Charles III

Charles III, formerly called Prince Charles, formerly in full Charles Philip Arthur George, prince of Wales and earl of Chester, duke of Cornwall, duke of Rothesay, earl of Carrick and Baron Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland, (born November 14, 1948, Buckingham Palace, London, England), king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from September 8, 2022. He is the eldest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, duke of Edinburgh. After being the longest-serving monarch-in-waiting in British history, Charles ascended the throne at age 73, with the death of his mother in September 2022. He was crowned in the first coronation in seven decades on May 6, 2023.

After private schooling at Buckingham Palace and in London, Hampshire, and Scotland, Charles entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1967. He took a bachelor’s degree there in 1971, the first ever earned by an heir to the British crown. He also spent a term at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, learning Welsh in preparation for his investiture as prince of Wales on July 1, 1969, at Caernarvon Castle. He then attended the Royal Air Force College (becoming an excellent flier) and the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, and from 1971 to 1976 took a tour of duty with the Royal Navy. Later he became an outspoken critic of modern architecture. He expressed his views on the topic in A Vision of Britain (1989). In 1992 he founded the Prince of Wales’s Institute of Architecture, which later evolved into the BRE Trust, an organization involved with urban regeneration and development projects.

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On July 29, 1981, Charles married Lady Diana Frances Spencer, daughter of the 8th Earl Spencer. The royal wedding was a global media event, broadcast live on television and watched by hundreds of millions of people; following the ceremony, she took the title princess of Wales. The couple’s first child, Prince William of Wales, became at his birth (June 21, 1982) second in line of succession to the throne. Their second child, Prince Henry Charles Albert David (known as Harry), was born on September 15, 1984.

Charles’s marriage to Diana gradually grew strained amid intense scrutiny from the tabloid press and rumours of infidelity. On December 9, 1992, it was announced that Charles and Diana had decided to separate but would continue to fulfill their public duties and to share the responsibility of raising their sons. The couple divorced on August 28, 1996. A year later Diana died in an auto accident, and popular feeling for her, stronger even in death than in life, served to jeopardize the traditional form of monarchy that Charles represented. He subsequently spent much effort in modernizing his public image as the heir apparent. On April 9, 2005, he married Camilla Parker Bowles (born 1947), with whom he had a long-standing relationship; after the wedding, Parker Bowles took the title of duchess of Cornwall.

Arguably, the issue that has remained closest to Charles’s heart is his concern for the environment, which dates to at least 1970, when he delivered a speech on the “horrifying effects” of all forms of pollution and called attention to the threat posed by “indestructible plastic containers.” Since then he has often highlighted the need for rapid action on global warming. He has also been a passionate champion of sustainability, not least through the efforts of his Prince’s Foundation, inspired by his philosophy of harmony: “that by understanding the balance, the order and the relationships between ourselves and the natural world we can create a more sustainable future.”

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During the 2010s the attention of royal watchers in many ways shifted from Charles to his sons, whose high-profile “royal weddings” put them and their glamorous partners in the international spotlight. In 2011 William married Catherine Middleton, and in 2018 Harry married Meghan Markle. Tensions arose between Charles and Harry, when Harry and Meghan chose to “step back” from their royal duties and, after negotiations, ceased to be working members of the royal family. Their absence from royal affairs and later that of Prince Andrew (who gave up his military titles and royal patronages in 2021 in the wake of a scandal tied to his involvement with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein) only added to the burden on Charles, who increasingly stood in for the aging Elizabeth as her health became more fragile. Some observers even suggested that Charles had effectively become a regent for the queen. Following her death on September 8, 2022, Charles became king.

Charles delivered his inaugural address on September 9, 2022. In the televised speech he paid tribute to his mother’s life and pledged “throughout the remaining time God grants me, to uphold the Constitutional principles at the heart of our nation.” In addition, he conferred the title prince of Wales upon his eldest son, William.

The new king toured the constituent units of the United Kingdom as they mourned Elizabeth’s death. He also participated with his siblings, his sons, and their families in a series of moving processions and ceremonies honouring the life and legacy of the queen. Notably, he stood vigil with his siblings by the queen’s coffin as it lay in state in Westminster Hall and attended Elizabeth’s sombre funeral ceremony in Westminster Abbey.

Charles had met with Prime Minister Liz Truss at Buckingham Palace on September 9. A little more than a month later she would resign as leader of the Conservative Party. By the end of October she was replaced as prime minister by Rishi Sunak, with whom Charles began holding a customary weekly audience. Among the foreign leaders with whom Charles met during his first months on the throne were Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of South Africa, who made a two-day state visit to the United Kingdom in November, and Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of war-torn Ukraine, who visited Buckingham Palace in February 2023.

In delivering his first Christmas message as monarch in December 2022, Charles reflected again on Elizabeth’s death and referred to his mother’s faith in people, using it as a jumping-off point from which to celebrate the selfless contributions of individuals and institutions throughout the Commonwealth. Charles’s welcome as the new king was mixed, however. While his public appearances were sometimes greeted with shouts of “God save the king” by well-wishers, on two occasions in late 2022 eggs were thrown at him by protesters.

The royal family’s strained relationship with Harry and Meghan also continued to pose challenges for the king, especially after the six-part documentary series Harry & Meghan debuted on Netflix in December 2022. Similarly problematic was the publication in early January 2023 of Harry’s memoir, Spare, in which, among other tell-all revelations, the prince describes in detail his feud with Prince William.

Charles’s coronation on May 6, presided over by Archbishop Justin Welby, featured a new coronation liturgy. Commissioned by Welby with the theme “called to serve,” it welcomed people of all faiths and included prayers and hymns in the Welsh, Scots Gaelic, and Irish languages. It was the first coronation service to feature female bishops, and, in recognition of the diverse communities of the United Kingdom, the presentation of the regalia was done by Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh members of the House of Lords.