Prince Charles
Charles, Prince of Wales (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948), is the heir apparent to the British throne as the eldest son of Elizabeth II. He has been Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay since 1952, and he is the oldest and longest-serving heir apparent in British history.[2] He is also the longest-serving Prince of Wales, having held that title since 1958.[3]
Charles was born at Buckingham Palace as the first grandchild of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. He was educated at Cheam and Gordonstoun schools, which his father, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, had attended as a child. Charles also spent a year at the Timbertop campus of Geelong Grammar School in Victoria, Australia. After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Cambridge, Charles served in the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy from 1971 to 1976. In 1981, he married Lady Diana Spencer, and they had two sons: Prince William (b. 1982) and Prince Harry (b. 1984). In 1996, the couple divorced following well-publicised extramarital affairs by both parties. Diana died as the result of a car crash in Paris the following year. In 2005, Charles married long-time partner Camilla Parker Bowles.
As Prince of Wales, Charles undertakes official duties on behalf of the Queen and the Commonwealth realms. Charles founded The Prince's Trust in 1976, sponsors The Prince's Charities, and is a patron, president, and a member of over 400 other charities and organisations. As an environmentalist, he raises awareness of organic farming and climate change, which has earned him awards and recognition from environmental groups.[4][5][6][7] His support for alternative medicine, including homeopathy, has been criticised by some in the medical community,[8][9] and his views on the role of architecture in society and the conservation of historic buildings have received considerable attention from British architects and design critics.[10][11][12] Since 1993, Charles has worked on the creation of Poundbury, an experimental new town based on his preferences. He is also an author and co-author of a number of books.
Early life and education
Charles was born at Buckingham Palace in London during the reign of his maternal grandfather George VI on 14 November 1948, at 9:14 pm (GMT),[13][14] the first child of Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and first grandchild of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. He was baptised in the palace's Music Room by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, on 15 December 1948.[fn 3] The death of his grandfather and the accession of his mother as Queen Elizabeth II in 1952 made Charles her heir apparent. As the monarch's eldest son, he automatically took the titles Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland.[16] Charles attended his mother's coronation at Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953
As was customary for upper-class children at the time, a governess, Catherine Peebles, was appointed and undertook his education between the ages of five and eight. Buckingham Palace announced in 1955 that Charles would attend school rather than have a private tutor, making him the first heir apparent to be educated in that manner.[18] On 7 November 1956, Charles commenced classes at Hill House school, in west London.[19] He did not receive preferential treatment from the school's founder and headmaster, Stuart Townend, who advised the Queen to have Charles train in football because the boys were never deferential to anyone on the football field.[20] Charles then attended two of his father's former schools, Cheam Preparatory School in Berkshire, England,[21] from 1958,[19] followed by Gordonstoun in the north-east of Scotland,[22] beginning classes there in April 1962.[19] Though he reportedly described Gordonstoun, noted for its especially rigorous curriculum, as "Colditz in kilts",[21] Charles subsequently praised Gordonstoun, stating it had taught him "a great deal about myself and my own abilities and disabilities. It taught me to accept challenges and take the initiative." In a 1975 interview, he said he was "glad" he had attended Gordonstoun and that the "toughness of the place" was "much exaggerated".[23] He spent two terms in 1966 at the Timbertop campus of Geelong Grammar School in Victoria, Australia, during which time he visited Papua New Guinea on a school trip with his history tutor, Michael Collins Persse.[24][25][26] In 1973, Charles described his time at Timbertop as the most enjoyable part of his whole education.[27] Upon his return to Gordonstoun, Charles emulated his father in becoming Head Boy. He left in 1967, with six GCE O-levels and two A-levels in history and French, at grades B and C respectively.[24][28] On his early education, Charles later remarked, "I didn't enjoy school as much as I might have, but that was only because I'm happier at home than anywhere else."[23]
Charles broke royal tradition a second time when he proceeded straight to university after his A-levels, rather than joining the British Armed Forces.[21] In October 1967, he was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read anthropology, archaeology, and history.[29][24] During his second year, Charles attended the University College of Wales in Aberystwyth, studying Welsh history and language for a term.[24] He graduated from Cambridge with a 2:2 Bachelor of Arts on 23 June 1970, the first heir apparent to earn a university degree.[24] On 2 August 1975, he was awarded a Master of Arts degree from Cambridge.[24] (At Cambridge, Master of Arts is an academic rank, not a postgraduate degree.)
Prince of Wales
Charles was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester on 26 July 1958,[30][31] though his investiture was not held until 1 July 1969, when he was crowned by his mother in a televised ceremony held at Caernarfon Castle.[32] He took his seat in the House of Lords in 1970,[33][34] and he made his maiden speech in June 1974,[35] the first royal to speak from the floor since the future Edward VII in 1884.[36] He spoke again in 1975.[37] Charles began to take on more public duties, founding The Prince's Trust in 1976,[38] and travelling to the United States in 1981.[39] In the mid-1970s, the prince expressed an interest in serving as Governor-General of Australia, at the suggestion of Australian prime minister Malcolm Fraser, but because of a lack of public enthusiasm nothing came of the proposal.[40] Charles accepted the decision, if not without some regret; he said: "So, what are you supposed to think when you are prepared to do something to help and you are just told you're not wanted?"[41]
Charles is the longest-serving Prince of Wales, having surpassed the record held by Edward VII on 9 September 2017.[3] He is the oldest and longest-serving British heir apparent, the longest-serving Duke of Cornwall, and the longest-serving Duke of Rothesay.[2] If he becomes monarch, he will be the oldest person to do so; the current record holder being William IV, who was 64 when he became king in 1830.[42]
Official duties
In 2008, The Daily Telegraph described Charles as the "hardest-working member of the royal family."[43] He carried out 560 official engagements in 2008,[43] 499 in 2010,[44] and over 600 in 2011.
As Prince of Wales, Charles undertakes official duties on behalf of the Queen and the Commonwealth realms. He officiates at investitures and attends the funerals of foreign dignitaries.[45] Prince Charles makes regular tours of Wales, fulfilling a week of engagements each summer, and attending important national occasions, such as opening the Senedd.[46] The six trustees of the Royal Collection Trust meet three times a year under his chairmanship.[47] Prince Charles travels abroad on behalf of the United Kingdom. Charles has been regarded as an effective advocate of the country. In 1983, Christopher John Lewis, who had fired a shot with a .22 rifle at the Queen in 1981, attempted to escape a psychiatric hospital in order to assassinate Charles, who was visiting New Zealand with Diana and William.[48] While visiting Australia in January 1994, two shots from a starting pistol were fired at him on Australia Day by David Kang in protest of the treatment of several hundred Cambodian asylum seekers held in detention camps.[49][50] In 1995, Charles became the first member of the royal family to visit the Republic of Ireland in an official capacity.[51][52]
In 2000, Charles revived the tradition of the Prince of Wales having an official harpist, in order to foster Welsh talent at playing the harp, the national instrument of Wales. He and the Duchess of Cornwall also spend one week each year in Scotland, where he is patron of several Scottish organisations.[53] His service to the Canadian Armed Forces permits him to be informed of troop activities, and allows him to visit these troops while in Canada or overseas, taking part in ceremonial occasions.[54] For instance, in 2001 he placed a specially commissioned wreath, made from vegetation taken from French battlefields, at the Canadian Tomb of the Unknown Soldier,[55] and in 1981 he became the patron of the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum.[56] At the funeral of Pope John Paul II in 2005, Charles unintentionally caused controversy when he shook hands with Robert Mugabe, the President of Zimbabwe, who had been seated next to him. Charles's office subsequently released a statement saying: "The Prince of Wales was caught by surprise and not in a position to avoid shaking Mr Mugabe's hand. The Prince finds the current Zimbabwean regime abhorrent. He has supported the Zimbabwe Defence and Aid Fund, which works with those being oppressed by the regime. The Prince also recently met Pius Ncube, the Archbishop of Bulawayo, an outspoken critic of the government.
In 2010, Charles represented the Queen at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India.[58] He attends official events in the United Kingdom in support of Commonwealth countries, such as the Christchurch earthquake memorial service at Westminster Abbey in 2011.[59][60][61] From 15 to 17 November 2013, he represented the Queen for the first time at a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, in Colombo, Sri Lanka.[62][63]
Letters sent by Prince Charles to government ministers during 2004 and 2005—the so-called black spider memos—presented potential embarrassment following a challenge by The Guardian newspaper to release the letters under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. In March 2015, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom decided that the Prince's letters must be released.[64] The letters were published by the Cabinet Office on 13 May 2015.[65][66][67] Reaction to the memos upon their release was largely supportive of Charles, with little criticism of him.[68] The memos were variously described in the press as "underwhelming"[69] and "harmless"[70] and that their release had "backfired on those who seek to belittle him",[71] with reaction from the public also supportive.[72]
The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall made their first joint trip to the Republic of Ireland in May 2015. The trip was called an important step in "promoting peace and reconciliation" by the British Embassy.[73] During the trip, Charles shook hands with Sinn Féin and supposed IRA leader Gerry Adams in Galway, which was described by the media as a "historic handshake" and a "significant moment for Anglo-Irish relations".[74][75][76] In the run up to the Prince's visit, two Irish republican dissidents were arrested for planning a bomb attack. Semtex and rockets were found at the Dublin home of suspect Donal O'Coisdealbha, member of a self-styled Óglaigh na hÉireann organisation, who was later jailed for five and a half years.[77] He was connected to a veteran republican, Seamus McGrane of County Louth, a member of the Real IRA, who was jailed for 11 and a half years.[78][79] In 2015, it was revealed that Prince Charles had access to confidential UK cabinet papers.[80]
Charles has made frequent visits to Saudi Arabia in order to promote arms exports for companies such as BAE Systems. In 2013,[81] 2014,[82] and 2015,[83] he met with the commander of Saudi Arabia's National Guard Mutaib bin Abdullah. In February 2014, he took part in a traditional sword dance with members of the Saudi royal family at the Janariyah festival in Riyadh.[84] At the same festival, British arms company BAE Systems was honoured by Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz.[85] Charles was criticised by Scottish MP Margaret Ferrier in 2016 over his role in the sale of Typhoon fighter jets to Saudi Arabia.[86] According to Charles's biographer Catherine Mayer, a Time magazine journalist who claims to have interviewed several sources from Prince Charles's inner circle, he "doesn't like being used to market weaponry" in deals with Saudi Arabia and other Arab Gulf states. According to Mayer, Charles has only raised his objections to being used to sell weapons abroad in private.[87] Commonwealth heads of government decided at their 2018 meeting, that the Prince of Wales will be the next Head of the Commonwealth after the Queen. The head is chosen and therefore not hereditary.[88]
On 7 March 2019, the Queen hosted a Buckingham Palace event to mark the 50th anniversary of Charles's investiture as the Prince of Wales. Guests at the event included the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prime Minister Theresa May and Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford.[89] The same month, at the request of the British government, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall went on an official tour to Cuba, making them the first British royalty to visit the country. The tour was seen as effort to form a closer relationship between the UK and Cuba.[90]
Health
On 25 March 2020, Prince Charles made public that he had tested positive for COVID-19, having been showing mild symptoms for days. He and Camilla subsequently self-isolated at Birkhall. Camilla was also tested, but had a negative result.[91][92][93] Clarence House stated that he showed mild symptoms but "remains in good health". The palace further stated "It is not possible to ascertain from whom the prince caught the virus owing to the high number of engagements he carried out in his public role during recent weeks."[92]
Military training and career
Charles served in the Royal Air Force and, following in the footsteps of his father, grandfather and two of his great-grandfathers, in the Royal Navy. During his second year at Cambridge, he requested and received Royal Air Force training. On 8 March 1971, he flew himself to the Royal Air Force College Cranwell to train as a jet pilot.[94] After the passing-out parade that September, he embarked on a naval career and enrolled in a six-week course at the Royal Naval College Dartmouth. He then served on the guided-missile destroyer HMS Norfolk (1971–1972) and the frigates HMS Minerva (1972–1973) and HMS Jupiter (1974). In 1974, he qualified as a helicopter pilot at RNAS Yeovilton, and then joined 845 Naval Air Squadron, operating from HMS Hermes.[95]
On 9 February 1976, Charles took command of the coastal minehunter HMS Bronington for his last ten months of active service in the navy.[95] He learned to fly on a Chipmunk basic pilot trainer, a BAC Jet Provost jet trainer, and a Beagle Basset multi-engine trainer; he then regularly flew the Hawker Siddeley Andover, Westland Wessex and BAe 146 aircraft of The Queen's Flight[96] until he gave up flying after crashing the BAe 146 in the Hebrides in 1994.[97][98]
Social interests
Philanthropy and charity
Since founding The Prince's Trust in 1976, Charles has established 16 more charitable organisations, and now serves as president of all of those.[99] Together, these form a loose alliance called The Prince's Charities, which describes itself as "the largest multi-cause charitable enterprise in the United Kingdom, raising over £100 million annually ... [and is] active across a broad range of areas including education and young people, environmental sustainability, the built environment, responsible business and enterprise and international."[99]
In 2010, The Prince's Charities Canada was established in a similar fashion to its namesake in the UK.[100] Charles is also patron of over 400 other charities and organisations,[101] and carries out duties related to these throughout the Commonwealth realms; for example, he uses his tours of Canada as a way to help draw attention to youth, the disabled, the environment, the arts, medicine, the elderly, heritage conservation, and education.[102] In Canada, Charles has supported humanitarian projects. Along with his two sons, he took part in ceremonies that marked the 1998 International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.[102] Charles has also set up The Prince's Charities Australia, which is based in Melbourne, Victoria. The Prince's Charities Australia is to provide a coordinating presence for the Prince of Wales's Australian and international charitable endeavours[103]
Charles was one of the first world leaders to express strong concerns about the human rights record of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, initiating objections in the international arena,[104] and subsequently supported the FARA Foundation,[101] a charity for Romanian orphans and abandoned children.[105] In 2013, Charles donated an unspecified sum of money to the British Red Cross Syria Crisis appeal and DEC Syria appeal, which is run by 14 British charities to help victims of the Syrian civil war.[106][107] According to The Guardian, It is believed that after turning 65 years old in 2013, Charles donated his state pension to an unnamed charity that supports elderly people.[108] In March 2014, Charles arranged for five million measles-rubella vaccinations for children in the Philippines on the outbreak of measles in South-East Asia. According to Clarence House, Charles was affected by news of the damage caused by Typhoon Yolanda in 2013. International Health Partners, of which he has been Patron since 2004, sent the vaccines, which are believed to protect five million children below the age of five from measles.[109][110]
In January 2020, the Prince of Wales became the first British patron of the International Rescue Committee, a charity which aims to help refugees and those displaced by war, persecution, or natural disaster.[111]
Built environment
The Prince of Wales has openly expressed his views on architecture and urban planning; he fostered the advancement of New Classical Architecture and asserted that he "care[s] deeply about issues such as the environment, architecture, inner-city renewal, and the quality of life."[112][113] In a speech given for the 150th anniversary of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) on 30 May 1984, he memorably described a proposed extension to the National Gallery in London as a "monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved friend" and deplored the "glass stumps and concrete towers" of modern architecture.[114] He asserted that "it is possible, and important in human terms, to respect old buildings, street plans and traditional scales and at the same time not to feel guilty about a preference for facades, ornaments and soft materials,"[114] called for local community involvement in architectural choices, and asked:
Why can't we have those curves and arches that express feeling in design? What is wrong with them? Why has everything got to be vertical, straight, unbending, only at right angles – and functional?
His book and BBC documentary A Vision of Britain (1987) was also critical of modern architecture, and he has continued to campaign for traditional urbanism, human scale, restoration of historic buildings, and sustainable design,[115] despite criticism in the press. Two of his charities (The Prince's Regeneration Trust and The Prince's Foundation for Building Community) promote his views, and the village of Poundbury was built on land owned by the Duchy of Cornwall to a master plan by Léon Krier under the guidance of Prince Charles and in line with his philosophy.[112]
Charles helped establish a national trust for the built environment in Canada after lamenting, in 1996, the unbridled destruction of many of the country's historic urban cores. He offered his assistance to the Department of Canadian Heritage in creating a trust modelled on Britain's National Trust, a plan that was implemented with the passage of the 2007 Canadian federal budget.[116] In 1999, the Prince agreed to the use of his title for the Prince of Wales Prize for Municipal Heritage Leadership, awarded by the Heritage Canada Foundation to municipal governments that have shown sustained commitment to the conservation of historic places.[117] While visiting the United States and surveying the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, Charles received the National Building Museum's Vincent Scully Prize in 2005, for his efforts in regard to architecture; he donated $25,000 of the prize money towards restoring storm-damaged communities.[118][119]
From 1997, the Prince of Wales has visited Romania to view and highlight the destruction of Orthodox monasteries and Transylvanian Saxon villages during the Communist rule of Nicolae Ceaușescu.[120][121][122] Charles is patron of the Mihai Eminescu Trust, a Romanian conservation and regeneration organisation,[123] and has purchased a house in Romania.[124] Historian Tom Gallagher wrote in the Romanian newspaper România Liberă in 2006 that Charles had been offered the Romanian throne by monarchists in that country; an offer that was reportedly turned down,[125] but Buckingham Palace denied the reports.[126] Charles also has "a deep understanding of Islamic art and architecture", and has been involved in the construction of a building and garden at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies that combine Islamic and Oxford architectural styles.[127]
Charles has occasionally intervened in projects that employ architectural styles such as modernism and functionalism.[128][129][130] In 2009, Charles wrote to the Qatari royal family, the developers of the Chelsea Barracks site, labelling Lord Rogers's design for the site "unsuitable". Subsequently, Rogers was removed from the project and The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment was appointed to propose an alternative.[131] Rogers claimed the Prince had also intervened to block his designs for the Royal Opera House and Paternoster Square, and condemned Charles's actions as "an abuse of power" and "unconstitutional".[131] Lord Foster, Zaha Hadid, Jacques Herzog, Jean Nouvel, Renzo Piano, and Frank Gehry, among others, wrote a letter to The Sunday Times complaining that the Prince's "private comments" and "behind-the-scenes lobbying" subverted the "open and democratic planning process".[132] Piers Gough and other architects condemned Charles's views as "elitist" in a letter encouraging colleagues to boycott a speech given by Charles to RIBA in 2009.[128][130]
In 2010, The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment decided to help reconstruct and redesign buildings in Port-au-Prince, Haiti after the capital was destroyed by the 2010 Haiti earthquake.[133] The foundation is known for refurbishing historic buildings in Kabul, Afghanistan and in Kingston, Jamaica. The project has been called the "biggest challenge yet" for the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment.[134] For his work as patron of New Classical Architecture, in 2012 he was awarded the Driehaus Architecture Prize for patronage. The prize, awarded by the University of Notre Dame, is considered the highest architecture award for New Classical Architecture and urban planning.[135]
Livery company commitments
The Worshipful Company of Carpenters installed Charles as an Honorary Liveryman "in recognition of his interest in London's architecture."[136] The Prince of Wales is also Permanent Master of the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights, a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Drapers, an Honorary Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, an Honorary Member of the Court of Assistants of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, and a Royal Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Gardeners.[137]
Natural environment
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