Charles III

British Royalty

• Born: November 14, 1948
• Place of Birth: London, England

Early Years

The firstborn son of Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Charles Philip Arthur George was born into the British royal family on November 14, 1948. Charles III ascended to the throne upon the death of his mother, Elizabeth II, on September 8, 2022. Prior to becoming king, Charles attempted to craft a meaningful purpose while heir apparent to the throne despite the position having no definitive role in Great Britain’s political or economic arenas. In the process, he accumulated both supporters and detractors.

Charles is a descendant of the House of Windsor, which came into being in 1917, when the British royal family adopted it as its official name. Windsor replaced the historic name Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, which was viewed as too German sounding during World War I.

Had the line of succession gone as planned, Charles would not have been Great Britain’s heir to the throne. In 1936, King Edward III abdicated the British throne to marry his American lover, Wallis Simpson. Upon his abdication, Edward’s brother, George VI, became king. As George had no son, his eldest daughter, Elizabeth, became heir apparent. She ascended the throne upon her father’s death in 1952, as Elizabeth II. At the time of her coronation, Elizabeth had two children, Prince Charles and Princess Anne. As queen, she would have two more sons, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.

On the day Elizabeth became queen, the three-year-old Charles became heir apparent, taking on the official title of Duke of Cornwall. In the Scottish counties, his titles also included Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland. The queen and Prince Philip decided that, rather than follow tradition and have a tutor at the palace, their son should go to school to mix with children from non-royal backgrounds.

On November 7, 1956, Charles started at Hill House School in west London. Less than a year later, the Prince was sent to Cheam School, a boarding school in Berkshire County. While Charles was a student at Cheam, the queen bestowed upon him the title of Prince of Wales. Charles was the twenty-first to hold the title since Edward I formally created it for his son in 1301. The title is intended for the male heir apparent to the throne, but there is no automatic succession; it is bestowed at the discretion of the monarch. Although he received the title at age nine, Charles was not formally invested until July 1, 1969, when he was twenty.

Like his father, Charles was sent to Scotland to attend the prestigious Gordonstoun School when he was fourteen years old. In 1966, Prince Charles spent two terms abroad at a remote outpost in Melbourne, Australia. He went on to study history, archaeology, and anthropology at Cambridge University, graduating in 1971.

After college, Charles served in the Royal Navy from 1971 through 1976. Like many aspects of his life, serving in the navy was a royal tradition. Charles’s father, grandfather, and both great-grandfathers had similarly been in the navy. During his naval career, Charles served on frigates and a guided-missile destroyer. In 1974, he earned his wings as a helicopter pilot.

Upon his discharge from the military, Charles became known as the "most eligible bachelor in the world." He was expected to marry an appropriate young woman and produce the requisite heir. Charles’s love life was chronicled in the British press as he dated prospective brides. Finally, in 1981, his search was over, and the palace announced that Charles was engaged to Lady Diana Spencer, thirteen years his junior.

The Marriage & the Media

Approximately 750 million people worldwide watched the wedding of Prince Charles to a shy nineteen-year-old kindergarten teacher at St Paul’s Cathedral on July 29, 1981. Lady Diana Frances Spencer captured the world’s imagination and most of the media's attention. She was young, beautiful, and a newly crowned princess. To the world, it was represented as a fairy-tale wedding, though the couple's marriage would not have a happy ending.

Complicating their lives, the couple had to deal with the media, which intruded on their privacy in ways that had not been known to previous generations of royals. Tabloids such as the News of the World, the Sun, and the Daily Star reported on the royal family as a regular feature. In particular, the press focused on Princess Diana, who quickly became the most photographed woman in the world. The media interest intensified when the couple became parents.

Less than a year after their marriage, on June 21, 1982, Diana gave birth to Prince William. A second son, Henry (known as Prince Harry), was born two years later. Although they appeared to be a happy family in public, in reality, Charles and Diana’s marriage was falling apart by the mid-1980s.

As his marriage broke down, Charles reunited with an old love, Camilla Parker Bowles. For several years, the press reported rumors of affairs, chronicled the time the couple spent apart, and published accounts from the couple’s former employees.

The rumors and reports about Charles and Diana’s unhappiness were officially confirmed in 1992, when then prime minister John Major announced to Parliament that Charles and Diana were separating. The announcement followed the publication of Andrew Morton’s tell-all book Diana: Her True Story (1992) and a subsequent candid interview that Diana gave to the BBC.

On August 28, 1996, Charles and Princess Diana divorced. One year later, Princess Diana was killed in a car accident in Paris. After Diana’s death, Prince Charles was barraged with bad press, with some accounts even blaming him for the tragedy.

Waiting to Be King

As heir to the throne, much of Charles’s time was spent performing royal duties, many on behalf of his mother, the queen. He also worked as a charitable entrepreneur. Charles acted as a patron for some two hundred organizations, typically raising almost one hundred million dollars each year. The Prince’s Trust, which Charles founded in 1976, was dedicated to supporting inner-city youth, providing opportunities such as seed money for businesses and training.

Charles also chose to make public stands on issues that held particular meaning for him, even when they created controversy. He was an outspoken critic of contemporary architecture, campaigning to preserve Britain's architectural heritage. In 1989, he published A Vision of Britain, which was later made into a television documentary. Some critics, particularly supporters of modern architectural trends, felt the prince should not speak out on such issues, but Charles steadfastly campaigned for what he regarded as architectural integrity. In 1992 he founded the Prince of Wales's Institute of Architecture (later renamed the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment, then the Prince's Foundation for Building Community, and then simply the Prince's Foundation) to support his position. Prince Charles also championed environmental causes. He had the opportunity to practice his beliefs through his estate, the Duchy of Cornwall.

Created in 1337, the Duchy of Cornwall is one of Britain’s largest and oldest landed estates. The founding charter dictates that the Duke of Cornwall be the eldest surviving son of the monarch and heir to the throne. The purpose of the estate is to fund the heir’s personal and public expenses. With properties in more than twenty counties, the Duchy was financially successful and provided Charles with a significant income each year. As such, Charles did not accept money from the government’s civil list, which is funded by tax dollars and supports other members of the royal family.

Prince Charles received much media attention focusing on whether or not he would marry his companion, Camilla Parker Bowles. In 2004, the governing body of the Church of England voted to sanction the remarriage of divorced persons in the church, even if a former spouse was still living. Although Charles had been free to remarry in the Anglican Church since Princess Diana's death, Parker Bowles's first husband was still alive, a fact that had denied her a church-sanctioned wedding. Just as important, the social stigma against divorce had eroded over the years.

Despite the controversy regarding their relationship, an announcement was made in February 2005 that Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles would wed. Rumors regarding Queen Elizabeth’s disdain for the marriage circulated, as did public opinion that both supported and attacked the couple. A wedding date of April 6, 2005, was announced, but due to the death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, the couple postponed their nuptials until the next day.

On April 7, 2005, Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles were married in a private civil ceremony. Later that day, a ceremony was held at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor. The ceremony included a Church of England blessing, which was attended by Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip, and 750 other notable guests. It was determined that if and when Charles was crowned, Camilla would legally be queen but would publicly carry the title of princess consort. This decision was made in light of public-opinion polls showing that 70 percent of the population opposed her taking the title of Queen Camilla.

After his second marriage, Charles largely avoided the spotlight, focusing on his charitable efforts. He founded the Prince's Rainforest Project, aimed at combating deforestation and climate change, in 2007. In 2010, following the devastation caused by the Haiti earthquake, the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment, as it was then known, agreed to help rebuild much of the capital city of Port-au-Prince. The same year, Charles published Harmony: A New Way of Looking at Our World, which elaborates his thoughts on issues of particular concern to him, such as climate change and agriculture.

In November 2013 Charles represented his mother at a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting for the first time, indicating possible concern for Elizabeth II's health and advancing age. In 2017 Charles became the longest-serving Prince of Wales, as well as the oldest and longest-serving British heir apparent. In 2019 the Queen hosted an event at Buckingham Palace to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Charles's investiture as the Prince of Wales.

Meanwhile, Charles attracted scrutiny in 2017 when the leaked trove of documents known as the Paradise Papers identified him as one of many wealthy and famous figures around the globe involved in ethically questionable financial activity. He was linked to offshore investments that could be used as a tax haven, and it was also suggested that he failed to disclose how policies he publicly pushed for would benefit him financially. Another scandal emerged in early 2022 when the Prince's Foundation was investigated by the police over allegations that it had offered formal British honours in exchange for donations, though spokespeople denied Charles himself had any knowledge of the issue.

King Charles III

Upon the death of his father, Prince Philip, in April 2021, Charles inherited the titles Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich. On September 8, 2022, Queen Elizabeth II died, whereupon Prince Charles became Charles III, King of the United Kingdom. He made his first address as king the following day and was ceremonially proclaimed the monarch by the Accession Council on September 10. The coronation ceremony for Charles and Camilla was set for May 6, 2023. Charles's ascent to the throne received mixed reception from the public given both his own lengthy history of controversy and his late mother's relative popularity.

After Charles became king, there was renewed attention to his personal wealth. It was reported that at the time the Duchy of Cornwall had holdings of about $1.4 billion, due in large part to Charles's active interest in managing the estate much like a commercial business. Those holdings would be passed tax-free to his son William, who succeeded him as Prince of Wales, while Charles would take on the portfolio previously managed by his mother as well as an unknown amount of the royal family's overall fortune. The media also reported further scrutiny of past funds received by Charles's charities.

The coronation ceremony for Charles and Camilla, which some criticized for its extravagance despite royal claims of more minimalism during a period of economic downturn in the UK, occurred on May 6, 2023. Adhering largely to historic traditions that included the crowning, music, and a gathering in front of a crowd on a balcony at Buckingham Palace, the ceremony still attracted significant media attention as well as spectators both in-person and through international broadcasts. While some cheered on the event, others used the occasion to express discontent or dislike of the institution of the monarchy itself and, in some cases, Charles himself.

During his early reign as king, Charles made several historic state visits, including to Germany and France. In March 2023, Charles and Camilla set out on a three-day tour of Germany, where Charles became the first member of the British monarchy to deliver a speech to Germany's federal parliament, the Bundestag. In September 2023, Charles delivered a second historic speech during a three-day tour of France, where he became the first member of the British monarchy to address the French parliament from the country's senate chamber. Charles echoed similar sentiments to both nations in each of his speeches, in which he expressed diplomatic concerns over the war in Ukraine and stressed the importance of the United Kingdom's relationships with Germany and France.

On February 5, 2024, Buckingham Palace announced Charles had been diagnosed with cancer, which doctors had found during a separate treatment procedure. He started cancer treatment that same day. In the statement issued to the public, Buckingham Palace noted that Charles would suspend his public duties due to his diagnosis and treatment schedule; however, he would continue to manage his constitutional affairs without interruption. On March 31, 2024, Charles attended the Easter Sunday service at Saint George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, his first significant outing since he had temporarily stepped away from public engagements upon his cancer diagnosis.

In June 2024, Charles and Camilla attended the eightieth anniversary commemorations of the invasion of Normandy, D-Day, during World War II. Also in June 2024, banknotes displaying a portrait of Charles among existing designs were released. Banknotes with a printed portrait of Elizabeth III remained legal tender and in circulation.

Charles took a break from his cancer treatments to embark on his first public tour on October 26, 2024. The tour was his first since his cancer diagnosis. With two physicians in tow, Charles was scheduled to travel to Samoa and Australia. The head of the Commonwealth of Samoa, Charles wanted to discuss the effects of climate change on the Pacific Islands. In Australia, he and Queen Camilla planned to visit Parliament House, the Australia War Memorial, and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Memorial.

Bibliography

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Mellen, Ruby, and Kenneth Dickerman. “Who Is Britain's New King? A Visual Biography of Charles III.” The Washington Post, 9 Sept. 2022, www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2022/king-charles-photos-videos-biography/. Accessed 15 Sept. 2024.

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Smith, Sally Bedell. Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life. Random House Trade, 2017.