I think he's still got a lot to give."

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