157 Facts About Prince Charles

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

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

Prince Charles was born in Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI.

Prince Charles was three when his mother ascended the throne in 1952, making him the heir apparent.

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

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

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

Prince Charles 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.

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

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

An environmentalist, Prince Charles 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.

Prince Charles is a prominent critic of the adoption of genetically modified food.

Prince Charles was born at 21:14 on 14 November 1948, during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI.

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

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

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

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

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

Prince Charles 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.

Prince Charles 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 Prince Charles'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 Prince Charles's sensitive nature and forcing him to attend Gordonstoun, where he was bullied.

Prince Charles 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, Prince Charles described his time at Timbertop as the most enjoyable part of his whole education.

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

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

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Prince Charles 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.

Prince Charles 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.

Prince 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.

Prince Charles 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.

Prince Charles'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.

Prince Charles 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 Prince Charles would depart alone for India, Mountbatten was assassinated by the Irish Republican Army.

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

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

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

Soon, according to Prince Charles'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 Prince Charles on visits to Balmoral Castle and Sandringham House.

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

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

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

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

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

Prince Charles'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.

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

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

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

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

Prince Charles 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.

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

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

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

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

The Prince Charles recently met Pius Ncube, the Archbishop of Bulawayo, an outspoken critic of the government.

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

Prince Charles 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, Prince 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.

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

Prince Charles 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.

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

Prince Charles 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 Prince Charles would be the next Head of the Commonwealth after the Queen.

In January 2020, Prince Charles 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 Prince Charles had recovered from the virus, and that, after consulting his doctor, he was no longer isolating.

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

Prince Charles 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 Prince Charles had tested positive for COVID-19 for a second time and was self-isolating.

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In May 2022, Prince Charles 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 Prince Charles 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 Prince Charles represented the Queen.

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

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

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

In 2005, it was reported that Prince Charles 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 Prince Charles.

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

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

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

Prince Charles is patron of over 400 other charities and organisations.

Prince Charles 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.

Prince Charles 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.

Prince Charles 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:.

Prince 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.

Prince Charles 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.

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

Prince Charles 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 Prince 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.

Prince Charles 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.

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

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

Rogers claimed the Prince had 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".

Prince Charles 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, Prince Charles became involved with farming and various industries within it, regularly meeting with farmers to discuss their trade.

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

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

In 2011, Prince Charles 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, Prince Charles 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, Prince Charles visited the Somerset levels to meet residents affected by winter flooding.

In December 2015, Prince 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, Prince Charles launched RE:TV, an online platform featuring short films and articles on issues such as climate change and sustainability.

In January 2020, Prince Charles 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, Prince Charles 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, Prince Charles 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, Prince Charles 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.

Prince Charles, 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, Prince Charles 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.

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

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

Prince Charles 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Prince Charles frequently took part in fox hunting until the sport was banned in the United Kingdom in 2005.

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

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

Prince Charles 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.

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

Prince Charles 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.

Prince Charles 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.

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

Prince Charles 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.

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

Prince Charles 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.

Prince Charles 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, Prince Charles commissioned seven artists to paint portraits of seven Holocaust survivors.

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

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

Prince Charles 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.

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

Prince Charles 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.

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

Prince Charles 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, Prince Charles developed a focus on philosophy and interest in other religions.

Prince Charles expressed his philosophical views in his 2010 book, Harmony: A New Way of Looking at Our World, which won a Nautilus Book Award.

Prince Charles 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.

Prince Charles 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 Prince Charles 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, Prince Charles 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 Prince Charles commented on ambition and opportunity, and which was widely interpreted as blaming meritocracy for creating a combative atmosphere in society.

Prince Charles 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".

Prince Charles gave Mahfouz his Honorary CBE at a private ceremony in the Blue Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace in November 2016, though the event was not published in the Court Circular.

Clarence House responded that Prince Charles 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".

The Charity Commission launched its own investigation into allegations that the donations meant for the Prince Charles's Foundation had been instead sent to the Mahfouz Foundation.

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

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

Charles'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.

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In 2006, Prince Charles 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 Prince Charles described the Chinese government officials as "appalling old waxworks".

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

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

Prince Charles'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.

Also in May 2012, Prince Charles 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 Prince Charles 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".

Prince Charles 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, Prince Charles 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.

Prince Charles 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, Prince Charles 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.

Prince Charles has been inducted into seven orders and received eight decorations from the Commonwealth realms, and has been the recipient of 20 different honours from foreign states, as well as nine honorary degrees from universities in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

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