Born to be King

A FUTURE MONARCH'S TALE | WE TAKE A LOOK BACK AT THE EVENTFUL LIFE OF BRITAIN'S LONGEST SERVING HEIR-APPARENT ON THE EVE OF HIS MILESTONE CORONATION

King Charles III, the 62nd British monarch to serve over the past 1,200 years, ascended to the throne on September 8, 2022, following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. At age 73, he was officially proclaimed king two days later at a ceremony at St. James's Palace near Buckingham Palace, making him the oldest person to assume the title...

Prince Charles Philip Arthur George was born at Buckingham Palace on November 14th 1948 while his nervous father the Duke of Edinburgh played a game of squash! He was the first child of then-Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip and grandson of King George VI.

On August 15th, 1950, his sister Princess Anne was born. Then on February 6th, 1952 King George VI died, making Prince Charles’s mother Queen and he heir to the throne at three years and three months.

Prince Charles became the first child in British history to witness their mother’s coronation as sovereign when he attended Queen Elizabeth II’s 1953 ceremony at the age of just four.

The heir to the throne watched the proceedings seated between his widowed grandmother, the Queen Mother, and his aunt, Princess Margaret, looking down on the spectacle from the Royal Box.

He frequently tugged at the Queen Mother’s glove with excitement but was also pictured looking bored at times, resting his head on his hand during the three-hour deeply religious proceedings.

He would later tell his biographer Jonathan Dimbleby he had vague recollections of glorious music and coronets being doffed in unison, but his overriding memory of the Coronation was how the Palace barber cut his hair too short and plastered it down with the “most appalling gunge.”

Princess Anne stayed at home because she was considered too young but she later joined the Royal Family on the Buckingham Palace balcony.