King's Coronation: Bamburgh beach is canvas for sand portrait of Charles

A large portrait of King Charles wearing a crown has been created on the sands of a beach in Northumberland.

Claire Eason, from Sunderland, spent six hours creating the artwork on the beach at Bamburgh.

The 58-year-old was commissioned by Claire Watson-Armstrong, the owner of Bamburgh Castle, which overlooks the beach, to draw the 90ft (27m) by 65ft (20m) portrait.

The artwork was made to mark the King's Coronation on Saturday.

Ms Eason said "Bamburgh Castle has long been associated with Northumbrian kings going back thousands of years.

"It's having that royal connection carried on to the present day which seemed super-poignant."

She said she was inspired after the team at Bamburgh Castle showed her a picture of a textile piece of Charles's portrait made out of sequins.

She adapted the piece and incorporated the natural ripples in the sand to create the King's face.

"What I wanted to do was to try and make a connection between the portrait and the coastal locations.

"I kept it really organic because [Charles] seems to be somebody who's very interested in the environment...I wanted to try and capture a little bit of that as well."

Ms Eason's love of sand drawing had been a "part of my life always" and started when she was a child, she added.

The artist had previously worked on the same beach to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee in 2022..

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