The longest reigning crown prince in world history - Charles III

Charles III , full name Charles Philip Arthur George , the current UK and other Commonwealth of Kingdom kings . He is the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. On September 8, 2022, Queen Elizabeth II passed away, and Charles III, 73, succeeded his mother's throne as the new British monarch. He was the oldest monarch in British history to ascend the throne. Before ascending the throne, he was the longest-reigning crown prince in world history (February 1952-September 2022), then known as Charles, Prince of Wales, or Prince Charles.

The early life of Charles III in 2021

Charles was born on November 14, 1948, 9:14pm at Buckingham Palace, London, as Prince Charles of Edinburgh. After his mother succeeded to the British throne in 1952, he automatically became Duke of Cornwall. This title has been bestowed on the eldest son of successive British monarchs since King Edward III of England. And Charles was immediately awarded a series of traditional Scottish noble titles, such as the Duke of Rothesay and the Earl of Carrick.

Prince Charles with parents and sister Princess Anne, photographed in 1957

The career of the crown prince

As early as 1958, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom issued an edict that Charles was named Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester. However, the official canonization ceremony was not held until July 1, 1969, at the place where the canonization ceremony was held since the 13th century, Canaven Castle in North Wales. To celebrate the canonisation, Swansea, a harbour in the south of Wales, was granted city status by the Queen. Charles then attended Gordonston School in Scotland and Trinity College, Cambridge University. During the period, I also went to an outdoor learning center of in Australia for a semester. It is worth mentioning that Charles is the first Prince of Wales in British history to speak Welsh. To this end, he deliberately enrolled at the University of Wales. While the move boosted Charles' popularity in Wales, his canonization was threatened by attacks from Welsh nationalist armed groups. In the late 1970s, the then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, James Callahan, invited Prince Charles to a cabinet meeting to give him an idea of ​​how the government cabinet works. Charles is the first member of the royal family to participate in a cabinet meeting after King George I of England.

​​In 1970, Prince Charles, then Prince of Wales, met Richard Nixon in the Oval Office of the White House on a state visit to the United States In the footsteps of the Royal Navy at in service. At Cambridge University, he applied for and received training with the Royal Air Force, learning to fly the Chipmunk in the Cambridge University Air Force Squadron. On March 8, 1971, he personally flew to Cranwell RAF Academy to receive jet pilot training. [13] After graduating from the RAF in September of that year, he embarked on a naval career and attended a six-week course at the Royal Naval Academy, Dartmouth.

He then served on the guided missile destroyer HMS Norfolk and the frigate HMS Minerva and HMS Jupiter. He qualified as a helicopter pilot in 1974 and then joined the 845th Naval Air Squadron, operating at HMS Hermes. In 1994, a BAe 146 he was driving crashed at Islay . After that, he gave up flying. On February 9, 1976, Charles commanded the Coastal Minehunter during her final 10 months of active duty with the Navy.

Duties Editor

As Prince of Wales, he often performs duties in place of the Queen. For example, presiding over the ceremony of awarding honors or appointments, attending the funeral of foreign heads of state, etc. In addition, Charles III regularly visited and toured Wales. The Daily Telegraph described Charles III as "the hardest working royal" because he performed thousands of official duties in 2008, 2010 and 2011. Charles III has visited the Republic of Ireland, Hong Kong, Bermuda, Bahamas, the United States, and more than 50 countries.

In 1983, Christopher John Lewis, who tried to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II in 1981, escaped from a mental hospital and attempted to assassinate Charles and Princess Diana and their child - William . On Australia Day, January 1994, when Charles visited Australia, David Scone shot Charles with a starting gun to protest the treatment of hundreds of Cambodian asylum seekers held in Australian detention camps. In 1997, Charles attended the handover ceremony of Hong Kong sovereignty as the Queen's representative. In 2000, Charles resumed the tradition of the Prince of Wales having an official harpist to cultivate the Welsh's talent in the harp, the national instrument of Wales. He and The Duchess of Cornwall also spend a week a year at Scotland where he is a patron of several Scottish organisations. His service to the Canadian Armed Forces allows him to understand the activities of the troops and allows him to visit these troops in Canada or overseas for ceremonies. For example, in 2001 he placed a specially commissioned wreath from plants taken from French battlefields at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Canada, and in 1981 he became a patron of the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. In 2005, at the funeral of Pope John Paul II, Charles inadvertently caused controversy when he shook hands with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who was sitting next to him. A statement from Charles' office later said: "The Prince of Wales cannot avoid shaking hands with Mr Mugabe. The Prince considers the current regime in Zimbabwe abhorrent and supports the Zimbabwe Defence and Aid Fund, which operates with those oppressed by the regime. 2001 In November 2008, Charles was hit in the face with three red carnations by the teenager Alina Lebedeva during an official visit to Latvia.

Charles was criticized for his repeated political interference.20From 2004 to 2005, Charles wrote a number of personal letters to the Tony Blair government, in which he expressed his views on a number of public issues such as military, agricultural, environmental and health policy. In 2022, Charles privately expressed his dissatisfaction with the Rwandan asylum plan many times, and he was even warned by the minister of the British cabinet.

Portrait of Charles III as a young man, 1974 by Alan Warren

Conjectures about his succession to the throne

Charles had been crown prince for seventy years before he ascended the throne. On May 8, 2022, Charles surpassed Prince Franz I of Liechtenstein to become the world's longest-awaited crown prince. Throughout his seven decades as crown prince, there has been a lot of speculation about his succession.

There were rumors that Charles did not like the title of "Charles III", because it was easy to cause people's associations with Stuart dynasty Charles I (executed) and Charles II (once exiled). There are rumors that he has considered switching to the "George VII" title in honor of his maternal grandfather, George VI, but he has publicly denied this speculation. It was not until after his ascension that he officially confirmed the use of the name "Charles III" that this rumor was dispelled.

In addition, according to folklore, Queen Elizabeth II was reluctant to abdicate during her lifetime and gave the throne to Prince Charles, because her son divorced Princess Diana, who firmly maintained the reputation and reputation of the British royal family, and married Camilla. In addition, there is another queen who intends to train her eldest grandson, Prince William, as her successor, because William is quite a general, has a leadership temperament and is close to the people. When his big wedding, William also specially arranged for him and his bride Catherine to pay tribute to the cemetery of his late mother Diana . Of course, these are just speculations by the public and the news media. It is also speculated that Queen Elizabeth II and the British royal family no longer choose to abdicate voluntarily because of the farce of Edward VIII's accession and abdication. On April 20, 2018, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting was held, and a statement was issued on the same day, saying that Prince Charles was approved as the next head of the Commonwealth, and the members of the Commonwealth recognized the leadership of the current head of state, Queen Elizabeth II. The statement did not specify when Prince Charles would become head of the Commonwealth.

King's career

At 6:30 pm on September 8, 2022 (UK daylight saving time ), Buckingham Palace announced that Charles' mother, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, had passed away. As usual, the Queen's eldest son, Crown Prince Charles, officially succeeded to the throne as the King of the United Kingdom , and his wife Camilla is queen. Later that day, in an obituary published at the Prime Minister's official residence, Prime Minister Liz Truss issued her title "Charles III" for the first time, officially confirming the name "Charles III"[34]. The next day, Charles III returned to London from Scotland and was greeted warmly by the crowd at Buckingham Palace. On the afternoon of the same day, the King received the Prime Minister for the first time at Buckingham Palace and delivered his first televised speech since his ascension, in which he named his son William Prince of Wales.

is located in St. James' Palace, and the Enthronement Committee, which is composed of confidential members of the British Privy Council, officially announced the succession of Charles III in England at noon on September 10. Similar ceremonies will take place the next day in Scotland, Wales and in Northern Ireland. This ceremony is the first time that , the Privy Council of , has put it on the screen and made public to the media, so that people all over the world can see the working procedures of this ancient and mysterious institution. Charles III's coronation is not expected to take place until several months after his succession.