Prince Charles Biography

He became a boarder at a preparatory school in Berkshire, before attending Gordonstoun in eastern Scotland. A good student, Charles passed both his ‘O’ levels and ‘A’ Levels and went on to read archaeology and anthropology at Trinity College, Cambridge - he was awarded a 2:2 degree.

In 1969, he was invested as Prince of Wales in a ceremony at Caernarfon Castle, and 1970 he took his seat in the House of Lords. During this time, Charles was taught to fly by the Royal Air Force before embarking on a naval career.

Carrying out his service on the destroyer HMS Norfolk and two frigates, the Prince qualified as a helicopter pilot in 1974 and joined the 845 Naval Air Squadron.

In 1981, Charles married Lady Diana Spencer in St Paul's Cathedral. The fairytale wedding was watched by millions around the world. Prince William was born in 1982 followed by Prince Harry in 1984.

The Royal couple kept to a busy schedule of Royal duties and toured many foreign countries. However, the marriage was not to last and in 1992, Prime Minister John Major, announced to the House of Commons that The Prince and Princess of Wales had agreed to separate. The marriage was dissolved on 28th August, 1996.

When The Princess was killed in a car crash in Paris the following year, The Prince of Wales flew to Paris with her two sisters to bring her body back to London. The Princess lay in the Chapel Royal at St James's Palace until the night before the funeral.

On the day of the funeral, The Prince of Wales accompanied his two sons, aged 15 and 12 at the time, as they walked behind the coffin from The Mall to Westminster Abbey. With them were The Duke of Edinburgh and The Princess's brother, Earl Spencer.

Prince Charles asked the media to respect his sons' privacy, to allow them to lead a normal school life. In the following years, Princes William and Harry, who are second and third in line to the throne, accompanied their father on a limited number of official engagements in the UK and abroad.
 

In February 2005, Clarence House announced the marriage of The Prince of Wales and Mrs Camilla Parker Bowles would take place on 8th April 2005 at Windsor Castle.

The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall were joined by around 800 guests at a Service of Prayer and Dedication at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.

The Service was followed by a reception at Windsor Castle hosted by Her Majesty The Queen. It is intended that The Duchess of Cornwall should use the title HRH The Princess Consort when The Prince of Wales accedes to The Throne.

The Prince of Wales has a wide range of interests and devotes much of his time to charity work including The Prince's Trust and The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment.

The Prince is well-known for his interest in issues such as the environment, architecture and inner-city renewal, and is believed to be an advocate of the neo-traditional ideas of architects such as Christopher Alexander and Leon Krier.

In 1984, he delivered a blistering attack on the profession of architecture in a speech given to the Royal Institute of British Architects. Despite criticism from the mainstream architectural press, he has continued to put forward his views on traditional urbanism, human scale, and green design.

The Prince has recently become known to be interested in greater exploration of alternative medicine, attracting criticism from the medical establishment and those who consider such "complementary therapies" to be pseudoscience at best.

However his charity, The Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health, has been closely involved in a government drive to improve regulation and quality standards in the sector.