King Charles at Sandringham on July 26, 2026.Credit : 

Bav Media/SplashNews

King Charles is an art inspiration.

The 77-year-old monarch was arriving for services at St. Mary the Virgin church on his Sandringham estate on Sunday, July 26, when he encountered 7-year-old Olivia Rickards and her father, Terence. There, the young girl gifted the King with a portrait she had drawn of him. As seen in The Telegraph, the drawing showed King Charles wearing his go-to outfit, a suit and tie, and smiling. Surrounding the portrait were pink hearts and Xs.

Alongside her drawing, Olivia wrote, “Dear King Charles, thank you for looking after England. You do a wonderful job.”

King Charles thanked his young fan with a handshake and joked, “At least I’m smiling in the picture.”

King Charles likely had a strong appreciation for the budding artist, given his own appreciation for the creative expression. The monarch is an avid watercolorist, with many of his paintings depicting royal residences such as Balmoral Castle in Scotland and Windsor Castle.

The King’s interaction with Olivia came just over two weeks after he reunited with his two California-based grandchildren for the first time in four years. After a public back-and-forth between Prince Harry and the palace over security concerns and accommodations, Harry and his family had a reunion with his father during their recent visit to the U.K.

On July 10, Harry, his wife, Meghan Markle, and their children Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, traveled to Highgrove House, the monarch’s private country residence in Gloucestershire, England, to reunite with King Charles and Queen Camilla. It was only the third meeting between Harry and Charles since the King’s 2024 cancer diagnosis, and the first time the monarch had visited with Archie and Lilibet since 2022.

“One of the strangenesses of the monarchy is that we are all encouraged to forget they’re human beings because they’re representatives of the institution,” royal author Catherine Mayer told PEOPLE about the reunion for an exclusive cover story. “But at its heart it is just a family—and this family has gone through extraordinary upheavals. Whatever you think of the monarchy, this is a moment most of us wanted to see happen.”

Following the meeting, a source close to Prince Harry told PEOPLE that the difficulty of the planning was nothing new.

“This is not the first time it has not been plain sailing with correspondence or trying to make things work,” the source said. “It all comes back to security. If that was resolved, there would be so much more certainty every time he comes—or they come.”

A source who knows the couple added that Meghan would have felt “humiliated” watching the public back-and-forth unfold. However, she remains very supportive of Harry, another source said, adding, “there’s a lot of sadness” over how the week unfolded. But when it comes to Harry’s dealings with his family, another said, Meghan “always lets him lead.”