In the beginning of 1830 Wilkie was appointed to succeed Sir Thomas Lawrence as painter in ordinary to the king, and in 1836 he received the honour of knighthood. The main figure-pictures which occupied him until the end were "Columbus in the Convent at La Rabida" (1835); "Napoleon and Pius VII at Fontainebleau" (1836); "Empress Josephine and the Fortune-Teller" (1837); "Queen Victoria Presiding at her First Council" (exhibited 1838); and "General Sir David Baird Discovering the Body of Sultan Tippoo Sahib" (completed 1839). His time was also much occupied with portraiture, many of his works of this class being royal commissions. His portraits are pictorial and excellent in general distribution, but the faces are frequently wanting in drawing and character. He seldom succeeded in showing his sitters at their best, and his female portraits, in particular, rarely gave satisfaction. A favourable example of his cabinet-sized portraits is that of Sir Robert Liston; his likeness of W. Esdaile is an admirable three-quarter length; and one of his finest full-lengths is the gallery portrait of Lord Kellie, in the town hall of Cupar.