From the moment he drew his first breath, his fate in life was sealed. Given that he was the first-born child and a boy, Charles Philip Arthur George Mountbatten-Windsor was destined to one day be king.
Just three years old when his grandfather George VI died and his mother Elizabeth II became Queen – and he became heir apparent – it was to be several more years before it sunk in that he would follow in her footsteps to become monarch.
In the arms of his mother.
In an interview when he was 21, the then Prince Charles revealed that as a small boy, he wanted to be a train driver, then a sailor or a soldier, until he realised he didn’t have a choice when it came to his career. “It’s something that dawns on you with the most ghastly, inexorable sense. I didn’t suddenly wake up in my pram one day and say ‘Yippee’, you know.”
Given the title Prince of Wales when he was nine (but not officially invested until he was 21), Charles is the longest-serving heir to the throne. Now he’s King, his image is shaped by the 70 years he spent as an apprentice sovereign. The trials and tribulations of his personal life – from the breakdown of his first marriage to an adored woman whose popularity eclipsed his own and his long-standing affair with the woman who is now his queen, to his fractured relationship with his second son – have led to people forming strong opinions of him.
So, too, has his stance on issues dear to him such as climate change, architecture and immigration. The Monarch is supposed to steer clear of any issues that might be seen as political, which the Queen successfully managed. However, as her heir, Charles had a bit more leeway to champion causes close to his heart and he unabashedly did that.
Charles’ investiture as the Prince of Wales at age 21.
“Charles has activist tendencies,” says royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams, pointing out the controversial “black spider memos” (so called because of Charles’ scrawled handwriting) that he sent in the mid 2000s, lobbying government ministers on subjects like the war in Iraq through to herbal medicines and the need to cull badgers.
While he was criticised for interfering, his aides said all the topics covered were matters that he’d expressed concern about in public and they did not breach political impartiality.
Charles has always been aware that he would have to step back from that kind of advocacy once he was king, and he acknowledged that in his accession speech, given the day after the Queen died.
“My life will of course change as I take up my new responsibilities,” he said. “It will no longer be possible for me to give so much of my time and energies to the charities and issues for which I care so deeply. But I know this important work will go on in the trusted hands of others.”
Stepping out with Camilla in 2004.
Charles now has his work cut out for him when it comes to ensuring the future of the monarchy. A poll carried out last month in the UK showed that support for the institution had dropped to a historic low. A total of 45 percent of respondents said either it should be abolished, was not very important or was not important at all. That’s 10 percent more than a similar poll carried out at the time of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022.
Unlike his mother, who came to the throne at 25 and had decades to stamp her mark on the role, the King knows that, at 74, he doesn’t have the luxury of time.
“Charles III is a king in a hurry,” says biographer Robert Hardman, pointing out that compared to the way his mother eased into her reign, he’s had to move fast. For example, it took Elizabeth II more than a year and a half to make her first overseas trip – the King went to Germany six months after taking the throne.
Watching his mother’s coronation aged four.
The King has stepped into his job with some serious challenges ahead, including the potential break-up of the United Kingdom, the unravelling of the Commonwealth thanks to republican rumblings in many nations and the need to face up to the royal family’s unsavoury history of colonisation.
And when it comes to his family, the estrangement from his son Prince Harry is far from resolved and there’s still the question of what to do about his brother Prince Andrew and his scandals.
Perhaps the most difficult part of his new role is the pot shots fired at him by his youngest son Prince Harry.
While he has already hit the ground running as king, Charles will have to maintain a pretty relentless pace to modernise the monarchy, and make it relevant in this day and age, while not changing it beyond recognition.
“Monarchy is all about continuity and never more so than in a turbulent world,” says Robert. “No one is more conscious of that than the man who served as heir to the throne for longer than anyone in history.”
In a biography written with Charles’ blessing, author Jonathan Dimbleby said, “Prince Charles is far more aware of the prospective burdens of kingship than its pleasures.”
He says Charles told him, “The difficulty is most of the time not feeling that one is worthy of it, inevitably.”
While the King may have some doubts about his suitability for the role he’s had to assume, whether he likes it or not, there has been widespread support for him, including from some rather unlikely sources.
King in a kilt: Charles is often seen in the traditional garment while on the Balmoral estate in Scotland.
In the days leading up to the coronation, Kiwi-born Oscar winner Russell Crowe, 59, spoke out about the King, saying based on the time he met Charles, he thought he was kind, funny, deeply intelligent and “a good bloke”.
“I don’t think any of us can really understand what that life of duty and expectation must feel like. He’s taking over the family business. I don’t really think we need a King, but Charles III will do the very best job he can.”
