16 facts about Cheddar
It is a hard cheese with a rather distinctive and pungent flavor.
It is suitable for both sandwiches and the cheese board although it is most often us ...
On May 6, 2023, Charles, son of Queen Elizabeth II, was crowned King of the United Kingdom at Westminster Abbey. He waited a record 70 years for the crown, making him the oldest heir to the throne in the history of the British Isles. Although he enjoys moderate popularity compared to other royals, he has entered the pages of history not only because of scandals involving him, but also through charity and activism.
He was born in London on November 14, 1948, the first of four royal children. He was followed by Anne (born in 1950), Andrew (born in 1960), and Edward (born in 1964). Only Charles and Anne were born before their mother's accession to the throne, during the reign of George VI, Elizabeth II's father.
The ceremony took place at Buckingham Palace on December 15, 1948, and he was christened Charles Philip Arthur George. His godparents were 8 people, including the then King and Charles' grandfather, George VI, and Mary Teck, the widow of George V, who died in 1936.
Although Charles was first in line to the British throne at such a young age, he had to wait another 70 years to take the reins of power, setting two records in the history of the British monarchy - as the longest-waiting heir to the throne (in 2011) and the oldest heir to the throne (in 2013).
On that day, Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. Her first-born son was with her in her final moments and became the new king after her death. However, the coronation did not take place until May 6, 2023, at Westminster Abbey in London. The postponement of the coronation was due to the period of mourning following the death of the previous monarch. The ceremony was televised, as was the coronation of his mother in 1952.
Charles's education began at Hill House School in London and continued at Cheam preparatory school in the county of Hampshire.
At the age of 14, he began studying at the private, highly disciplined Gordonstoun, whose pupils included Charles's father, Prince Philip, and his two younger brothers, Andrew and Edward. This period of the future king's life was not one of the happiest, as he experienced bullying, which included being locked naked in a wicker basket and left in a cold shower.
Meanwhile, he spent two terms at Geelong Grammar School in Australia, which eh graduated in 1967. He went on to study at the University of Wales and the University of Cambridge.
Charles received his Master of Arts degree on August 2, 1975. He is an archaeologist by training and is the first heir to the British Royal Family to receive a professional degree.
At birth, as the son of the Duchess and Duke of Edinburgh, he was given the title His Highness the Duke of Edinburgh. After his mother's accession to the throne, he became Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay.
On July 26, 1958, the Queen, by decree, added to the titles of her eldest son the titles of Earl of Chester and Prince of Wales. There is an incident associated with the latter. On July 1, 1969, as the 21-year-old Charles was giving a speech at Caernarfon Castle in Wales during a ceremony to accept the title, a group of youths threw eggs at the Queen's carriage and a bomb exploded. The person responsible for the explosion was John Bernard Jenkis, a Welsh nationalist and member of the British Army. He was arrested later that year. Jenkis died on December 17, 2020.
Camilla Shand, better known to the public as Parker Bowles, met Charles in the summer of 1971. The two quickly found a common language, and their friendly relationship turned romantic the very next year. The heir to the throne floated plans to propose to Camilla (then a spinster), but fear of his family's disapproval of the relationship dissuaded him. At the end of 1972, the couple broke up, and the prince's former sweetheart married Andrew Parker Bowles, an officer in the British Army, the following year.
The relationship was renewed six years later, and the affair continued until Charles' wedding to Diana Spencer in 1981.
Initially, it was not Lady Di who was to become a duchess, as Charles was dating her sister, Sarah. He met Diana by chance when he visited his fiancée at the family home. Fascinated by a girl 13 years younger than himself, he decided to continue his acquaintance with her, and already during their second meeting in 1980 he started a relationship with her.
On February 6, 1981, at Windsor Castle, the future King of Great Britain proposed to Diana, and already on July 29, 1981, at St. Paul's Cathedral in London, the couple married. There has been no shortage of claims that the marriage to Diana was a choice dictated by reason, rather than the feelings that had always been attached to Camilla since the early 1970s. It is difficult to argue with this claim, for as early as 1983, Charles and Camilla renewed their romantic relationship.
The couple had two sons: Wilhelm (born June 21, 1982) and Henry (born September 15, 1984). The family idyll did not last long. A very young Diana (she was only 20 years old at the time of her marriage) was mentally unable to cope with the situation she found herself in, especially since she could not enjoy the devotion and support of her husband, who returned to the love of his life, Kamila, after two years of marriage.
Over the next few years, disagreements and resentments between the spouses deepened, and Diana also began to seek comfort in the arms of other men. The situation was further aggravated by scandals such as Camillagate (also called Tampongate by some), when recordings of telephone conversations between lovers with rather intimate and explicit content came to light in 1993. That same year, the book Diana: Her True Story - In Her Own Words by Andrew Morton, in which Lady Di described the behind-the-scenes relationship with the heir to the British throne, casting him in a very unfavorable light.
The separation of the couple was announced on December 9, 1992. It was an extremely unfavorable year in the history of the British monarchy, also called annus horribilis by the Queen herself, because the separations occurred in two other royal families - the siblings Charles, Anne and Andrew.
On August 28, 1996, Charles and Diana's marriage officially ended. However, Charles had no official relationship with Camilla, who had been divorced since 1995.
The first time they appeared together with the monarchy was in Scotland in 2000. Five years later, the couple's engagement was announced, and the civil wedding took place on April 9 of that year. The ceremony was not attended by the Queen and her husband, who only joined the rest of the family for the service in the chapel at Windsor Castle. The wedding was a private ceremony attended by about 30 guests. It was decided to broadcast only a 45-minute service after the wedding.
The couple spent their honeymoon in Scotland. At the time of their marriage, Charles was 57 and Camilla was 58.
As early as the 1970s, Charles became interested in ecology and environmental protection. He gave his first speech in Wales at the age of 21. In the years that followed, he began to incorporate more and more activities related to caring for the planet into his daily life.
He created gardens and engaged in gardening. He spoke openly about talking to plants. He used biofuel in his car. He also reduced his meat consumption, and after he became king, reports surfaced in the media that he wanted to hire a chef to specialize in vegan dishes at Buckingham Palace.
As a member of the royal family, Charles should be characterized by impartiality and not influence political decisions. In 2015, he surged as strong as his affair with Camilla, a scandal involving him. After a 10-year legal battle, a British daily newspaper, The Guardian, was able to publish the contents of letters that the then heir to the throne exchanged between 2004 and 2005 with the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and ministers.
The correspondence exchanged between the palace and the Cabinet was given its name - Letters of the Black Spider. The name comes not from the name given to itself, but from the character of Charles's writing. In his correspondence (27 letters in total), the then prince tried to lobby certain ideas, among others, related to the protection of the environment.
Charles was a lover of fox hunting, which was banned in the Isles in 2004. One issue Charles tried to lobby Tony Blair on in private correspondence was the lifting of the ban. Today, the king is an opponent of such activities, which have long been a form of entertainment in royal houses.
Over the years of his life, various institutions were established, such as the Prince of Wales Charitable Fund, which did not escape problems when it was revealed in 2013 that the fund had accepted a donation from Osama Bin Laden's half-brothers. The Prince's spokesman said the decision to accept the donation was made by members of the board, which did not save Charles from media interest in the matter.
In 1976, Charles founded the Prince's Trust to help unemployed Britons find work.
In 1990, Charles founded Duchy Originals Limited (now known as Waitrose Duchy Organic). The first product under the brand name was launched in 1992, and today Waitrose Duchy Organic products are sold in the Waitrose chain of stores.
He was expected to earn £2 million from the sale of his paintings. However, the profit from the sale did not go to the current king's private account, but to support his charitable work.
At the end of 2021, 79 watercolors by Charles were exhibited at the Garrison Chapel in Chelsea, London. It was the largest exhibition of his work to date.
Thanks to this, Charles developed an interest in this discipline and began to participate in competitions.
Charles's other sporting activities include cricket, skiing and surfing.
This information was made public on March 25, 2020. The then prince passed the disease easily and worked from home until his recovery. Due to the numerous social gatherings prior to the illness, it was not determined who Charles contracted the disease from.
On the side of son William are: George (born July 22, 2013), Caroline (born May 2, 2015) and Louis (born April 23, 2018), and on son Henry's side: Archie (born May 6, 2019) and Lilibet (born June 4, 2021).
Contact with grandchildren on the younger son's side is difficult for the monarch due to Prince Harry's resignation from his duties to the Crown, his move to the United States and the growing conflict within the family, caused by mutual accusations between Harry and the rest of the family.
On November 12, 2019, Charles published his first post on the Instagram platform. The profile is run under the name of Clarence House, the royal residence where Charles lives with his wife.
The post was about Charles's visit to India, and he posed for a photo with Camilla. Currently, the profile is not updated, all Instagram content related to Charles III is published under the @theroyalfamily profile.
In 1989, he published the book: A Vision of Britain: A Personal View of Architecture, in the pages of which he included his personal views and thoughts on the architecture of Britain. He has also written articles in professional journals such as The Architectural Review, which published his design concepts on December 20, 2014.
