In April 2011, at the age of 62, Charles also became the longest-serving heir apparent (the previous record, of 59 years, two months and 13 days, had been held by his great-great-grandfather, King Edward VII, heir apparent to his mother Queen Victoria<\/a>).<\/p>\n He had held the title since he was three years old, and for more than seven decades he juggled duty, expectation and all the scrutiny that came with his role.<\/p>\n Full name:<\/strong> Charles Philip Arthur George<\/p>\n Born:<\/strong> 14 November 1948, Buckingham Palace<\/p>\n Parents:<\/strong> Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh<\/p>\n Married to:<\/strong> Camilla Parker Bowles, Duchess of Cornwall (m. 2005\u2013present); Lady Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales (m. 1981\u201396)<\/p>\n Children:<\/strong> Prince William (born 1982) and Prince Harry (born 1984)<\/p>\n Grandchildren:<\/strong> Prince George (born 2013), Princess Charlotte (born 2015), Prince Louis (born 2018), Master Archie (born 2019)<\/p>\n Siblings:<\/strong> Princess Anne (born 1950); Prince Andrew (born 1960); and Prince Edward (born 1964)<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> \u00a0<\/p>\n Charles was born on 14 November 1948, the first child of Princess Elizabeth and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. A late-night news item broadcast the announcement that Princess Elizabeth \u201cwas safely delivered of a prince\u201d, with the newsreader offering\u00a0\u201croyal congratulations\u201d on behalf of the listeners. Prince Philip<\/a> reportedly declared that the new-born Charles resembled \u201ca plum pudding\u201d. Charles was followed by a younger sister, Princess Anne<\/a>, on 15 August 1950 who, Dr Ed Owens writes for HistoryExtra<\/em><\/a>, was \u201ccast in the role of energetic and fun-loving playmate to her quieter and shyer brother\u201d.<\/p>\n From his earliest years Charles\u2019s childhood was marked by absence, the Queen splitting her time between the UK and Malta, where Prince Philip<\/a> had been stationed as a naval officer when Charles was a year old. Charles spent his second Christmas not with his parents, but with his grandparents King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, at Sandringham. It was the unexpected death of George VI<\/a> in February 1952 that brought the young couple back permanently to the United Kingdom, where Elizabeth acceded to the throne<\/a>, aged 25, and the Duke of Edinburgh resigned from the navy.<\/p>\n Just 18 months after her accession, Elizabeth II was called upon to tour 13 countries over six months, without five-year-old Charles and three-year-old Anne. The Queen Mother, who once more cared for Charles during his parents\u2019 tour, wrote to Elizabeth: \u201cYou may find Charles much older in a very endearing way. He is intensely affectionate, and loves you and Philip most tenderly.\u201d<\/p>\n The two children who were famously greeted with handshakes upon the return of their parents, though the Queen did dispense with some of the more formal traditions \u2013\u00a0the children were not required to bow or curtsey to their mother while young (etiquette dictates that all royals are expected to curtsey or bow to the sovereign). But their childhoods were spent largely in the care of nursery and other staff, and Charles \u201cmust have been baffled by what a natural mother-son relationship was meant to be like\u201d, as the Queen\u2019s private secretary Martin Charteris once put it.<\/p>\n Both Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip agreed that their children should not be hampered, as they saw it, by the social and educational constraints of home-schooling, which had previously been the norm for royals. After early education at Hill House School and Cheam, Prince Philip wished Charles to be sent to Gordonstoun school in Scotland, hoping to make his son in his own image. Charles was a sensitive and shy boy \u201ceasily cowed by the forceful personality of his father\u201d, noted a 1994 authorised biography of the Prince of Wales written by Jonathan Dimbleby, and the school \u2013 which championed physical and mental fortitude \u2013 was intended to toughen Charles up. Its students took cold showers, slept on hard beds and went on morning runs, whatever the weather. The Queen Mother, with whom Charles had a very close relationship, worried that her grandson \u201cwould be terribly cut off and lonely up in the far north\u201d.<\/p>\n The same Dimbleby biography described the bullying and \u201ccrushing loneliness\u201d Charles experienced at school, and a childhood characterised by long periods of his mother\u2019s absence. Charles was said to feel \u201cemotionally estranged\u201d from his parents and yearning for affection that, in his view, they were \u201cunable or unwilling to offer\u201d. The book also declared Charles\u2019s bonds of affection to be much stronger with his nanny Mabel Anderson and detailed how the Queen would spend short windows of allotted time with her son in the morning before his daily walk and before bedtime.<\/p>\n Despite once calling Gordonstoun \u201ca prison sentence\u201d, Charles once said: \u201cI believe it taught me a great deal about myself and my own abilities and disabilities. It taught me to accept challenges and take the initiative.\u201d From Gordonstoun, Charles went to Cambridge in 1967, where he read Archaeology and Anthropology at Trinity College, and also performed as a member of the university\u2019s famous amateur dramatics club, the Footlights. He changed to History for the second part of his degree, and in 1970 was awarded a 2:2.<\/p>\n But during his time at Cambridge, Charles began another significant relationship in his life, with Wales. Though he had held the title of Prince of Wales since July 1958, when he was just nine years old, Prince Charles was not yet officially invested. It was decided that Charles would study in Aberystwyth for a nine-week course to learn about the Welsh language and culture.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile Charles\u2019s 1969 investiture ceremony<\/a> appeared to be steeped in medieval royal history,\u201d writes Dr Carolyn Harris<\/a>, it was \u201cintended to address very contemporary concerns\u201d including the relevance of the royal family in the modern age and the objections of Welsh nationalists to the investiture of a Prince of Wales who seemed to have little personal connection to Wales.<\/p>\n The event did attract fierce criticism from some quarters as a symbol of\u00a0centuries of English occupation of Wales<\/a> \u2013 Charles himself experienced protests from nationalist demonstrators, and some held signs in Welsh that read \u201cCharlie, go home\u201d. But opinion surveys showed that around three quarters of those polled were in support of the ceremony. Despite the fear that the investiture could be disrupted, the \u201chubbub\u201d died down and the ceremony went ahead on 1 July 1969.<\/p>\n In the ceremony, Charles\u2019s sense of duty towards his mother and his role was emphasised. He promised: \u201cI, Charles, Prince of Wales, do become your liege man of life and limb and of earthly worship and faith and truth I will bear unto thee to live and die against all manner of folks.\u201d<\/p>\n His address, which he gave both in English and in Welsh, also paid tribute to his new connection to Wales. He spoke of his \u201csense of pride and emotion\u201d standing in Caernarfon Castle where he couldn\u2019t be \u201cunaware of the long history of Wales in its determination to remain individual and to guard its own particular heritage\u201d. After a week-long tour of Wales following the ceremony, Charles wrote in his diary: \u201cI now seem to have a great deal to live up to and I hope I can be of assistance to Wales in constructive ways.\u201d<\/p>\n On 9 September 2022, King Charles III created his eldest son, William, and wife, Catherine as Prince and Princess of Wales.<\/p>\n Charles has been portrayed by Billy Jenkins in series one and two of Netflix\u2019s The Crown<\/em>, and by Josh O\u2019Connor in series three and four. Dominic West will take on the role for the final two series of the drama.<\/p>\n Charles himself has also appeared on the small screen: he made a cameo in an episode of British soap opera Coronation Street<\/em>\u00a0in 2000, to celebrate the long-running programme\u2019s 40th anniversary.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> Following his time at Cambridge, Charles flew himself to RAF Cranwell to train as a jet pilot, before undertaking training for a naval career, following in his father\u2019s footsteps. He qualified as a pilot before moving to the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth, and later served on several vessels and qualified as a helicopter pilot. He left active service with the rank of lieutenant.<\/p>\n In his twenties Charles had a \u2018playboy\u2019 reputation. His great-uncle and close confidante Lord \u2018Dickie\u2019 Mountbatten<\/a> had once advised him to \u201csow his wild oats and have as many affairs as he can\u201d \u2013 and he was linked with a number of women in society that the press dubbed \u2018Charlie\u2019s Angels\u2019, including Davina Sheffield and Lady Sarah Spencer, elder sister of Lady Diana. (When the 29-year-old heir was first introduced to the \u201cvery jolly and amusing\u201d 16-year-old future Princess of Wales in November 1977, he was dating Sarah). But it was Camilla Parker Bowles<\/a> with whom Charles would form the most enduring attachment. Having met in 1971, it was an \u201cinstant attraction\u201d between the pair, writes Marlene Koenig.<\/a><\/p>\n Charles liked that Camilla was very much at home in \u201cthe country with horses and hunting\u201d and pursued her with \u201celaborately worded love notes\u201d and late-night telephone chats. Yet due to Camilla\u2019s \u2018history\u2019 (meaning her relationship with Andrew Parker Bowles), Charles was advised against the match by family members, including the influential Mountbatten. A regular advisor to his great-nephew, Mountbatten was no stranger to marital scandals<\/a> and advised Charles against following his heart, as his great-uncle Edward VIII had done<\/a>.<\/p>\n Charles was in the West Indies as part of his naval service career when he learned of Camilla\u2019s engagement to Parker Bowles. \u201cI suppose this feeling of emptiness will pass eventually,\u201d he wrote to Mountbatten.<\/p>\n In 1979, when Charles was away fishing in Iceland, he received the news that Lord Mountbatten had been assassinated<\/a>, an act for which the IRA took responsibility.<\/p>\n Charles had regarded Mountbatten as a pseudo father-figure, someone who had given him affection and support in comparison to the often blunt and, according to some friends of the then prince, sometimes belittling comments from his father, the Duke of Edinburgh. Charles felt Mountbatten\u2019s loss keenly, writing in his diary that \u201clife will never be the same now that he has gone\u201d.<\/p>\n He presented the eulogy at Mountbatten\u2019s funeral in Westminster Abbey, speaking of his mentor as \u201ca constantly active brain which was never allowed a moment\u2019s rest\u201d. In 2015, he recalled that \u201cit seemed as if the foundations of all we held dear in life had been torn apart irreparably\u201d.<\/p>\n Though Camilla was never far from Charles\u2019s life in the following years \u2013 they mixed in many similar circles and she remained a close confidant and companion of the prince \u2013\u00a0in his late twenties Charles threw himself into dating so he could meet the expectation of marrying a suitable bride before he was 30, a deadline encouraged by his father.<\/p>\n Charles\u2019s grief over the loss of his great-uncle would also play a significant part in his most famous union. In 1980, Charles and now 19-year-old Lady Diana Spencer<\/a> crossed paths once more at a house party in Sussex, where she reportedly offered comforting words, saying that the prince seemed forlorn and had looked in need of care during his uncle\u2019s funeral.<\/p>\n After some months of dating Diana (which included a weekend at Balmoral with the wider royal family) Charles, as he put it, \u201cbegan to realise what was going on in my mind and hers, in particular\u201d. Ahead of the proposal, he wrote in a letter to a friend that he wanted to \u201cdo the right thing for this Country and my family\u201d.<\/p>\n The couple\u2019s engagement was announced in February 1981 and \u2013 despite Charles\u2019s now infamous \u201cWhatever love means\u201d response to one interview question \u2013 the couple\u2019s celebrations were celebrated widely, as a picture of soon-to-be-wedded bliss.<\/p>\n Just over five months later, their lavish wedding in St Paul\u2019s Cathedral<\/a> on 29 July 1981 captured the imagination of the nation, and though believed by many to be a fairy-tale match, the union was not a happy one, even from the start. A 2017 biography of the prince by Sally Bedell Smith tells of Charles weeping on his wedding night\u00a0while \u201cthe extremely turbulent\u201d Diana was battling bulimia<\/a>. He \u201cthought he could grow to love Diana,\u201d writes Bedell Smith, \u201cjust as the arranged marriage of his grandmother and King George VI later grew into love.\u201d<\/p>\n The couple went on to have two children, Prince William and Prince Harry, and though this was for the most part a happy time for the couple, it slowly became obvious that they weren\u2019t a good match. Charles reportedly grew increasingly jealous of the attention paid to his glamorous wife, believing that she was overshadowing worthier causes close to his heart. \u201cThey\u2019ve come out to see my wife, they haven\u2019t come out to see me,\u201d he reportedly told aides during a trip to Wales early on in their marriage.<\/p>\n The pair led increasingly separate lives and by 1987, Charles had once again become romantically involved with Camilla Parker Bowles. Following press speculation of mutual infidelity in a year that the Queen famously dubbed an \u2018annus horribilis\u2019, the royal couple separated in December 1992, and finalised their divorce in August 1996.<\/p>\n In Netflix\u2019s The Crown<\/em><\/a>, much has been made of Charles\u2019s relationship with Queen Elizabeth II, the drama imagining some of the distance that might have arisen from having a duty-bound mother who was governed by the burden of queenship. As Bedell Smith put it, \u201cin the manner of the upper class, neither [parent was] physically demonstrative\u201d during Charles\u2019s childhood.<\/p>\n Yet Charles has paid tribute to the Queen on many occasions. During celebrations for her Diamond Jubilee in 2012, he talked of how his mother\u2019s life had been changed so irrevocably when George VI died. \u201cAs a nation this is our opportunity to thank you and my father for always being there for us. For inspiring us with your selfless duty and service and for making us proud to be British.\u201d<\/p>\n He delivered a similarly heartfelt message at Elizabeth II\u2019s Platinum Jubilee<\/a> in 2022, opening his speech: \u201cYour Majesty; mummy.\u201d<\/p>\nKing Charles III: a biography<\/h2>\n
King Charles III\u2019s childhood<\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> Charles was a sensitive and shy boy ‘easily cowed by the forceful personality of his father’ <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
Charles becomes the Prince of Wales<\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> Charles’s investiture did attract fierce criticism from some quarters as a symbol of centuries of English occupation of Wales <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>King Charles III on screen<\/h2>\n
King Charles III as a young man<\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>King Charles III\u2019s relationship with Lord Mountbatten<\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>What was King Charles III\u2019s relationship with his mother like?<\/h2>\n