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Charles Philip Arthur George (November 14, 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Born in Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, he became heir apparent when his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, acceded to the throne in 1952. He was created Prince of Wales in 1958 and his investiture was held in 1969. Charles was educated at Cheam School and Gordonstoun, and later spent six months at the Timbertop campus of Geelong Grammar School in Victoria, Australia. After completing a history degree from the University of Cambridge, he served in the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy from 1971 to 1976. In 1981, he married Lady Diana Spencer, who had first met when she was only 16 years old in 1977, while he was visiting her home, Althorp. The couple had two sons: William and Harry. Within five years, the marriage was in trouble due to the couple's incompatibility, and Charles had fully resumed his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles in 1986. In 1992, Charles and Diana announced the couple's legal separation in the House of Commons, and divorced four years later, after being advised by the Queen in to end the marriage. They shared custody of their children, until Diana’s death in 1997 from injuries sustained in a fatal car crash in Paris. In 2005, Charles married Camilla Parker Bowles. As heir apparent, Charles undertook official duties and engagements on behalf of his mother. He founded the Prince's Trust in 1976, sponsored the Prince's Charities, and became patron or president of more than 800 other charities and organisations. He advocated for the conservation of historic buildings and the importance of architecture in society. In that vein, he generated the experimental new town of Poundbury. An environmentalist, Charles supported organic farming and action to prevent climate change during his time as the manager of the Duchy of Cornwall estates, earning him awards and recognition as well as criticism; he is also a prominent critic of the adoption of genetically modified food, while his support for alternative medicine has been criticised. He has authored or co-authored 17 books. He became king upon his mother's death in 2022. At the age of 73, he was the oldest person to accede to the British throne, after having been the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales in British history. Significant events in his reign have included his coronation in 2023 and his cancer diagnosis the following year, the latter of which temporarily suspended planned public engagements.
