154 Facts About King Charles III

King Charles III acceded to the throne on 8 September 2022 upon the death of his mother, Elizabeth II.

King Charles III was the longest-serving heir apparent in British history and, at the age of 73, is the oldest person to accede the British throne.

King Charles III was made Prince of Wales in 1958 and his investiture was held in 1969.

King Charles III was educated at Cheam and Gordonstoun schools, as was his father, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

In 2005, King Charles III married his long-time partner, Camilla Parker Bowles.

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King Charles III founded the youth charity the Prince's Trust in 1976, sponsors the Prince's Charities, and is a patron, president, or a member of over 400 other charities and organisations.

King Charles III has advocated for the conservation of historic buildings and the importance of architecture in society.

King Charles III is an author or co-author of over 20 books.

An environmentalist, King Charles III supported organic farming and action to prevent climate change during his time as the manager of the Duchy of Cornwall estates, earning him awards and recognition from environmental groups; he is a prominent critic of the adoption of genetically modified food.

King Charles III was the first child of Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

On 2 June 1953, King Charles III attended his mother's coronation at Westminster Abbey.

When Charles turned five, a governess, Catherine Peebles, was appointed to oversee his education at Buckingham Palace.

On 7 November 1956, King Charles III commenced classes at Hill House School in west London.

King Charles III was the first heir apparent to attend school rather than be educated by a private tutor.

King Charles III 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.

King Charles III then attended two of his father's former schools, Cheam Preparatory School in Hampshire, England, from 1958, followed by Gordonstoun in the north-east of Scotland, beginning classes there in April 1962.

In King Charles III's 1994 authorised biography by Jonathan Dimbleby, Elizabeth and Philip were described as physically and emotionally distant parents, and Philip was blamed for his disregard of King Charles III's sensitive nature and forcing him to attend Gordonstoun, where he was bullied.

King Charles III 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.

In 1973, King Charles III described his time at Timbertop as the most enjoyable part of his whole education.

King Charles III left in 1967 with six GCE O-levels and two A-levels in history and French, at grades B and C respectively.

King Charles III broke royal tradition a second time when he proceeded straight to university after his A-levels, rather than joining the British Armed Forces.

King Charles III graduated from the University of Cambridge with a 2:2 Bachelor of Arts degree on 23 June 1970, the first British heir apparent to earn a university degree.

King Charles III was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester on 26 July 1958, 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.

King Charles III took his seat in the House of Lords in 1970, and he made his maiden speech in June 1974, the first royal to speak from the floor since the future Edward VII in 1884.

King Charles III began to take on more public duties, founding the Prince's Trust in 1976, and travelling to the United States in 1981.

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King Charles III 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.

King Charles III gave up flying after crash-landing a BAe 146 in Islay in 1994, for which the crew was found negligent by a board of inquiry.

King Charles III's girlfriends included Georgiana Russell, the daughter of Sir John Russell, who was British ambassador to Spain; Lady Jane Wellesley, the daughter of the 8th Duke of Wellington; Davina Sheffield; Lady Sarah Spencer; and Camilla Shand, who later became his second wife.

King Charles III wrote to Amanda's mother—Lady Brabourne, who was his godmother—expressing interest in her daughter, to which she replied approvingly, though she suggested that a courtship with the not yet 17-year-old girl was premature.

However, in August 1979, before King Charles III would depart alone for India, Mountbatten was assassinated by the Irish Republican Army.

In June 1980, King Charles III officially turned down Chevening House, placed at his disposal since 1974, as his future residence.

King Charles III first met Lady Diana Spencer in 1977 while he was visiting her home, Althorp.

King Charles III was the companion of her elder sister, Sarah, and did not consider Diana romantically until mid-1980.

Soon, according to King Charles III's chosen biographer, Jonathan Dimbleby, "without any apparent surge in feeling, he began to think seriously of her as a potential bride", and she accompanied King Charles III on visits to Balmoral Castle and Sandringham House.

When Prince Philip told him that the media speculation would injure Diana's reputation if King Charles III did not come to a decision about marrying her soon, and realising that she was a suitable royal bride, King Charles III construed his father's advice as a warning to proceed without further delay.

King Charles III proposed to Diana in February 1981; she accepted and they married in St Paul's Cathedral on 29 July of that year.

King Charles III set a precedent by being the first royal father to be present at his children's births.

King Charles III sought public understanding in a television film, King Charles III: The Private Man, the Public Role, with Jonathan Dimbleby that was broadcast on 29 June 1994.

King Charles III was the only member of the royal family to have a civil rather than a church wedding in England.

King Charles III's parents did not attend the civil marriage ceremony; the Queen's reluctance to attend possibly arose from her position as Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

King Charles III carried out 560 official engagements in 2008,499 in 2010, and over 600 in 2011.

King Charles III officiated at investitures and attended the funerals of foreign dignitaries.

King Charles III made regular tours of Wales, fulfilling a week of engagements each summer, and attending important national occasions, such as opening the Senedd.

In 1970, King Charles III visited Bermuda to mark the Parliament of Bermuda's 350th anniversary.

King Charles III represented the Queen at the independence celebrations in Fiji in 1970, the Bahamas in 1973, Papua New Guinea in 1975, Zimbabwe in 1980, and Brunei in 1984.

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In 1995, King Charles III became the first member of the royal family to visit the Republic of Ireland in an official capacity.

In 1997, King Charles III represented the Queen at the Hong Kong handover ceremony.

In 2000, King Charles III 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.

At the funeral of Pope John Paul II in 2005, King Charles III unintentionally caused controversy when he shook hands with Robert Mugabe, the President of Zimbabwe, who had been seated next to him.

King Charles III has supported the Zimbabwe Defence and Aid Fund, which works with those being oppressed by the regime.

In 2010, King Charles III represented the Queen at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India.

King Charles III attends official events in the United Kingdom in support of Commonwealth countries, such as the Christchurch earthquake memorial service at Westminster Abbey in 2011.

In 2013, King Charles III 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.

In March 2014, King Charles III arranged for five million measles-rubella vaccinations for children in the Philippines on the outbreak of measles in South-East Asia.

King Charles III 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.

King Charles III has made frequent visits to Saudi Arabia in order to promote arms exports for companies such as BAE Systems.

King Charles III was criticised by Scottish MP Margaret Ferrier in 2016 over his role in the sale of Typhoon fighter jets to Saudi Arabia.

Commonwealth heads of government decided at their 2018 meeting that King Charles III would be the next Head of the Commonwealth after the Queen.

In January 2020, King Charles III 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.

On 30 March 2020, Clarence House announced that King Charles III had recovered from the virus, and that, after consulting his doctor, he was no longer isolating.

In November 2021, King Charles III attended the ceremonies held to mark Barbados's transition into a parliamentary republic, which removed the Queen as Barbadian head of state.

King Charles III was invited by Prime Minister Mia Mottley as the future head of the Commonwealth, and it was the first time that a member of the royal family attended the transition of a realm to a republic.

On 10 February 2022, it was announced that King Charles III had tested positive for COVID-19 for a second time and was self-isolating.

In May 2022, King Charles III attended the State Opening of Parliament and delivered the Queen's Speech on behalf of his mother as a counsellor of state for the first time.

In June 2022, The Times reported that King Charles III had privately described the UK Government's Rwanda asylum plan as "appalling" and feared that it would overshadow the June Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Rwanda, where King Charles III represented the Queen.

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King Charles III acceded to the British throne on 8 September 2022, following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

King Charles III was the longest-serving British heir apparent, surpassing Edward VII's record on 20 April 2011.

Plans for King Charles III's coronation have been made for many years, under the code name Operation Golden Orb.

In 2005, it was reported that King Charles III had suggested he might choose to reign as George VII in honour of his grandfather George VI, and to avoid associations with previous royals named King Charles III.

King Charles III's office said at the time that no decision had yet been made.

On 10 September 2022, Charles was publicly proclaimed king by the Accession Council.

Since founding the Prince's Trust in 1976, King Charles III has established 16 more charitable organisations and now serves as president of all of those.

King Charles III is patron of over 400 other charities and organisations.

King Charles III 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.

King Charles III has set up the Prince's Charities Australia, which is based in Melbourne, Victoria.

King Charles III was one of the first world leaders to express strong concerns about the human rights record of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, initiating objections in the international arena, and subsequently supported the FARA Foundation, a charity for Romanian orphans and abandoned children.

Clarence House responded that King Charles III had "no knowledge of the alleged offer of honours or British citizenship on the basis of donation to his charities and fully supports the investigation".

In 2021, the foundation was criticised for accepting a £200,000 donation from Russian convict, Dmitry Leus, whom King Charles III thanked in a letter, and a £500,000 donation from Taiwanese fugitive Bruno Wang.

King Charles III 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, " called for local community involvement in architectural choices, and asked:.

King Charles III 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.

King Charles III 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.

In 1999, King Charles III 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.

From 1997, King Charles III has visited Romania to view and highlight the destruction of Orthodox monasteries and Transylvanian Saxon villages during the Communist rule of Nicolae Ceausescu.

King Charles III is patron of the Mihai Eminescu Trust, a Romanian conservation and regeneration organisation, and has purchased a house in Romania.

Historian Tom Gallagher wrote in the Romanian newspaper Romania Libera in 2006 that Charles had been offered the Romanian throne by monarchists in that country; an offer that was reportedly turned down, but Buckingham Palace denied the reports.

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King Charles III 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.

King Charles III has occasionally intervened in projects that employ architectural styles such as modernism and functionalism.

In 2009, King Charles III wrote to the Qatari royal family, the developers of the Chelsea Barracks site, labelling Lord Rogers's design for the site "unsuitable".

King Charles III has utilised solar panels at Clarence House and Highgrove, and – besides using electric cars on his estates – runs his Aston Martin DB6 on E85.

Along similar lines, King Charles III became involved with farming and various industries within it, regularly meeting with farmers to discuss their trade.

In 2007, King Charles III launched the Prince's May Day Network, which encourages businesses to take action on climate change.

King Charles III articulated the need to protect fisheries and the Amazon rainforest, and to make low-carbon emissions affordable and competitive.

In 2011, King Charles III received the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Medal for his engagement with the environment, such as the conservation of rainforests.

On 27 August 2012, King Charles III addressed the International Union for Conservation of Nature – World Conservation Congress, supporting the view that grazing animals are needed to keep soils and grassland productive:.

In February 2014, King Charles III visited the Somerset levels to meet residents affected by winter flooding.

In December 2015, Charles delivered a speech at the opening ceremony for COP21, making a plea to industries to put an end to practices that cause deforestation.

In September 2020, King Charles III launched RE:TV, an online platform featuring short films and articles on issues such as climate change and sustainability.

In January 2020, King Charles III launched the Sustainable Markets Initiative at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, a project which encourages putting sustainability at the centre of all activities.

In January 2021, King Charles III launched Terra Carta, a sustainable finance charter that would ask its signatories to follow a set of rules towards becoming more sustainable and make investments in projects and causes that help with preserving the environment.

In June 2021, King Charles III attended a reception hosted by the Queen during the 47th G7 summit, and a meeting between G7 leaders and sustainable industry CEOs to discuss governmental and corporate solutions to environmental problems.

In 2021, King Charles III spoke to the BBC about the environment and said two days a week he eats no meat nor fish and one day a week he eats no dairy products.

King Charles III, who is patron of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, launched the Climate Action Scholarships for students from small island nations in partnership with University of Cambridge, University of Toronto, University of Melbourne, McMaster University and University of Montreal in March 2022.

In September 2022, King Charles III hosted the Global Allergy Symposium at Dumfries House with the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation and 16 allergy experts from around the world to discuss factors behind new emerging allergies, including biodiversity loss and climate change.

King Charles III first expressed his interest in alternative medicine publicly in December 1982 in an address to the British Medical Association.

In May 2006, King Charles III made a speech at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, urging the integration of conventional and alternative medicine and arguing for homeopathy.

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King Charles III personally wrote at least seven letters to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency shortly before they relaxed the rules governing labelling of such herbal products, a move that has been widely condemned by scientists and medical bodies.

In October 2009, it was reported that King Charles III had personally lobbied the Health Secretary, Andy Burnham, regarding greater provision of alternative treatments in the NHS.

In 2016, King Charles III said in a speech that he used homeopathic veterinary medicines to reduce antibiotic use at his farm.

King Charles III drew criticism after becoming a patron of the Faculty of Homeopathy on 27 June 2019.

From his youth until 1992, King Charles III was an avid player of competitive polo.

King Charles III continued to play informally, including for charity, until 2005.

King Charles III was occasionally injured after falling off horses, and underwent two operations in 1990 to fix fractures in his right arm.

King Charles III has been a keen salmon angler since youth and supports Orri Vigfusson's efforts to protect the North Atlantic salmon.

King Charles III became President of the British National Rifle Association in 1977.

King Charles III is president or patron of more than 20 performing arts organisations, which include the Royal College of Music, the Royal Opera, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, Welsh National Opera, and the Purcell School.

King Charles III was a member of Dryden Society, Trinity College's drama group, and appeared in sketches and revues.

King Charles III founded The Prince's Foundation for Children and The Arts in 2002, to help more children experience the arts first-hand.

King Charles III is president of the Royal Shakespeare Company and attends performances in Stratford-Upon-Avon, supports fundraising events and attends the company's annual general meeting.

King Charles III enjoys comedy, and is interested in illusionism, becoming a member of The Magic Circle after passing his audition in 1975 by performing the "cups and balls" effect.

King Charles III has been patron of the British Film Institute since 1978.

King Charles III is a keen and accomplished watercolourist who has exhibited and sold a number of his works to raise money for his charities and published books on the subject.

King Charles III is Honorary President of the Royal Academy of Arts Development Trust.

King Charles III was awarded the 2011 Montblanc de la Culture Arts Patronage Award by the Montblanc Cultural Foundation for his support and commitment to the arts, particularly in regard to young people.

King Charles III made a surprise entrance to settle the disputed delivery of Hamlet's celebrated line, "To be or not to be, that is the question".

In January 2022, King Charles III commissioned seven artists to paint portraits of seven Holocaust survivors.

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King Charles III is the author of several books that reflect his own interests.

King Charles III has contributed a foreword or preface to books by other writers and has written, presented and has been featured in documentary films.

King Charles III is a member of the Church of Scotland, and he swore an oath to uphold that church immediately after he was proclaimed king in September 2022.

King Charles III was confirmed at age 16 by Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey at Easter 1965, in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

King Charles III attends services at various Anglican churches close to Highgrove, and attends the Church of Scotland's Crathie Kirk with the rest of the royal family when staying at Balmoral Castle.

King Charles III has visited Eastern Orthodox monasteries several times on Mount Athos as well as in Romania and Serbia.

King Charles III is patron of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies at the University of Oxford, and in the 2000s, he inaugurated the Markfield Institute of Higher Education, which is dedicated to Islamic studies in a plural multicultural context.

From van der Post, King Charles III developed a focus on philosophy and interest in other religions.

King Charles III visited Eastern Church leaders in Jerusalem in January 2020 culminating in an ecumenical service in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, after which he walked through that city accompanied by Christian and Muslim dignitaries.

King Charles III stated in 2015 that he would retain the title of "Defender of the Faith", whilst "ensuring that other people's faiths can be practised", which he sees as a duty of the Church of England.

In 2003, Diana's butler Paul Burrell published a note that he claimed had been written by Diana in 1995, in which there were allegations that King Charles III was "planning 'an accident' in [Diana's] car, brake failure and serious head injury" so that he could marry again.

When questioned by the Metropolitan Police inquiry team as a part of Operation Paget, King Charles III told the authorities that he did not know about his former wife's note from 1995 and could not understand why she had these feelings.

Later, an ex-member of his household handed the press an internal memo in which King Charles III commented on ambition and opportunity, and which was widely interpreted as blaming meritocracy for creating a combative atmosphere in society.

King Charles III responded: "In my view, it is just as great an achievement to be a plumber or a bricklayer as it is to be a lawyer or a doctor".

In 1994, German tabloid Bild published nude photos of King Charles III that were taken while he was vacationing in Le Barroux.

King Charles III's anguish was recorded in his private comments to Prince William, caught on a microphone during a press photo-call in 2005 and published in the national press.

In 2006, King Charles III filed a court case against the Mail on Sunday, after excerpts of his personal journals were published, revealing his opinions on matters such as the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong to China in 1997, in which King Charles III described the Chinese government officials as "appalling old waxworks".

King Charles III carried it out in a very considered, thoughtful and researched way.

King Charles III often referred to himself as a 'dissident' working against the prevailing political consensus.

King Charles III's saving of the Scottish stately home Dumfries House was the subject of Alan Titchmarsh's documentary Royal Restoration, which aired on TV in May 2012.

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Also in May 2012, King Charles III tried his hand at being a weather presenter for the BBC, reporting the forecast for Scotland as part of their annual week at Holyrood Palace alongside Christopher Blanchett.

In December 2015, Channel 4 News revealed that interviews with King Charles III were subject to a contract that restricts questions to those previously approved, and gives his staff oversight of editing and the right to "remove the contribution in its entirety from the programme".

King Charles III previously shared Apartments 8 and 9 at Kensington Palace with his first wife Diana, before moving to York House, St James's Palace, which remained his principal residence until 2003.

In 2007 King Charles III purchased a 192-acre property in Carmarthenshire, and applied for permission to convert the farm into a Welsh home for him and the Duchess of Cornwall, to be rented out as holiday flats when the couple is not in residence.

Since 1993 King Charles III has paid tax voluntarily under the Memorandum of Understanding on Royal Taxation, updated 2013.

King Charles III was originally styled "His Royal Highness Prince King Charles III of Edinburgh".

King Charles III has held substantive ranks in the armed forces of a number of countries since he was commissioned as a flight lieutenant in the Royal Air Force in 1972.

Since 2009, King Charles III holds the second-highest ranks in all three branches of the Canadian Forces and, on 16 June 2012, the Queen awarded him the highest honorary rank in all three branches of the British Armed Forces, "to acknowledge his support in her role as Commander-in-Chief", installing him as Admiral of the Fleet, Field Marshal and Marshal of the Royal Air Force.

On his mother's death, Charles became king and therefore inherited the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom and Canada.