Charles, Prince of Wales (Charles Philip Arthur
George ; born 14 November 1948) is the eldest child of Queen
Elizabeth II and
Prince Philip, Duke of
Edinburgh. Since 1952, he has been
heir apparent to the thrones of the
Commonwealth realms.
After earning a
bachelor of arts from Trinity College, Cambridge
, Charles served a tour of duty with Royal Navy in
1971-1976. He married
Lady Diana Spencer before an
enormous worldwide television audience in 1981. They had two
children,
Prince William of
Wales in 1982 and
Prince Harry
of Wales in 1984. The couple separated in 1992 following
numerous
tabloid allegations concerning
their relationship. They divorced in 1996 after Diana publicly
accused the prince of having an
affair with
Camilla Parker Bowles.
Diana died in a car crash in 1997 and in 2005 the Prince married
Parker Bowles.
The prince is well known for his charity work and sponsors the
Prince's Trust,
The Prince's Regeneration
Trust, and the
Prince's
Foundation for the Built Environment. He has been outspoken
concerning architecture and the conservation of old buildings and
has produced a book on the subject called
A Vision of
Britain (1989). He has also expressed controversial views
concerning herbal and other alternative medical treatment. Since
1958, his major title has been
HRH The Prince of Wales. However, he
may use other titles depending on where he visits, for example
The Duke of
Rothesay when visiting Scotland, or
The Duke of Cornwall when visiting
South West England.
Early life
Charles
was born at Buckingham
Palace
on 14 November 1948, the first child of then
Princess Elizabeth,
Duchess of Edinburgh, and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,
and first grandchild of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. Baptised in the
palace's Music Room on 15 December 1948, using water from the River
Jordan, by the
Archbishop of
Canterbury,
Geoffrey Fisher, the
Prince's godparents were his maternal grandfather; his
maternal-line great-grandmother,
Queen
Mary; his maternal aunt,
Princess Margaret;
his paternal-line great-grandmother, the
Dowager Marchioness of
Milford Haven; his maternal-line great-uncle,
David Bowes-Lyon; his father's cousin,
Lady
Brabourne; his grandfather's cousin, King
Haakon VII of Norway (for whom
Alexander Cambridge,
Earl of Athlone stood proxy); and his paternal-line
great-uncle,
Prince George of
Greece (for whom Prince Philip stood proxy). By
letters patent of Charles' great-grandfather,
King George V, the
titles of a
British prince or
princess, and the style
Royal
Highness, were only to be conferred on male-line children
and grandchildren of the sovereign, as well as the children of the
eldest son of the Prince of Wales. However, on 22 October 1948,
George VI issued new letters patent granting these honours to any
children of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip; otherwise,
Charles would have merely taken his father's title, and been
titled by courtesy as
Earl of Merioneth. In this way, the
children of the
heiress presumptive
had a royal and princely status not thought necessary for the
children of the King's other daughter.
By the time Charles was four years old, his mother assumed the
throne as Queen Elizabeth II, thereby immediately making him the
heir apparent to the then seven countries over which the new queen
reigned, and automatically elevating him to the position of
Duke of Cornwall (by a charter of
King Edward III that gave said
title to the sovereign's eldest son), and, in the Scottish peerage,
Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick,
Baron of Renfrew,
Lord of the
Isles, and
Prince and Great
Steward of Scotland. Though he moved to first in line to the
thrones, in the
United Kingdom order of
precedence he is third, after his parents, and is typically
fourth or fifth in other realms' precedence orders, following his
mother, the relevant
vice-regal
representative(s), and his father.
He attended his mother's coronation at
Westminster
Abbey
in 1953, sitting with his grandmother and
aunt. As with royal children before him, a
governess, Catherine Peebles, was appointed to
look after the Prince and was responsible for educating him between
the ages of 5 and 8. In a break with tradition, though, Buckingham
Palace announced in 1955 that Charles would attend school, rather
than have a private tutor, making him the first heir apparent ever
to be educated in that manner.
Youth
Education
Charles
first attended Hill House
School
in West London, where he received non-preferential
treatment from the school's founder and then head, Stuart Townend, who advised the
Queen to have Charles train in football, as
the boys at Hill House were never deferential to anyone on the
football field. The Prince then attended the Cheam Preparatory School
in Berkshire, England
, which his
father had also attended; and was finally moved to Gordonstoun
, in the north-east of Scotland. It was reported that
the Prince despised his time at the latter school, "Colditz
in kilts", as Charles put it though he did spend two of
his terms at the Timbertop campus of Geelong Grammar
School
in Geelong, Australia
, during which time he visited Papua New
Guinea
on a history trip with his tutor, Michael Collins
Persse. Upon his return to Gordonstoun, Charles followed in
his father's footsteps in becoming
Head
Boy, and left in 1967 with two
A
Levels in History and French.
Tradition was broken again when Charles went straight from
secondary school into university, as opposed to joining the
military.
On the recommendation of Robin Woods, Dean of
Windsor, and despite only gaining grades of B and C in his A
Levels, the Prince was admitted to Trinity College,
Cambridge, where he read anthropology, archaeology, and history, tutored by
Canadian-born Professor John Coles, earning a lower second
class Bachelor of Arts on 23
June 1970, making him the third member of the Royal Family to earn
a university degree. On 2 August 1975, he was subsequently
awarded a
Master of
Arts Degree from Cambridge, per the university's tradition.
During his
time at post-secondary school, Charles also attended the Old
College (part of the University of Wales,
Aberystwyth
), where he studied the Welsh language and Welsh history, also making
him the first Prince of Wales born outside of Wales to ever attempt
to learn the language of the principality.
Created Prince of Wales
Charles
was created Prince of Wales and
Earl of Chester on 26 July 1958,
though his investiture as such was not conducted until 1 July 1969,
wherein he was crowned by his mother in a televised ceremony held
at Caernarfon
Castle
, and gave his replies and speech in both Welsh and
English. The following year he took his seat in the
House of
Lords
, and later in the decade became the first member of
the Royal Family since King George I to attend a British
Cabinet meeting, having been invited by Prime Minister James Callaghan so that the Prince might see
the workings of the British government and Cabinet at first
hand. Charles also began to take on more public
duties, founding his The Prince's
Trust in 1976, and travelling to the United States
in 1981.
Around the same time, the Prince expressed an interest in serving
as
Governor-General of
Australia; Commander Michael Parker explained: "The idea behind
the appointment was for him to put a foot on the ladder of
monarchy, or being the future King and start learning the trade."
However, because of a combination of nationalist feeling in
Australia and the dismissal of the government by the
Governor-General in 1975, nothing came of the proposal. Charles
accepted the decision of the Australian ministers, if not without
some regret; he reportedly stated: "What are you supposed to think
when you are prepared to do something to help and you are told you
are not wanted?" Conversely, Tom Gallagher wrote that Charles had
been offered the Romanian throne by monarchists in that country; an
offer that was reportedly turned down.
The Prince is at present the oldest man to hold the title of Prince
of Wales since it became one that is granted to the heir apparent.
He is also the oldest heir apparent in Commonwealth realms'
history, the third longest serving heir apparent, and the third
longest serving Prince of Wales in British history, in each case
behind
Edward VII
and
George IV. If he
ascends to the throne after 18 September 2013, Charles would be the
oldest monarch of the United Kingdom to do so; only
William IV was older when
he became monarch than Charles is now.
Military training and career
Following in the tradition of Princes of Wales before him, Charles
spent time in the navy and air force.
After Royal Air Force training that he requested
and received during his second year at Cambridge, on 8 March 1971
the Prince flew himself to the Royal Air Force College Cranwell
to train as a jet pilot. After the passing
out parade in September of that year, he then embarked on a naval
career, enrolling in a six week course at the Royal Naval College
Dartmouth and then serving on the guided missile destroyer
(1971-1972) and the frigates (1972-1973) and (1974).
Charles also
qualified as a helicopter pilot at RNAS Yeovilton
in 1974, just prior to joining 845 Naval Air
Squadron, operating from , and on 9 February 1976, the Prince took
command of the coastal minehunter for his last nine months in the
navy. In total, Prince Charles has qualified to fly a
Chipmunk basic
pilot trainer, a
Harrier T
Mk.4 V/STOL fighter, a
BAC Jet
Provost jet pilot trainer, a
Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft, a
F-4 Phantom II fighter jet, an
Avro Vulcan jet bomber, and a
Spitfire classic WWII fighter.
Early romances
Prince Charles' love life was always the subject of speculation and
press fodder. In his youth, he was linked to a number of women,
including Georgina Russell, daughter of the
British Ambassador to
Spain; Lady Jane Wellesley, daughter of
Arthur Wellesley, Duke
of Wellington; Davina Sheffield; Fiona Watson, a model;
Susan George;
Lady Sarah Spencer;
Princess Marie Astrid of
Luxembourg;
Dale,
Baroness Tryon; Janet Jenkins; and Jane Ward. Irrespective of
the truth of the romantic rumours, the hurdles of marriage made
some of these matches manifestly implausible; as the heir apparent
to the Commonwealth realms' thrones, Charles was expected to father
future monarchs. Also, like other members of the Royal Family, he
was legally obliged to obtain his mother's approval under the
Royal Marriages Act 1772
before he could marry, and his choice would have to survive the
immense popular interest any marriage proposal would immediately
arouse.
Charles was given written advice on dating and the selection of a
future consort from his father's "Uncle Dickie",
Louis
Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma: "In a case like
yours, the man should sow his wild oats and have as many affairs as
he can before settling down, but for a wife he should choose a
suitable, attractive, and sweet-charactered girl before she has met
anyone else she might fall for... It is disturbing for women to
have experiences if they have to remain on a pedestal after
marriage."
Mountbatten had a unique qualification for
offering advice to this particular heir to the throne: he had
invited George VI, Queen Elizabeth, and their daughters to visit
Dartmouth
Royal Naval College
on 22 July 1939, having also detailed Cadet Prince Philip to keep the young princesses
company, creating the first documented meeting of Charles' future
parents. In early 1974, Mountbatten began corresponding with
Elizabeth and Philip's eldest son about a potential marriage to
Mountbatten's granddaughter, Hon. Amanda Knatchbull (b. 26 June
1957), and recommended that the twenty-five year old prince get
done with his bachelor's experimentation. Charles dutifully wrote
to Amanda's mother,
Patricia
Brabourne (who was also his
godmother), about his interest in her daughter, to
which she replied approvingly, though suggesting that a
courtship was premature.
This did
not daunt Mountbatten, who, four years later, obtained an
invitation for himself and Amanda to accompany Charles on his 1980
tour of India
. Both
fathers, however, objected; Philip complaining that the Prince of
Wales would be eclipsed by his famous uncle (who had served as the
last British
Viceroy and first
Governor-General of India), while
John, Baron
Brabourne warned that a joint visit would rivet media attention
on the cousins before they could decide on becoming a couple,
thereby potentially dashing the very prospect for which Mountbatten
hoped.Dimbleby, pp. 263-265 However, before Charles was to depart
alone for India, Mountbatten was
assassinated in August 1979. When Charles
returned, he proposed to Amanda. However, in addition to her
grandfather, she had lost her paternal grandmother and youngest
brother
Nicholas in the attack
and now recoiled from the prospect of becoming a core member of the
Royal Family.
In June 1980, Charles officially turned down
Chevening
House, placed at his disposal since 1974, as his
future residence. Chevening, a stately
home in Kent
, was
bequeathed, along with an endowment, to the Crown by the last
Earl Stanhope,
Amanda's childless great-uncle, in the hope that Charles would
eventually occupy it.
First marriage
Although
Charles first met Lady Diana
Frances Spencer in 1977 while visiting Diana's home, Althorp
, as the companion of her elder sister, Sarah he did not consider her
romantically until the summer of 1980. While sitting
together on a bale of hay at a friend's barbecue in July, he
mentioned Mountbatten's death, to which Diana replied that Charles
had looked forlorn and in need of care during his uncle's funeral.
Soon, according to Charles' chosen biographer,
Jonathan Dimbleby, "without any apparent
surge in feeling, he began to think seriously of her as a potential
bride." She accompanied the Prince on visits to
Balmoral and
Sandringham, eliciting enthusiastic responses
from most of the Royal Family.
Although the Queen offered Charles no direct counsel, his cousin
Norton
Knatchbull (Amanda's eldest brother) and his wife, Penny, did.
But Charles was angered by their objections that he did not seem in
love with Diana and that she seemed too awestruck by his position.
Meanwhile, the couple continued dating, amidst constant press
speculation and
paparazzi coverage. When
Prince Philip told him that the intrusive media attention would
injure her reputation if he did not come to a decision about
marrying her soon, and realising that Diana met the Mountbatten
criteria (and, apparently, the public's) for a proper royal bride,
Charles construed his father's advice as a warning to proceed
without further delay.
Engagement and wedding to Diana
Prince Charles proposed to Diana in February 1981, she accepted,
and when he asked
her
father for her hand, he consented.
After the British and
Canadian privy councils gave their approval for the
union (which was sought as the couple was expected to produce an
heir to those countries' thrones), the Queen-in-Council gave the legally required
assent, and, 29 July, Charles and Diana were married at St Paul's
Cathedral
, before 3,500 invited guests and an estimated
worldwide television audience of 750 million people.
All of
the Queen's Governors-General, as
well as Europe's crowned heads, attended (save for King Juan Carlos I of Spain, who was
advised not to attend because the newlyweds' honeymoon would
involve a stop over in the disputed territory of Gibraltar
). Most of Europe's elected heads of state were
also amongst the guests, with the exceptions of the President of Greece, Constantine Karamanlis (who declined
because Greece's exiled monarch, Constantine II, a kinsman and
friend of the bridegroom, had been invited as "King of the
Hellenes"), and the President of
Ireland, Patrick Hillery (who
was advised by Taoiseach Charles Haughey not to attend because of the
dispute over the status of Northern Ireland
).
The
couple made their homes at Highgrove
, near Tetbury
, and Kensington Palace
. Almost immediately, the new Princess of
Wales became a star attraction, chased by the
paparazzi, and her every move followed by millions
through the mass media. The couple had two children:
Princes William (born 21 June 1982)
and
Harry (born 15 September
1984). Charles set precedent by being the first royal father to be
present at his children's births.
Separation and divorce
The union between the Prince and Princess of Wales soon became
troubled; despite their similarities, such as their mutual devotion
to charity work Diana focusing on
AIDS
sufferers, while Charles devoted his efforts to marginalised groups
in urban centres within five years, the "fairytale" marriage was on
the brink of collapse. The continued presence of
Camilla Parker-Bowles in events
and circumstances that also involved the royal couple became
intolerable to Diana. Allies of Charles who spoke publicly, if
anonymously, against Diana alleged that she was unstable and
temperamental; one by one, she apparently dismissed each of
Charles' long-standing staff members and fell out with his friends,
as well as members of her own family her father,
mother, and
brother as well as members
of the Royal Family, such as
Sarah, Duchess of York. The Princess
sought counsel outside of the generally accepted sources of advice,
to the chagrin of the palace. In response to the succour sought by
the Prince, Diana responded in kind. Charles, however, was also
blamed for the marital troubles, as he resumed his
adulterous
affair with Parker-Bowles.Though they remained a couple in
public, Charles and Diana had effectively separated by the late
1980s, the Prince living in Highgrove and the Princess at
Kensington Palace. Their increased periods apart and obvious
discomfort in each other's presence began to be noticed by the
media, and this, plus evidence and recriminations of infidelity,
were broadcast in tabloids and the news. By 1992 the marriage was
over in all but name; in December of that year, then Prime Minister
of the United Kingdom,
John Major,
announced in the British parliament the Prince and Princess' formal
separation, after which the media began to take sides, starting
what came to be known as the
War
of the Waleses. In October 1993, Diana wrote to a friend
that she believed her husband was now in love with
Tiggy Legge-Bourke and wanted to marry
her. The marriage of Charles and Diana was formally ended in
divorce on 28 August 1996.
Second marriage
In 1993, the British tabloids came into the possession of
recordings of a 1989 mobile telephone conversation allegedly
between the Prince of Wales and
Camilla Parker-Bowles, in which
Charles expressed regret for the indignities she had endured
because of her relationship with him, and which revealed graphic
expressions of a physical intimacy between the two. In a television
interview the following year, Charles admitted that he had
committed adultery "once it was clear the marriage had broken
down," and said in the same interview that his father had approved
of the taking of a mistress. This assertion, however, was
vehemently denied by the Duke of Edinburgh, and the implication of
condoned adultery caused a significant rift between father and son.
When it was later confirmed that it had been Camilla Parker-Bowles
with whom Charles was having an affair, her husband, Andrew,
immediately demanded a divorce from his wife and thereafter
remained silent on the subject of his wife's ongoing affair with
the Prince.
On 31
August 1997, a year after the Prince and Princess divorced,
Diana was
killed in a car crash
in Paris
, along with
her companion Dodi Fayed and driver
Henri Paul. The Prince of Wales
overruled the palace
protocol
experts who argued that as Diana was no longer a member of the
Royal Family, the responsibility for her funeral arrangements
belonged to her blood relatives,
the
Spencers and flew to Paris, with Diana's sisters, to accompany
his ex-wife's body home. He also insisted that, as the mother of
the presumed future king (her son William), she be given a formal
royal funeral; a new category of formal funeral was especially
created for her.
Charles attempted to make his relationship with Parker-Bowles more
public and accepted, having her become his unofficial, occasional
companion at events. This coming out temporarily ceased at the time
of the Princess of Wales' death, but Charles and Parker-Bowles were
photographed in public together in 1999, following a birthday party
for Parker-Bowles' sister, Annabel Elliott; this was regarded as a
sign that the relationship was now official , a feeling that was
further enhanced when Parker-Bowles met the Queen in June 2000.
Parker-Bowles moved into Charles' household in 2003, resulting in
decorative changes to both homes, though Buckingham Palace was
explicit in pointing out that public funds had not been used for
the renovations. Marriage between the Prince of Wales and
Parker-Bowles remained elusive, however: As the future
Supreme Governor of
the Church of England, the prospect of Charles marrying a
divorcée, and one with whom he had conducted an illicit
relationship, was seen as controversial. Opinion of both the public
and the church shifted, though, to a point where
civil marriage was seen as an agreeable
solution.
Engagement and wedding to Camilla
Clarence
House
announced on 10 February 2005 that Charles and
Camilla Parker-Bowles were engaged; the Prince presented
Parker-Bowles with an engagement
ring that had belonged to his
grandmother. In a
Privy Council
meeting on 2 March, the Queen's consent to the marriage (as
required by the
Royal Marriages
Act 1772) was recorded.
In Canada, however, the Department
of Justice
announced its decision that the Queen's Privy Council for
Canada was not required to meet to give its consent to the
marriage, as the union would not result in offspring and thus would
have no impact on the succession to the Canadian throne.
The
marriage was to have been on 8 April of that year, and was to take
place in a civil ceremony at Windsor Castle
, with a subsequent religious blessing at St George's
Chapel
. But, because the conduct of a civil marriage
at Windsor Castle would oblige the venue thereafter to be available
to anyone wishing to be married there, the location was changed to
the Windsor Guildhall
. On 4 April it was announced that the
marriage would be delayed by one day to allow for the Prince of
Wales and some of the invited dignitaries to attend the
funeral of Pope John Paul II.
Charles' parents did not attend the marriage ceremony; the Queen's
reluctance to attend arising from her position as
Supreme Governor of
the Church of England. The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh did,
however, attend the service of blessing, and held a reception for
the newlyweds at Windsor Castle, afterwards.
The wedding made
Charles the first member of the Royal Family to be civilly wed in
England.
Official documents had been published by BBC that stated such a
marriage was illegal, though these were dismissed by Clarence
House, and explained to be obsolete by the sitting
government.
Personal interests
In his years as heir apparent, the Prince of Wales has taken on a
wide array of interests and activities, and devoted his time and
effort to charity work and collaborating with local communities.
Since founding The Prince's Trust, he established fifteen more
charitable organisations, and now serves as president of all of
those, plus two others; together, these form a loose alliance
called
The Prince's
Charities, which claim to raise over £110 million
annually.
Charles is also patron
of over 350 other charities and organisations, 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. The Prince was described by his ex-private
secretary as a
dissident who works against
majority political opinions.
Jonathan
Dimbleby has reported that the Prince "has accumulated a number
of certainties about the state of the world and does not relish
contradiction."
The built environment
The Prince of Wales has frequently shared his views on
architecture and
urban planning in public forums, claiming to
"care deeply about issues such as the environment, architecture,
inner-city renewal, and the quality of
life."
He is known to be an advocate of
neo-traditional ideas, such as those of Christopher Alexander and Leon Krier, which were illustrated in his 1984
attack on the British architectural community in a speech given to
the Royal
Institute of British Architects, describing a proposed
extension to the National Gallery in London
as a "monstrous
carbuncle". Charles also published a book and created a
documentary entitled
A Vision of Britain, which critiqued
some aspects of modern architecture. Despite criticism from the
professional architectural press, the Prince has continued to put
forward his views, stressing traditional urbanism, the need for
human scale, and the restoration of historic buildings as an
integrated element of new development and
sustainable design. Two of the Charles'
charities in particular forward his theories on design:
The Prince's Regeneration
Trust (formed by a merger of Regeneration Through Heritage and
the Phoenix Trust in 2006) and
The Prince's
Foundation for the Built Environment (which absorbed
The Prince of
Wales's Institute of Architecture in 2001).
Further, the village
of Poundbury
was created at the instigation of Prince Charles,
with a master plan by Krier.
Charles assisted with the establishment of 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 the creation of a trust modelled on
the British variant, and, with the passing of the
2007 federal budget by
his mother's representative in
Canada, a Canadian national trust was finally fully
implemented. In 1999, the Prince also agreed to offer the use of
his title to 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.
Charles has also been the recipient of
awards for his efforts in regard to architecture, such as the
National
Building Museum
's Vincent Scully
Prize he received in 2005, while visiting the United States and touring southern Mississippi
and New
Orleans
to survey the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina; he donated $25,000 of
the prize money to help restore communities damaged by the
storm.
Starting
in 1997, the Prince of Wales also visited Romania
to view and draw attention to some of the
destruction caused during the Communist rule of Nicolae Ceauşescu, particularly
Orthodox monasteries and Saxon
villages of Transylvania, where he
purchased a house. Charles also became patron of two
Romanian built environment organisations: the
Mihai Eminescu Trust and the International
Network for Traditional Building, Architecture, and Urbanism), an
advocate of architecture that respects cultural tradition and
identity. 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 which combine Islamic and Oxford architectural
styles.
Charles' involvement in architecture has also attracted
controversy, especially his personal intervention to redesign
projects whose architectural style or approach he has disagreed
with. He has been especially opposed to styles such as
modernism and
functionalism.
Richard Rogers, recipient of the
Pritzker Prize and
Stirling Prize, has described the Prince's
personal intervention in projects as "an abuse of power" and
"unconstitutional". In 2009 Charles wrote a letter to the Qatari
royal family, the developers of the Chelsea Barracks site to be
designed by Rogers, that suggested his design was "unsuitable".
Subsequently, Rogers was removed from the project and The Prince's
Foundation for the Built Environment was appointed to propose an
alternative. Rogers has also claimed the Prince intervened to stop
his designs for the Royal Opera House and Paternoster Square.
Charles' personal interventions have attracted critique from
prominent members of the architectural community.
Norman Foster,
Zaha Hadid,
Jacques
Herzog,
Jean Nouvel,
Renzo Piano, and
Frank
Gehry among others wrote a letter to
The Sunday Times to this effect; each is a
recipient of the Pritzker Prize. They wrote that "private comments"
and "behind-the-scenes lobbying" by the Prince counteracted the
"open and democratic planning process" in the case of the Chelsea
Barracks project. Similarly,
Piers Gough
CBE and other architects wrote a letter
encouraging colleagues to boycott Charles' address to the Royal
Institute of British Architects, with Gough calling Charles' views
on architecture "elitist".
The natural environment
The Prince of Wales attending the royal launch of the Revolve
Eco-Rally, 2007.
Since the early 1980s, Charles has taken a keen interest in
environmental issues, taking a leadership role in promoting
environmentally sensitive thinking . Upon his moving into his
Highgrove estate, he became increasingly focused on
organic farming, an attention that
culminated in the 1990 launch of his own organic brand:
Duchy Originals, which now sells more than
200 different sustainably produced products, from food to garden
furniture, the profits from which (£6 million, as of 2008) are
donated to The Prince's Charities.
Documenting this work on his estate,
Charles co-authored (with Charles Clover, environment editor of the
Daily Telegraph)
Highgrove: An Experiment in Organic Gardening and Farming,
published in 1993, and offers his patronage to Garden
Organic
. Along similar lines, the Prince of Wales
became involved with farming and various industries within it,
regularly meeting with farmers to discuss their trade; though the
2001 foot-and-mouth epidemic
in the UK prevented Charles from visiting farmers in Saskatchewan
, organic farmers there came to meet him at the
Assiniboia
town hall. In 2004, he also founded the
Mutton Renaissance
Campaign, which aims to support British
sheep farmers and make
mutton
more attractive to Britons. His organic farming efforts, however,
attracted media criticism: According to
The Independent in October, 2006
"...the story of Duchy Originals has involved compromises and
ethical blips, wedded to a determined merchandising programme."
and, in February 2007, Duchy products themselves came under attack,
with the tabloid
Daily Mail claiming that the food was
"unhealthier than Big Macs." In 2007, Charles also launched
The Prince's May Day
Network, which encourages businesses to take action on climate
change.
An announcement was made by Clarence House in December 2006 that
the Prince of Wales would make his household's travel arrangements
more eco-friendly, and, in 2007, Charles published in his annual
accounts the details of his own
carbon
footprint, as well as targets for reducing his household's
carbon emissions.
That same year, he
received the 10th annual Global Environmental Citizen Award from
the Harvard
Medical School
's Center for Health and the Global Environment, the
director of which, Eric Chivian, stated: "For decades the Prince of
Wales has been a champion of the natural world... He has
been a world leader in efforts to improve energy efficiency and in
reducing the discharge of toxic substances on land, and into the
air and the oceans". However, Charles' travel by commercial
airliner to the United States to attend the award ceremony drew
criticism from some environmental activists, such as the Plane
climate change action group's campaigner Joss Garman, and in April
2009, he faced similar criticisms for chartering a private jet for
a five day tour of Europe to promote environmental issues.
The
Prince gave a speech to the European Parliament
on 14 February 2008, in which he called for
European Union leadership in the war
against climate change. During
the standing ovation that followed,
Nigel
Farage, the leader of the
United Kingdom Independence
Party (UKIP), was the only MEP to remain seated and went on to
describe Charles's advisers as "naive and foolish at best." Farage
continued: "How can somebody like Prince Charles be allowed to come
to the European Parliament at this time to announce he thinks it
should have more powers? It would have been better for the country
he wants to rule one day if he had stayed home and tried to
persuade
Gordon Brown to give the
people the promised referendum [on the
Treaty of Lisbon]."
Philosophies and religious beliefs
Sir
Laurens van der Post became
a friend of Charles in 1977, a relationship that lasted until van
der Post's death in 1996, and which led him to be dubbed the "guru
to Prince Charles", and made godfather to Charles' son, Prince
William. From him, the Prince of Wales developed a focus on
philosophy, especially
that of Asian and
Middle Eastern nations, and
New Age theology, praising
Kabbalistic artworks, and penning a memorial for
Kathleen Raine, the Neoplatonist
poet, who died in 2003.
The
Prince is known to attend services at several different Anglican churches near his home at
Highgrove, Gloucestershire
and is known to regularly worship at Crathie Kirk
when staying at Balmoral Castle.
In 2000,
he was appointed as
Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly
of the Church of
Scotland
. The Prince of Wales also travels each year
to
Mount Athos to spend time in the
Orthodox
monasteries there, as well as in
Romania, demonstrating his interest in
Orthodox Christianity. Along with
his father, who was born and raised as
Greek Orthodox, Charles is patron of
The Friends of Mount Athos, as well as the 21st International
Congress of
Byzantine Studies.
Charles
is also patron of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies at the
University
of Oxford
.
Alternative medicine
Charles has demonstrated an interest in
alternative medicine, the promotion of
which has occasionally resulted in controversy.
In 2004, Charles'
"Foundation for Integrated Health" divided the scientific and
medical community over its campaign encouraging general practitioners to offer herbal
and other alternative treatments to National Health Service
patients, and in May 2006, Charles made a speech to an audience of
health ministers from various countries at the World Health Assembly in Geneva
, urging
them to develop a plan for integrating conventional and alternative
medicine.
In April 2008,
The Times
published a letter from
Edzard Ernst
that asked the Prince's Foundation to recall two guides promoting
"alternative medicine", saying: "the majority of alternative
therapies appear to be clinically ineffective, and many are
downright dangerous." A speaker for the foundation countered the
criticism by stating: "We entirely reject the accusation that our
online publication
Complementary Healthcare: A Guide
contains any misleading or inaccurate claims about the benefits of
complementary therapies. On the contrary, it treats people as
adults and takes a responsible approach by encouraging people to
look at reliable sources of information... so that they can make
informed decisions. The foundation does not promote complementary
therapies." Ernst has recently published a book with science writer
Simon Singh condemning alternative
medicine called
Trick or
Treatment: Alternative Medicine on Trial. The book is
ironically dedicated to "HRH the Prince of Wales" and the last
chapter is very critical of his advocacy of "complementary" and
"alternative" treatments.
The Prince's
Duchy Originals produce
a variety of CAM products including a “Detox Tincture” that
Professor Edzard Ernst has denounced as "financially exploiting the
vulnerable" and "outright
quackery". In May
2009, the Advertising Standards Authority criticised an email that
Duchy Originals had sent out to advertise its Echina-Relief,
Hyperi-Lift and Detox Tinctures products saying it was misleading.
The Prince personally wrote at least seven letters to the
Medicines
and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) shortly before
they relaxed the rules governing labelling of such herbal products.
A move that has been widely condemed by scientists and medical
bodies.
On 31st October 2009 it was reported that Prince Charles had
personally lobbied Health Secretary
Andy
Burnham regarding greater provision of alternative treatments
on the NHS.
Humanitarian issues
The plight of various peoples has been a target of Charles'
efforts, predominantly the long-term unemployed, people who have
been in trouble with the law, people who are in difficulty at
school, and people who have been in care.
The Prince's Trust is the main outlet
through which Charles works with young people, offering loans to
groups, business people, and others who've had difficulty receiving
outside support. Fundraising concerts are regularly held in benefit
of the trust, with leading
pop,
rock, and
classical
musicians taking part.
In Canada, Charles has also supported
humanitarian projects, taking part, along with his two sons, in the
ceremonies marking the 1998 International
Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and helping
to launch the Canadian Youth Business Foundation in Saskatchewan in
2001, when he also visited Scott Collegiate, an inner-city school
in Regina
.
After
spending time in the Northwest Territories
in 1975, Charles formed a special interest in the
Canadian north, as well as Canada's Aboriginal Peoples,
the leaders of which he met and sometimes took time to walk and
meditate with. Reflecting this association, the Prince of
Wales has been conferred with special titles from First Nations communities: in 1996, Cree and Ojibway students in
Winnipeg
named the Prince Leading Star, and in 2001
he was dubbed Pisimwa Kamiwohkitahpamikohk, or "the sun
looks at him in a good way", during his first visit to the province
of Saskatchewan. He was also one of the first world leaders
to express strong concerns about the
human
rights record of
Nicolae
Ceauşescu, initiating objections in the international arena,
and subsequently supported the FARA Foundation, which runs Romanian
orphanages.
Charles attended the
Bilderberg
Group conference in 1986 specifically to attend a debate on the
South Africa economic crisis.
Hobbies and sports
Since his youth, the Prince was an avid player of
polo, as a part of competitive teams until 1992, and
strictly for charity from then until 2005, after which he ceased to
participate because of two notable injuries he suffered during
play: in 1990 he broke his arm, and in 2001 was briefly unconscious
after a fall. Charles also frequently took part in
fox hunting, before
the sport was banned in the United Kingdom
in 2005. By the late 1990s, as opposition to the activity was
growing, the Prince of Wales' participation in this activity was
viewed as a "political statement" by those opposed to it, such as
the League Against Cruel Sports, which launched the attack against
Charles after he took his sons on the
Beaufort Hunt in 1999, at a time
when the government was trying to ban the hunting of foxes with
hounds.
Charles has also pursued the visual arts, focusing on
watercolour, and exhibiting and selling a number
of his paintings, as well as publishing books on the subject. In
university he dabbled in acting, appearing in amateur productions
of a comedic nature, an enjoyment of which continued later into the
Prince's life, as evidenced by his organising of a comedy gala to
celebrate his 60th birthday. He also has an interest in
illusionism, becoming a member of
The Magic Circle after passing his audition
by performing the
cups and balls
effect. The Prince acts today as patron of a number of theatres,
acting troupes, and orchestral ensembles, including the
Regina Symphony Orchestra, and the
Royal Shakespeare Company,
and is reportedly a fan of Canadian singer and song writer
Leonard Cohen. He is also a collector of
automobiles, particularly the British
marque
Aston Martin, having acquired
numerous models and such tight connections with the brand being a
frequent visitor to the factory and its service department, and a
guest of honour at most of the company's special launch events that
special
Prince of Wales edition Aston Martins have been
created on occasion. He is known to like Ipswich Town Football
Club, after a visit to Portman Road after they were the first
football club in England to support his supported charity.
Official duties
As Prince of Wales, Prince Charles undertakes a number of official
duties on behalf of his mother, in her role as sovereign of any of
the
Commonwealth realms. He will
frequently stand in for the Queen at the funerals of foreign
dignitaries (which the Queen customarily does not attend), and at
investitures into
British
orders. It was when he attended the
funeral of Pope John Paul II
that Charles caused controversy: when shaking hands with other
guests, Charles was surprised to find himself shaking that of
Robert Mugabe, the
President of Zimbabwe, who had been
seated next to the Prince. Charles' 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.
Both Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall travel abroad on behalf of
the United Kingdom.
The Prince has been regarded as an effective
advocate of the country, with his visit to the Republic of
Ireland
, where he delivered a personally researched and
written speech on Anglo-Irish affairs
that was warmly received by Irish politicians and the media, being
cited as an example. 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.
For
instance, in 2001, the Prince placed a specially commissioned
wreath, made from vegetation taken from French
battlefields, at the Canadian
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
, and in 1981 he became the patron of the Canadian
Warplane Heritage Museum
.
Prince
Charles makes regular tours of Wales
, going
there for a week of engagements each summer, attending important
national occasions, such as opening the Senedd
. 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 the Prince is patron of a number of Scottish
organisations.
Media
Sometimes referred to as
Chazza (along the lines of
Gazza,
Hezza, and similar coinages), and
parodied, such as on
Spitting Image,
and by
Craig Ferguson—in a segment
known as
The Rather Late Programme with Prince Charles—on
The Late Late
Show, Prince Charles has been a focus of the world media
since his birth, attention that increased as he matured. Prior to
his first marriage, he was presented as the world's most eligible
bachelor on the cover of
Time, and his various affairs and
exploits were followed and reported. With his marriage to
Diana Spencer, the attention
increased, though predominantly towards the Princess of Wales, who
became a star attraction, chased by the
paparazzi, and her every move (including every
change in
hairstyle) closely followed by
millions. As their relationship began to deteriorate, Diana began
to use the media to her advantage, and became closely involved in
placing stories about the royal marriage in the press, thenceforth
splitting the media's support, with Charles having
The
Mirror and the
Telegraph on his side.
In their quest to gain ever more stories on the Prince of Wales,
the media breached Charles' privacy on a number of occasions.
In 2006,
the Prince 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 takeover of Hong Kong
by the People's Republic of China
in 1997, in which Charles described the Chinese
government officials as "appalling old waxworks." Others
have used their past connections with the Prince to profit from the
media, such as when an ex-member of Charles' household took to the
press an internal memo in which Charles commented on ambition and
opportunity, and which was widely interpreted as blaming
meritocracy for creating a combative atmosphere in society. In
retort, Charles stated: "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," and the memo was cited in
Lynne Truss' critique of British manners,
Talk to the Hand, as a valid observation on how the
positive motivational impact of meritocracy might be balanced
against the negative impact of a competitive society.
Overall, Charles developed a dislike for the popular press, which
was accidentally revealed when his comments to his son, William,
during a press photo-call in 2005 was caught on a nearby
microphone: "I hate doing this... These bloody people," and about
the
BBC's royal reporter,
Nicholas Witchell, in particular: "I can't
bear that man. I mean, he's so awful, he really is."
The Prince of Wales,
though, remained friendly with produced entertainment media,
appearing as himself on the UK soap opera
Coronation
Street
as part of the show's 40th anniversary in
2000, and on the New
Zealand
adult cartoon series bro'Town, after attending a performance from
the show's creators during a tour of the country. He did,
however, reportedly turn down an invitation to appear in a cameo
role in an episode of
Doctor
Who. Charles has also continued to give interviews, such
as that which was conducted by
Ant and
Dec for the 30th anniversary of The Prince's Trust in 2006, and
he read his children's book,
The Old Man of Lochnagar, on
the BBC's
Jackanory
programme.
Residences
Clarence
House, the former London residence of the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, is
the Prince of Wales' current official residence.
Previously, he resided in an apartment at
St James's
Palace
. Charles also holds a private estate in
Gloucestershire, Highgrove, and one in Scotland, the Birkhall
estate near Balmoral Castle
and also previously owned by the Queen
Mother. Upon the occasion of his marriage to Diana, Charles
had reduced his voluntary tax contribution from the profits
generated by the Duchy of Cornwall from 50% to 25%.
In 2007,
the Prince purchased a 192 acre (150 acres of grazing and parkland,
and of woodland) 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 royal couple is not in
residence. Though neighbours said the proposed alterations
flouted local planning regulations, the application was put on hold
while a report was drafted on how the alterations would affect the
local bat population.
Charles and Camilla took residence at the
new property, called Llwynywermod
, in June 2008.
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles and styles
Charles has held a number of titles throughout his life, as the
grandson of the monarch, the son of the monarch and, later,
honoured in his own right with princely and noble titles. When in
conversation with the Prince of Wales, the practice is to initially
address him as
Your Royal Highness and thereafter as
Sir.
There has been speculation as to what
regnal
name the Prince will choose upon his succession to the throne.
If he keeps his current first name, he will be known as
Charles
III. However, Charles has suggested that he may choose to
reign as
George VII in honour of his
maternal grandfather, and to
avoid association with the
Stewart
kings
Charles I (who was
beheaded) and
Charles II (who
had lived in exile)., though he has denied this publicly.
Honours and honorary military appointments
On his 58th birthday, the Prince of Wales was appointed by his
mother as a
General in the
British Army, an
Admiral in the
Royal Navy, and an
Air Chief Marshal of the
Royal Air Force. (He had previously been
granted at an earlier point the rank of Major General and the
accompanying ranks in the other services.) His first honorary
appointment was as
Colonel-in-Chief
of the
Royal Regiment of
Wales, in 1969; since that time, the Prince has also been
installed as Colonel-in-Chief, Colonel, Honorary Air Commodore,
Air Commodore-in-Chief,
Deputy Colonel-in-Chief, Royal Honorary Colonel, Royal Colonel, and
Honorary Commodore of at least 36 military formations throughout
the Commonwealth.
Charles has also been the recipient of a number of honours and
awards from various countries around the world, whether from his
own or foreign.
He has been inducted into eight orders and
received five decorations from amongst the Commonwealth realms, and
has been the recipient of 17 different appointments and decorations
by foreign states, as well as nine honorary degrees from universities in the
United Kingdom and New
Zealand.
Arms
Ancestry
Through his father's line, his
patrilineal descent, Charles is descended from
the
House of
Oldenburg/Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg. It should
be noted, however, that absent any future decrees to the contrary,
Charles will reign as a member of the House of Windsor per Letters
Patent issued by his mother.
Issue
See also
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
in England and Wales and in Northern Ireland
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