King Charles III: A Modern Monarch

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In a biography written by Jonathan Dimbleby with Charles’s blessing, Dimbleby wrote: “Prince Charles is far more aware of the prospective burdens of kingship than its pleasures.” Charles told him: “The difficulty is most of the time not feeling that one is worthy of it, inevitably.” Authored by renowned King Charles biographer Robert Jobson, a number-one New York Times and Sunday Times best-selling author and royal correspondent, this coffee-table-style book chronicles His Majesty’s life – from his celebrated birth and early years, through his responsibilities as the Prince of Wales, to his accession and coronation as king. Charles admitted to the affair with Camilla in a 1994 interview with Dimbleby. He said he had been faithful “until [his marriage] became irretrievably broken down”. As the eldest child of the Queen, Charles was tutored privately until 1956, when he became the first heir apparent to go to school. During his time at Hill House School in West London, he took up football at the advice of the headmaster, who suggested the other boys would never be deferential to the young prince on the football pitch. Charles later attended Cheam Preparatory School in Hampshire from 1958 and Gordonstoun, Scotland, from 1962. Prince Philip had thrived at the institution in his teenage years but Charles, who was described as a more sensitive youth than his father had been, reportedly described the rigorous school as “Colditz in kilts” – though he did later praise it for teaching him “a great deal about myself and my own abilities and disabilities. It taught me to accept challenges and take the initiative”.

Two years later, in 1999, Charles and Camilla made their first public appearance together at a birthday party at the Ritz London. It was the first stage of a PR push to slowly improve public acceptance of Camilla, known as ‘Operation PB’. In 2000, Camilla attended her first event with the Queen present, and began to steadily develop her future royal role through charity work around osteoporosis, promoting literacy, and supporting survivors of sexual assault and domestic abuse.Despite all the necessary flourishes, this is likely to be a coronation shorter and smaller in scale than Queen Elizabeth II’s in 1953, and with a far more modest procession. More than 8,000 guests attended Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, and Westminster Abbey had to be closed for five months to allow extra seating to be built. This time around, it seems likely the maximum number will be somewhere around 2,200; the Abbey’s normal capacity. Throughout his life he has listened almost entirely only to people who agree with him: argument, or debate, does not come easily, particularly for one who stands so firmly on his dignity. With close and long-standing ties to many of his overseas counterparts forged through his decades of service as the Prince of Wales, the British heir apparent, the King’s invitation to them now provides an opportunity for soft diplomacy on behalf of the UK. In the years after his formative schooling, Charles broke with tradition again by attending university instead of joining the armed forces. He studied archaeology and anthropology at Trinity College, Cambridge University, before switching to history. It was during this time, in 1969, that he was bestowed with the title Prince of Wales and, in the second year of his degree, he spent a term studying Welsh history and language at University College of Wales in Aberystwyth.

The engagement became official in February 1981 – Charles famously answering “Whatever ‘in love’ means” when quizzed about his feelings – and they married at St Paul’s Cathedral on 29 July. They made their home at Kensington Palace and went on to have two children – Prince William Arthur Philip Louis, born on 21 June 1982, and Prince Henry Charles Albert David, known as Harry, two years later on 15 September 1984. In 1967, despite mediocre A-level results of a B in history and a C in French, he was given a place at Cambridge without sitting the exam. He was driven to the university in a bright red Mini. He lived in unusually nice rooms for a first year student; they were decorated by the Queen’s tapestry maker. But actually I think people would be happy to receive honours and awards from any royal with enough seniority. It’s perhaps worth remembering that the King can delegate anybody to act on his behalf which is why you get lord-lieutenants carrying out one-off Investitures – or generals in the field. As the fount of honour, the monarch can decide who can act on his behalf.”Under pressure to marry, Charles proposed to Diana in February 1981, just before she went on a trip to Australia: “I thought: ‘Well I’ll ask her then so that she’ll have a chance of thinking it over’,” he said. Asked if they were in love in a broadcast interview, Charles said: “Whatever ‘in love’ means.” Charles’s belief in unproven treatments was attributed to the man he was said to view as his spiritual mentor, Laurens van der Post, who was later disgraced by the revelation that he had fathered a child with a 14-year-old girl when he was 46. Van der Post persuaded Charles to record his descriptions of his dreams, which were then subjected to Jungian analysis. As Princess Anne put it, just before the Coronation, “I think the ‘slimmed-down’ [monarchy] was said in a day when there were a few more people around to make that seem like a justifiable comment.” The 72-year-old princess added: “It doesn’t sound like a good idea from where I’m standing, I have to say. I’m not quite sure what else, you know, we can do.”