King Charles III, heir to the British royal throne after Queen Elizabeth II, was born in 1948 in London. He is the first heir to the throne to obtain a bachelor's degree. He also speaks Welsh and French fluently, and is fluent in reading Arabic.

The title of Duke of Cornwall after the coronation of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II in 1952, and the late Queen granted him in 1958 the title of Prince of Wales, which is automatically granted to the heir to the British throne since the 14th century.

Birth and upbringing

Charles Philip Arthur George was born on November 14, 1948 in Buckingham Palace, London, the eldest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, followed in order by his sister Princess Anne, then Princes Andrew and Edward.


He married Princess Diana Frances Spencer in a marriage called "The Wedding of the Twentieth Century" on July 29, 1981 at St. Paul's Cathedral, and they had Prince William of Wales on June 21, 1982, becoming the second in the line of succession to the throne after his father, and on September 15 1984 They had their second son, Prince Henry Charles, better known as "Harry".

His relationship with Princess Diana attracted the attention of the local press for the tensions that occurred in their relationship, and rumors accusing him of "infidelity", until they announced their separation on the ninth of December 1992, while they continued to perform public duties, and they were officially divorced on August 28, 1996, A year later, Princess Diana died in a traffic accident, which caused a huge media frenzy that followed Charles negatively for a long time.

On the 9th of April 2005, Charles "The Duchess of Cornal" married Camilla Parker Bowles in a civil ceremony of Bondsor Guildhall, with whom he had a long relationship.

Prince Charles is the grandfather of Princes George, Louis and Princess Charlotte, children of Prince William, as well as Prince Archie and Princess Lillibet Diana, children of Prince Harry.

King Charles working in his room when he was an undergraduate at Trinity College (Getty Images)

Study and scientific training

He received his private education at Buckingham Palace in London, then the ruling family decided to teach him at school instead of private education in the palace, so he began studying at Hill Howe School (west London) on the seventh of November 1956, then studied the preparatory stage at Berkshire School in 1958 .

In 1966, he attended a boarding school in Melbourne, Australia as an exchange student at Timbertop.

In his last year of school, he returned to Gordston, and was appointed as its student president.

After that, he joined Trinity College, the Department of Arts, and studied archeology and anthropology at Cambridge in 1967, and in the last two years he changed his major to history.

He also obtained a bachelor's degree with honors in 1970, which is the highest degree obtained by the heir to the British royal throne.

He spent a semester at the University of Wales learning the Welsh language in preparation for his assumption of the post of Prince of Wales at Caernarvon Castle on 1 July 1969.

He then attended the Royal Air Force College and the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth.

Functions and Responsibilities

  • President of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

  • At the age of 21, he took a seat in the House of Lords on February 11, 1970.

  • He served the longest term as "Prince of Wales" in the history of the English, British and the United Kingdom in general.

King Charles with his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, 1969 (Getty)

Achievements

  • The first member of the royal family to graduate from university.

  • He holds the honorary rank of the Royal Navy.

  • He received the rank of Marshal in the British Army, and also in the Royal Air Force.

  • He received the highest rank in the British Armed Forces.

  • He was knighted in Rabat in 1958.

  • In 1977 he was appointed a Knight of Thistle (originally in Scotland).

  • He has many titles that he obtained as heir to the throne after his mother, Queen Elizabeth, including: the Duke of Cornwall, the Duke of Rothsay, the Earl of Carrick, and the Duke of Edinburgh, which he obtained after the death of his grandfather, King George VI in 1952.

  • In 2007, he was named among Time magazine's "Environmental Champions" in Issue 29.

  • He established the "Prince Trust" and "Princess Charities" in 2007 in Britain, in addition to establishing 16 other charities in the United Kingdom.