Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United

Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms.[note 1]

Charles was born in Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George
VI, and became heir apparent when his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, acceded to the throne in 1952.
He was created Prince of Wales in 1958 and his investiture was held in 1969. He was educated
at Cheam School and Gordonstoun, and later spent six months at the Timbertop campus of Geelong
Grammar School in Victoria, Australia. After completing a history degree from the University of
Cambridge, Charles served in the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy from 1971 to 1976. In
1981, he married Lady Diana Spencer. They had two sons, William and Harry. Charles and Diana
divorced in 1996, after they had each engaged in well-publicised extramarital affairs. Diana died as a
result of injuries sustained in a car crash the following year. In 2005, Charles married his long-term
partner, Camilla Parker Bowles.
As heir apparent, Charles undertook official duties and engagements on behalf of his mother. He
founded the Prince's Trust in 1976, sponsored the Prince's Charities, and became patron or
president of more than 800 other charities and organisations. He advocated for the conservation of
historic buildings and the importance of architecture in society. In that vein, he generated the
experimental new town of Poundbury. An environmentalist, 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 as well as criticism; he is also a prominent
critic of the adoption of genetically modified food, while his support for alternative medicine has been
criticised. He has authored or co-authored 17 books.
Charles became king upon his mother's death on 8 September 2022. At the age of 73, he became
the oldest person to accede to the British throne, after having been the longest-serving heir apparent
and Prince of Wales in British history. His coronation took place at Westminster Abbey on 6 May
2023.

Early life, family, and education

Christening of Charles (centre, wearing the royal christening

gown) in 1948: (from left to right) his grandfather King George VI; his mother, Princess
Elizabeth, holding him; his father, Philip; and his grandmother Queen Elizabeth
Charles was born at 21:14 (GMT) on 14 November 1948,[2] during the reign of his maternal
grandfather, King George VI, as the first child of Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh (later
Queen Elizabeth II), and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.[3] His parents had three more
children, Anne (born 1950), Andrew (born 1960) and Edward (born 1964). On 15 December 1948, at
four weeks old, he was christened Charles Philip Arthur George in the Music Room of Buckingham
Palace by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher.[note 4][note 5][7][8]
George VI died on 6 February 1952 and Charles's mother acceded to the throne as Elizabeth II;
Charles immediately became the heir apparent. Under a charter of Edward III in 1337, and as the
monarch's eldest son, he automatically assumed the traditional titles of Duke of Cornwall and, in the
Scottish peerage, the titles Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles,
and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland.[9] On 2 June the following year, Charles attended his
mother's coronation at Westminster Abbey.[10]
When Charles turned five, a governess, Catherine Peebles, was appointed to oversee his education
at Buckingham Palace.[11] Charles then commenced classes at Hill House School in west London in
November 1956.[12] He was the first heir apparent to attend school, rather than be educated by a
private tutor.[13] He did not receive preferential treatment from the school's founder and
headmaster, Stuart Townend, who advised the Queen to have Charles train in football, because the
boys were never deferential to anyone on the football field.[14] Charles subsequently attended two of
his father's former schools: Cheam School in Hampshire,[15] from 1958,[12] followed by Gordonstoun, in
the north-east of Scotland, beginning classes there in April 1962.[12][16]

With his parents and sister Anne, October 1957

In his 1994 authorised biography by Jonathan Dimbleby, Charles's parents were described as
physically and emotionally distant and Philip was blamed for his disregard of Charles's sensitive
nature, including forcing him to attend Gordonstoun, where he was bullied.[17] Though Charles
reportedly described Gordonstoun, noted for its especially rigorous curriculum, as "Colditz in kilts",
[15]
he later praised the school, stating it had taught him "a great deal about myself and my own
abilities and disabilities". He said in a 1975 interview he was "glad" he had attended Gordonstoun
and that the "toughness of the place" was "much exaggerated".[18] In 1966, Charles spent two terms
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.[19][20] In 1973,
Charles described his time at Timbertop as the most enjoyable part of his whole education.[21] Upon
his return to Gordonstoun, he emulated his father in becoming head boy, and left in 1967 with
six GCE O-levels and two A-levels in history and French, at grades B and C respectively.[19][22] On his
education, Charles later remarked, "I didn't enjoy school as much as I might have; but, that was only
because I'm happier at home than anywhere else".[18]
Charles broke royal tradition when he proceeded straight to university after his A-levels, rather than
joining the British Armed Forces.[15] In October 1967, he was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge,
where he studied archaeology and anthropology for the first part of the Tripos and then switched
to history for the second part.[7][19][23] During his second year, he attended the University College of
Wales in Aberystwyth, studying Welsh history and the Welsh language for one term.[19] Charles
became the first British heir apparent to earn a university degree, graduating in June 1970 from
the University of Cambridge with a 2:2 Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree.[19][24] Following standard practice,
in August 1975, his Bachelor of Arts was promoted to a Master of Arts (MA Cantab) degree.[19]

Prince of Wales
Charles was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester on 26 July 1958,[25] 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;[26] the investiture was controversial in Wales owing to
growing Welsh nationalist sentiment.[27] He took his seat in the House of Lords the following
year[28] and he delivered his maiden speech on 13 June 1974,[29] the first royal to speak from the floor
since the future Edward VII in 1884.[30] He spoke again in 1975.[31]
Charles began to take on more public duties, founding the Prince's Trust in 1976[32] and travelling to
the United States in 1981.[33] In the mid-1970s, he expressed an interest in serving as governor-
general of Australia, at the suggestion of Australian prime minister Malcolm Fraser; however,
because of a lack of public enthusiasm, nothing came of the proposal.[34] In reaction, Charles
commented, "so, what are you supposed to think when you are prepared to do something to help
and you are just told you're not wanted?"[35]
Military training and career
Charles served in the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Royal Navy. During his second year at
Cambridge, he received Royal Air Force training, learning to fly the Chipmunk aircraft with
the Cambridge University Air Squadron,[36][37] and was presented with his RAF wings in August 1971.
[38]

(Front to back) HMS Norfolk, London, and Antrim in

the English Channel following joint exercises with the RAF in December 1971. Charles was
serving aboard the Norfolk at this time.
After the passing-out parade that September, Charles embarked on a naval career and enrolled in a
six-week course at the Royal Naval College Dartmouth. He then served from 1971 to 1972 on the
guided-missile destroyer HMS Norfolk and the frigates HMS Minerva, from 1972 to 1973,
and HMS Jupiter in 1974. That same year, he also qualified as a helicopter pilot at RNAS
Yeovilton and subsequently joined 845 Naval Air Squadron, operating from HMS Hermes.[39] Charles
spent his last 10 months of active service in the Navy commanding the coastal
minehunter HMS Bronington, beginning on 9 February 1976.[39] He took part in a parachute training
course at RAF Brize Norton two years later, after being appointed colonel-in-chief of the Parachute
Regiment in 1977.[40] Charles gave up flying after crash-landing a BAe 146 in Islay in 1994, as a
passenger who was invited to fly the aircraft; the crew was found negligent by a board of inquiry.[41]
Relationships and marriages
Bachelorhood
In his youth, Charles was amorously linked to a number of women. His girlfriends included
Georgiana Russell, the daughter of Sir John Russell, who was the British ambassador to Spain;
[42]
Lady Jane Wellesley, the daughter of the 8th Duke of Wellington;[43] Davina Sheffield;[44] Lady
Sarah Spencer;[45] and Camilla Shand, who later became his second wife.[46]
 Photograph by Allan Warren, 1972
Charles's great-uncle Lord Mountbatten advised him to "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".[47] Early in 1974, Mountbatten
began corresponding with 25-year-old Charles about a potential marriage to Amanda Knatchbull,
Mountbatten's granddaughter.[48] Charles wrote to Amanda's mother, Lady Brabourne, who was also
his godmother, expressing interest in her daughter. Lady Brabourne replied approvingly, but
suggested that a courtship with a 16-year-old was premature.[49] Four years later, Mountbatten
arranged for Amanda and himself to accompany Charles on his 1980 visit to India. Both fathers,
however, objected; Prince Philip feared that his famous uncle[note 6] would eclipse Charles, while Lord
Brabourne warned that a joint visit would concentrate media attention on the cousins before they
could decide on becoming a couple.[50]
In August 1979, before Charles would depart alone for India, Mountbatten was assassinated by the
Irish Republican Army. When Charles returned, he proposed to Amanda. But in addition to her
grandfather, she had lost her paternal grandmother and younger brother in the bomb attack and was
now reluctant to join the royal family.[50]
Lady Diana Spencer
Main article: Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer

With Diana during their visit to Uluru in Australia, March 1983

Charles first met Lady Diana Spencer in 1977, while he was visiting her home, Althorp. He was then
the companion of her elder sister Sarah and did not consider Diana romantically until mid-1980.
While Charles and Diana were sitting together on a bale of hay at a friend's barbecue in July, she
mentioned that he had looked forlorn and in need of care at the funeral of his great-uncle Lord
Mountbatten. Soon, according to Dimbleby, "without any apparent surge in feeling, he began to think
seriously of her as a potential bride" and she accompanied Charles on visits to Balmoral
Castle and Sandringham House.[51]
Charles's cousin Norton Knatchbull and his wife told Charles that Diana appeared awestruck by his
position and that he did not seem to be in love with her.[52] Meanwhile, the couple's continuing
courtship attracted intense attention from the press and paparazzi. When 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 (according to Mountbatten's
criteria), Charles construed his father's advice as a warning to proceed without further delay.[53] He
proposed to Diana in February 1981, with their engagement becoming official on 24 February; the
wedding took place in St Paul's Cathedral on 29 July. Upon his marriage, Charles reduced his
voluntary tax contribution from the profits of the Duchy of Cornwall from 50 per cent to 25 per cent.
[54]
The couple lived at Kensington Palace and Highgrove House, near Tetbury, and had two
children: William, in 1982, and Harry, in 1984.[13]

With Diana at the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton,

Canada, June 1983
Within five years, the marriage was in trouble due to the couple's incompatibility and near 13-year
age difference.[55][56] By November 1986, Charles had fully resumed his affair with Camilla Parker
Bowles.[57] In a videotape recorded by Peter Settelen in 1992, Diana admitted that she had been
"deeply in love with someone who worked in this environment."[58][59] It was assumed that she was
referring to Barry Mannakee,[60] who had been transferred to the Diplomatic Protection Squad in
1986, after his managers determined his relationship with Diana had been inappropriate.[59][61] Diana
later commenced a relationship with Major James Hewitt, the family's former riding instructor.[62]
Charles and Diana's evident discomfort in each other's company led to them being dubbed "The
Glums" by the press.[63] Diana exposed Charles's affair with Parker Bowles in a book by Andrew
Morton, Diana: Her True Story. Audio tapes of her own extramarital flirtations also surfaced,[63] as did
persistent suggestions that Hewitt is Prince Harry's father, based on a physical similarity between
Hewitt and Harry. However, Harry had already been born by the time Diana's affair with Hewitt
began.[64]
In December 1992, John Major announced the couple's legal separation in the House of Commons.
Early the following year, the British press published transcripts of a passionate, bugged telephone
conversation between Charles and Parker Bowles that had taken place in 1989, which was dubbed
"Camillagate" and "Tampongate".[65] Charles subsequently sought public understanding in a
television film with Dimbleby, Charles: The Private Man, the Public Role, broadcast in June 1994. In
an interview in the film, Charles confirmed his own extramarital affair with Parker Bowles, saying that
he had rekindled their association in 1986, only after his marriage to Diana had "irretrievably broken
down".[66][67] This was followed by Diana's own admission of marital troubles in an interview on
the BBC current affairs show Panorama, broadcast in November 1995.[68] Referring to Charles's
relationship with Parker Bowles, she said, "well, there were three of us in this marriage. So, it was a
bit crowded." She also expressed doubt about her husband's suitability for kingship.[69] Charles and
Diana divorced on 28 August 1996,[70] after being advised by the Queen in December 1995 to end
the marriage.[71] The couple shared custody of their children.[72]
Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997. Charles flew to Paris with Diana's sisters
to accompany her body back to Britain.[73] 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 Charles was
"planning 'an accident' in [Diana's] car, brake failure and serious head injury", so that he could
remarry.[74] When questioned by the Metropolitan Police inquiry team as a part of Operation Paget,
Charles told the authorities that he did not know about his former wife's note from 1995 and could
not understand why she had those feelings.[75]
Camilla Parker Bowles
Main article: Wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles

With Camilla in Jamaica, March 2008

The engagement of the Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles was announced on 10 February
2005.[76] The Queen's consent to the marriage – as required by the Royal Marriages Act 1772 – was
recorded in a Privy Council meeting on 2 March.[77] In Canada, the Department of Justice determined
the consent of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada was not required, as the union would not
produce any heirs to the Canadian throne.[78]
Charles was the only member of the royal family to have a civil, rather than a church, wedding in
England. British government documents from the 1950s and 1960s, published by the BBC, stated
that such a marriage was illegal; these claims were dismissed by Charles's spokesman[79] and
explained by the sitting government to have been repealed by the Registration Service Act 1953.[80]
The union was scheduled to take place in a civil ceremony at Windsor Castle, with a subsequent
religious blessing at the castle's St George's Chapel. The wedding venue was changed to Windsor
Guildhall after it was realised a civil marriage at Windsor Castle would oblige the venue to be
available to anyone who wished to be married there. Four days before the event, it was postponed
from the originally scheduled date of 8 April until the following day in order to allow Charles and
some of the invited dignitaries to attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II.[81]
Charles's parents did not attend the marriage ceremony; the Queen's reluctance to attend possibly
arose from her position as Supreme Governor of the Church of England.[82] The Queen and Duke of
Edinburgh did attend the service of blessing and held a reception for the newlyweds at Windsor
Castle.[83] The blessing by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams was televised.[84]
Official duties
See also: List of official overseas trips made by Charles III
 With Harichand Megha Dalaya at Amul, in Anand, Gujarat,
December 1980
In 1965, Charles undertook his first public engagement by attending a student garden party at
the Palace of Holyroodhouse.[85] During his time as Prince of Wales, he undertook official duties on
behalf of the Queen,[86] completing 10,934 engagements between 2002 and 2022.[87] He officiated
at investitures and attended the funerals of foreign dignitaries.[88] Charles made regular tours of
Wales, fulfilling a week of engagements each summer, and attending important national occasions,
such as opening the Senedd.[89] The six trustees of the Royal Collection Trust met three times a year
under his chairmanship.[90] Charles also represented his mother at the independence celebrations in
Fiji in 1970,[91] the Bahamas in 1973,[92] Papua New Guinea in 1975,[93] Zimbabwe in 1980,
[94]
and Brunei in 1984.[95]
In 1983, Christopher John Lewis, who had fired a shot with a .22 rifle at the Queen in 1981,
attempted to escape a psychiatric hospital in order to assassinate Charles, who was visiting New
Zealand with Diana and William.[96] While Charles was visiting Australia on Australia Day in January
1994, David Kang fired two shots at him from a starting pistol in protest of the treatment of several
hundred Cambodian asylum seekers held in detention camps.[97] In 1995, Charles became the first
member of the royal family to visit the Republic of Ireland in an official capacity.[98] In 1997, Charles
represented the Queen at the Hong Kong handover ceremony.[99][100]

Charles's ninth tour of New Zealand in 2015

In March 1998 Charles had laser keyhole surgery on his right knee.[101] In March 2003 he underwent
surgery at King Edward VII's Hospital to treat a hernia injury.[102] At the funeral of Pope John Paul II in
2005, he caused controversy when he shook hands with the president of Zimbabwe, Robert
Mugabe, who had been seated next to him. Charles's office subsequently released a statement
saying that he could not avoid shaking Mugabe's hand and that he "finds the current Zimbabwean
regime abhorrent".[103] In 2008 a non-cancerous growth was removed from his nasal bridge.[101]
Charles represented the Queen at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in
Delhi, India.[104] In November 2010, he and Camilla were indirectly involved in student protests when
their car was attacked by protesters.[105] In November 2013, he represented the Queen for the first
time at a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, in Colombo, Sri Lanka.[106]
Charles and Camilla made their first joint trip to the Republic of Ireland in May 2015. The trip was
called an important step in "promoting peace and reconciliation" by the British Embassy.[107] During
the trip, Charles shook hands in Galway with Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Féin and widely believed
to be the leader of the IRA, the militant group that had assassinated Lord Mountbatten in 1979. The
event was described by the media as a "historic handshake" and a "significant moment for Anglo-
Irish relations".[108]

With Queen Elizabeth II and other world leaders to

mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day on 5 June 2019
Commonwealth heads of government decided at their 2018 meeting that Charles would be the next
Head of the Commonwealth after the Queen.[109] The head is chosen and therefore not hereditary.
[110]
In March 2019, at the request of the British government, Charles and Camilla went on an official
tour of Cuba, making them the first British royals to visit the country. The tour was seen as an effort
to form a closer relationship between Cuba and the United Kingdom.[111]
Charles contracted COVID-19 during the pandemic in March 2020.[112][113] Several newspapers were
critical that Charles and Camilla were tested promptly at a time when many NHS doctors, nurses
and patients had been unable to be tested expeditiously.[114] He tested positive for COVID-19 for a
second time in February 2022.[115] He and Camilla, who also tested positive, had received doses of
a COVID-19 vaccine in February 2021.[116]

Delivering the Queen's Speech to the British Parliament on

behalf of his mother, May 2022
Charles attended the November 2021 ceremonies to mark Barbados's transition into a parliamentary
republic, abolishing the position of monarch of Barbados.[117] He was invited by Prime Minister Mia
Mottley as the future Head of the Commonwealth;[118] it was the first time that a member of the royal
family attended the transition of a realm to a republic.[119] In May of the following year, Charles
attended the State Opening of the British Parliament, delivering the Queen's Speech on behalf of his
mother, as a counsellor of state.[120]

Reign
Further information: Proclamation of accession of Charles III and Coronation of Charles III and
Camilla
 Addressing the Scottish Parliament on 13 September 2022
Charles acceded to the British throne on his mother's death on 8 September 2022. He was the
longest-serving British heir apparent, having surpassed Edward VII's record of 59 years on 20 April
2011.[121] Charles was the oldest person to succeed to the British throne, at the age of 73. The
previous record holder, William IV, was 64 when he became king in 1830.[122]
Charles gave his first speech to the nation at 6 pm on 9 September, in which he paid tribute to his
mother and announced the appointment of his elder son, William, as Prince of Wales.[123] The
following day, the Accession Council publicly proclaimed Charles as king, the ceremony being
televised for the first time.[124][109] Attendees included Queen Camilla, Prince William, and the British
prime minister, Liz Truss, along with her six living predecessors.[125] The proclamation was also read
out by local authorities around the United Kingdom. Other realms signed and read their own
proclamations, as did Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, British Overseas Territories, Crown
Dependencies, Canadian provinces, and Australian states.[126]

Charles and Camilla after their coronation

Charles and Camilla's coronation took place at Westminster Abbey on 6 May 2023.[127] Plans had
been made for many years, under the code name Operation Golden Orb.[128][129] Reports before his
accession suggested that Charles's coronation would be simpler than his mother's in 1953,[130] with
the ceremony expected to be "shorter, smaller, less expensive, and more representative of different
faiths and community groups – falling in line with the King's wish to reflect the ethnic diversity of
modern Britain".[131] Nonetheless, the coronation was a Church of England rite, including
the coronation oath, the anointment, delivery of the orb, and enthronement.[132] In July they attended
a national service of thanksgiving where Charles was presented with the Honours of Scotland in St
Giles' Cathedral.[133]
Charles and Camilla have engaged in three state visits and received two. In November 2022 they
hosted the South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, during the first official state visit to Britain of
Charles's reign.[134] In March the following year, the King and Queen embarked on a state visit to
Germany; Charles became the first British monarch to address the Bundestag.[135] Similarly, in
September, he became the first British monarch to give a speech from France's Senate chamber
during his state visit to the country.[136] The following month, the King visited Kenya where he faced
pressure to apologize for British colonial actions. In a speech at the state banquet, he acknowledged
"abhorrent and unjustifiable acts of violence", but did not formally apologize.[137]
In January 2024, Charles underwent a "corrective procedure" at the London Clinic to treat
benign prostate enlargement, which resulted in the postponement of some of his public
engagements.[138] In February, Buckingham Palace announced that cancer had been discovered
during the treatment, but that it was not prostate cancer. Although his public duties were postponed,
it was reported Charles would continue to fulfil his constitutional functions during
his outpatient treatment.[139] He released a statement espousing his support for cancer charities and
that he "remains positive" on making a full recovery.[140]

Philanthropy and charity

Since founding the Prince's Trust in 1976, using his £7,500 of severance pay from the Navy,
[141]
Charles has established 16 more charitable organisations and now serves as president of each.
[142][86]
Together, they form a loose alliance, the Prince's Charities, which describes itself as "the
largest multi-cause charitable enterprise in the United Kingdom, raising over £100 million annually ...
[and is] active across a broad range of areas including education and young people, environmental
sustainability, the built environment, responsible business and enterprise, and international".[142] As
Prince of Wales, Charles became patron or president of over 800 other charities and organisations.
[85]

The Prince's Charities Canada was established in 2010, in a similar fashion to its namesake in
Britain.[143] 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.[144] He has
also set up the Prince's Charities Australia, based in Melbourne, to provide a coordinating presence
for his Australian and international charitable endeavours.[145]

With Camilla visiting the African American Heritage Center

in Louisville, Kentucky, March 2015
Charles has supported humanitarian projects; for example, he and his sons took part in ceremonies
that marked the 1998 International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.[144] Charles was
one of the first public figures to express strong concerns about the human rights record of the
Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, initiating objections in the international arena,[146] and
subsequently supported the FARA Foundation,[7] a charity for Romanian orphans and abandoned
children.[147]
Investigations of donations
Main articles: The King's Foundation § Cash for honours allegations and other donations, and King
Charles III Charitable Fund § Qatari donations
Two of Charles's charities, the Prince's Foundation and the Prince of Wales's Charitable Fund (later
renamed the King's Foundation and King Charles III Charitable Fund, respectively), came under
scrutiny in 2021 and 2022 for accepting donations the media deemed inappropriate. In August 2021,
it was announced that the Prince's Foundation was launching an investigation into the reports,
[148]
with Charles's support.[149] The Charity Commission also launched an investigation into allegations
that the donations meant for the Prince's Foundation had been instead sent to the Mahfouz
Foundation.[150] In February 2022, the Metropolitan Police launched an investigation into the cash-for-
honours allegations linked to the foundation,[151] passing their evidence to the Crown Prosecution
Service for deliberation in October.[152] In August 2023, the Metropolitan Police announced that they
had concluded their investigations and no further actions would be taken.[153]
The Times reported in June 2022 that, between 2011 and 2015, Charles accepted €3 million in cash
from Qatari prime minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani.[154][155] There was no evidence that
the payments were illegal or that it was not intended for the money to go to the charity,[155] although,
the Charity Commission stated it would review the information[156] and announced in July 2022 that
there would be no further investigation.[157] In the same month, The Times reported that the Prince of
Wales's Charitable Fund received a donation of £1 million from Bakr bin Laden and Shafiq bin
Laden – both half-brothers of Osama bin Laden – during a private meeting in 2013.[158][159] The Charity
Commission described the decision to accept donations as a "matter for trustees" and added that no
investigation was required.[160]

Personal interests

With Boris Johnson at the 2022 Commonwealth Heads of

Government Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda
From young adulthood, Charles encouraged understanding of Indigenous voices, claiming they held
crucial messages about preservation of the land, respecting community and shared values, resolving
conflict, and recognising and making good on past iniquities.[161] Charles dovetailed this view with his
efforts against climate change,[162] as well as reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous
peoples and his charitable work in Canada.[163][164] At CHOGM 2022, Charles, who was representing
the Queen, raised that reconciliation process as an example for dealing with the history of slavery in
the British Empire,[165] for which he expressed his sorrow.[166]
Letters sent by Charles to government ministers in 2004 and 2005 expressing his concerns over
various policy issues – the so-called black spider memos – presented potential embarrassment
following a challenge by The Guardian newspaper to release the letters under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. In March 2015, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom decided that
Charles's letters must be released.[167] The Cabinet Office published the letters in May 2015.[168] The
reaction was largely supportive of Charles, with little criticism of him;[169] the press variously described
the memos as "underwhelming"[170] and "harmless",[171] and concluded that their release had "backfired
on those who seek to belittle him".[172] It was revealed in the same year that Charles had access to
confidential Cabinet papers.[173]
In October 2020, a letter sent by Charles to the governor-general of Australia, Sir John Kerr,
after Kerr's dismissal of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam in 1975, was released as part of the
collection of palace letters regarding the Australian constitutional crisis.[174] In the letter, Charles was
supportive of Kerr's decision, writing that what Kerr "did last year was right and the courageous thing
to do".[174]

Meeting with Ruth Davidson and Nicola Sturgeon after

the Kirking of the Scottish Parliament, May 2016
The Times reported in June 2022 that Charles had privately described the British
government's Rwanda asylum plan as "appalling" and he feared that it would overshadow the
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Rwanda that same month.[175] It was later claimed
that Cabinet ministers had warned Charles to avoid making political comments, as they feared a
constitutional crisis could arise if he continued to make such statements once he became king.[176]
Built environment
Charles has openly expressed his views on architecture and urban planning; he fostered the
advancement of New Classical architecture and asserted that he "care[s] deeply about issues such
as the environment, architecture, inner-city renewal, and the quality of life."[177] In a speech given for
the 150th anniversary of the Royal Institute of British Architects in May 1984, he described a
proposed extension to the National Gallery in London as a "monstrous carbuncle on the face of a
much-loved friend" and deplored the "glass stumps and concrete towers" of modern architecture.
[178]
Charles called for local community involvement in architectural choices and asked, "why has
everything got to be vertical, straight, unbending, only at right angles – and functional?"[178] 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, which combine Islamic and Oxford
architectural styles.[179]

At the newly opened At-Bristol, June 2000

In Charles's 1989 book A Vision of Britain, and in speeches and essays, he has been critical of
modern architecture, arguing that traditional designs and methods should guide contemporary ones.
[180]
He has continued to campaign for traditional urbanism, human scale, restoration of historic
buildings, and sustainable design[181] despite criticism in the press.[182] Two of his charities – the
Prince's Regeneration Trust and the Prince's Foundation for Building Community, which were later
merged into one charity – promote his views. The village of Poundbury was built on land owned by
the Duchy of Cornwall to a master plan by Léon Krier, under the guidance of Charles and in line with
his philosophy.[177] In 2013, developments for the suburb of Nansledan began on the estate of the
Duchy of Cornwall with Charles's endorsement.[183] Charles helped purchase Dumfries House and its
complete collection of 18th century furnishings in 2007, taking a £20m loan from his charitable trust
to contribute toward the £45m cost.[184] The house and gardens remain property of the Prince's
Foundation and serve as a museum and community and skills training centre.[185][186] This led to the
development of Knockroon, called the "Scottish Poundbury".[187][188]
After lamenting in 1996 the unbridled destruction of many of Canada's historic urban cores, 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 federal budget in 2007.
[189]
In 1999, Charles agreed to the use of his title for the Prince of Wales Prize for Municipal Heritage
Leadership, awarded by the National Trust for Canada to municipal governments that have
committed to the conservation of historic places.[190]
Whilst visiting the US and surveying the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, Charles received
the National Building Museum's Vincent Scully Prize in 2005 for his efforts in regard to architecture;
he donated $25,000 of the prize money towards restoring storm-damaged communities.[191] For his
work as patron of New Classical architecture, Charles was awarded the 2012 Driehaus Architecture
Prize from the University of Notre Dame.[192] The Worshipful Company of Carpenters installed Charles
as an Honorary Liveryman "in recognition of his interest in London's architecture."[193]
Charles has occasionally intervened in projects that employ architectural styles such
as modernism and functionalism.[194][195] In 2009, Charles wrote to the Qatari royal family – the
financier of the redevelopment of the Chelsea Barracks site – labelling Lord Rogers's design for the
site "unsuitable". Rogers claimed that Charles had also intervened to block his designs for the Royal
Opera House and Paternoster Square.[196] CPC Group, the project developer, took a case
against Qatari Diar to the High Court.[197] After the suit was settled, the CPC Group apologised to
Charles "for any offence caused ... during the course of the proceedings".[197]