HM the King Charles III, the 62nd British monarch to serve in the last 1,200 years, ascended the throne on 8 September 2022, following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. At age 73, the longest-serving heir apparent in British history, was officially proclaimed King in a ceremony at St. James’s Palace near Buckingham Palace, making him the oldest person to assume the title.
Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) with her husband Prince Philip and their baby son Prince Charles, July 1949
Born November 14, 1948 at Buckingham Palace, Prince Charles Philip Arthur George was the first child of then Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip and grandson of King George VI. On February 6, 1952, at the age of three, she became heir apparent when his mother ascended the throne.
Princess Elizabeth with her husband Prince Philip and their children Prince Charles and Princess Anne, August 1951
Charles’ parents chose to send him to school, making him the first heir to receive an external education, rather than one from private tutors. He attended several schools, including a private boarding school in Scotland and two terms as an exchange student in Melbourne.
Charles was also the first heir to the British Crown to earn a degree, attending Trinity College, Cambridge University from 1967 to 1970. He studied archaeology, anthropology and eventually history. It was during this period, in 1969, that he, at the age of 20, was styled Prince of Wales.
Queen Elizabeth II crowns her son the Prince of Wales during his investiture ceremony at Caernarvon Castle on 1 July 1969
Following in the footsteps of his father, grandfather and great-grandfather, Charles served in the Royal Navy from 1971 to 1976, where he flew helicopters, first training as a Royal Air Force pilot and eventually serving as commanding officer of the minesweeper HMS Bronington.
Prince Charles with sons Prince William and Prince Harry in Madrisa during a holiday in 2000
Charles began dating Lady Diana Spencer in 1980 when she was 19 and he was 31. In February 1981, their engagement was announced. They were married on July 29, 1981, at St. Paul’s Cathedral, in a ceremony witnessed by a record 750 million viewers worldwide. The day was declared a national holiday in Great Britain. Diana became the first Englishwoman since 1660 to marry an heir to the throne. The couple’s first child, Prince William, was born on June 21, 1982, and Prince Harry was born two years later on September 15, 1984.
Diana was loved by the British for her beauty, grace and humanitarian works which included initiatives in favor of AIDS and leprosy patients and advocating for landmine removal and homelessness causes.
Charles and Diana divorced in 1996. Tragically, on August 31, 1997, Diana was killed in a car accident in Paris.
Later, in 2004, Charles got engaged to Camilla Parker Bowles, born in London on July 17, 1947. The following year they married.
Clarence House official photo of the Prince of Wales and his new bride Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle after their wedding ceremony, 9 April 2005
When Queen Elizabeth died at the age of 96 after serving as Britain’s longest-serving monarch on 8 September 2022, Charles immediately became King, with an official proclamation taking place on 10 September. «My mother set an example of lifelong love and selfless service» he told the Assembly Council. «Even if we suffer, we give thanks for this most faithful life. I am keenly aware of this great legacy and of the duties and heavy responsibilities of sovereignty that have now passed to me».
HM the King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort
The coronation will be held on May 6, 2023 at Westminster Abbey in London, where he will become the 40th monarch crowned in that place. Charles III is King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of the fourteen other Commonwealth realms.