Who is King Charles III?
King Charles III, formerly known as Prince Charles, formally known as 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, was born on November 14, 1948, at Buckingham Palace in London, England. He will reign as king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland beginning on September 8, 2022. He is the oldest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip.
After attending prestigious schools in London, Hampshire, Scotland, and Buckingham Palace, Charles enrolled in Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1967. In 1971, he completed his undergraduate studies there, becoming the first British royal heir ever to do so.
In order to prepare for his investiture as prince of Wales on July 1, 1969, at Caernarvon Castle, he also spent a term at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, learning Welsh. He later attended the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth and the Royal Air Force College, where he improved his flying skills. From 1971 to 1976, he served a term of duty with the Royal Navy. He afterward turned into a vocal opponent of modern architecture. In his book “A Vision of Britain,” he discussed this issue (1989). He established the Prince of Wales Institute of Architecture in 1992, an organization involved in urban development and regeneration initiatives, which eventually changed its name to the BRE Trust.
The royal wedding of Charles and Lady Diana Frances Spencer, daughter of the 8th Earl Spencer, took place on July 29, 1981. Hundreds of millions of people around the world watched the wedding live on television. Prince William of Wales, the couple’s first child, was placed second in line for the throne at the time of his birth on June 21, 1982. On September 15, 1984, Prince Henry Charles Albert David, sometimes known as Harry, was born. As a result of intensive tabloid scrutiny and adultery rumors, Charles and Diana’s marriage progressively became strained. Charles and Diana made the decision to divorce on December 9, 1992, although they would still carry out their public responsibilities and co-parent their sons. The divorce was finalized on August 28, 1996. The conventional kind of monarchy that Charles stood for was put in jeopardy when Diana died in a car accident a year later. Public sentiment for her was even stronger in death than it was in life. He subsequently invested significant effort in upgrading his public image as the heir apparent. He wed Camilla Parker Bowles (born 1947), with whom he had a protracted romance, on April 9, 2005; Parker Bowles subsequently assumed the title of duchess of Cornwall.
Charles’s concern for the environment, which dates back to at least 1970, when he gave a speech on the “horrifying effects” of all forms of pollution and called attention to the threat posed by “indestructible plastic containers,” is perhaps the issue that has remained closest to his heart. Since then, he has frequently emphasized the need for prompt action on global warming. His Prince’s Foundation, which was motivated by his adherence to the principle 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,” has played a significant role in his advocacy of sustainability.
In many ways, during the decade of the 2010s, royal watchers’ focus turned from Charles to his sons, whose high-profile “royal weddings” thrust them and their beautiful companions into the limelight on a global scale. William wed Catherine Middleton in 2011, and Harry wed Meghan Markle in 2018. When Harry and Meghan decided to “pull back” from their royal responsibilities and, following discussions, ceased to be working members of the royal family, tensions between Charles and Harry developed. The burden on Charles, who increasingly filled in for the ailing Elizabeth as her health deteriorated, increased as a result of their absence from royal affairs, as well as 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). Some commentators went so far as to say that Charles had essentially taken the role of the queen’s regent. Charles succeeded her as king on September 8, 2022.
