Charles Philip Arthur George was born at Buckingham Palace on 14 November 1948, the eldest son and heir to Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth II) and Philip, duke of Edinburgh.
Created prince of Wales and earl of Chester by the queen when he was nine, he was shy, physically awkward and intense. He also reverted to Hanoverian type by having fraught relations with his father. His schooling at the famously spartan Gordonstoun – Philip's old school – was a torment. He was happier at Trinity College, Cambridge from which he graduated with a respectable 2.2 degree in history in 1970.
But before that, he had spent a term at the University College of Wales at Aberystwyth to acquire some Welsh. He was then invested as prince of Wales at Caernarfon Castle in July 1969, in a curiously confected ceremony that, for the first (and last) time, was choreographed specifically for television by his uncle, the photographer Lord Snowdon.
During his second year at Cambridge, Charles had received flying instruction from the RAF, in preparation for training as a jet pilot at RAF Cramwell. He completed this in September 1971 and then embarked on a naval career. This lasted for five years, before royal duties made it impossible for him to continue.
He now began his quest for a wife, bearing in mind the advice of his great-uncle Lord Louis Mountbatten:
In a case like yours, the man should sow his wild oats and have as many affairs as he can before settling down, but for a wife, he should choose a suitable, attractive and sweet-charactered girl before she has met anyone else she might fall for ...
The search proved protracted, and it was not until 29 July 1981 that the 32-year-old prince and the 19-year-old Lady Diana Spencer were married at St Paul's Cathedral in London. It had been almost 500 years since a prince of Wales had been married there, when Prince Arthur married Catherine of Aragon. Both weddings had been overhyped and overblown and both led to disaster: the former to the Reformation; the latter to a scandal that shook the House of Windsor to its foundations.
By the time Charles and Diana's two sons were born – William in 1982 and Harry two years later – their marriage was virtually over. Charles took up again with the true love of his life Camilla Parker Bowles, while Diana had a number of short-lived affairs. As rumours began to circulate, it was Charles and Diana themselves who went public with their rival versions of the failure of the marriage, first in books and then on television.
In December 1992, the prime minister John Major announced in Parliament that the prince and princess of Wales had agreed to separate. Four years later, on 28 August 1996, the marriage formally ended in divorce. When Diana died in a car crash in Paris almost exactly a year later, Charles overruled palace protocol and took charge of the arrangements to convey her body back to Britain and ensured that she got a formal royal funeral.
On 9 April 2005, Charles married his long-term mistress Camilla. The queen was detached, if not actually disapproving, for the marriage broke every rule in the Windsor book. In 1936, the taint of the divorces of his wife-to-be had forced the abdication of a king-emperor. In 2005, both parties were divorced and both had been openly adulterous, but they got away with it. Was it a betrayal of the fundamental principles of the 'family monarchy' or a long-overdue recognition of changing times and values?
The ceremony, at Windsor rather than Westminster Abbey or St Paul's, also marked a return to the semi-private nuptials of earlier monarchs. The Church of England, unlike the prince, hadn't changed its mind on the remarriage of divorcées, so the wedding had to be a civil ceremony before a registrar. It was the humblest location for a royal wedding since the clandestine marriage of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville in 1464, which led to the fall of the House of York.
All of the prince's private and most of his official and charitable activities are funded by his annual private income from the Duchy of Cornwall estate. Since it was established in 1337 by Edward III for his eldest son, the duchy's main purpose has been to provide an income for the heir to the throne. Today, it comprises about 54,648 hectares, mostly in the south-west of England, and includes agricultural, residential and commercial property holdings. It also has a financial investment portfolio.
While he may have had a difficult relationship with his father, Charles has inherited Philip's radicalism, energy and intense practicality, which can turn dreams into realities and high-flown environmentalism into the highly profitable Duchy Originals, his organic food line. All this has made Charles the most effective prince of Wales ever, having founded more charitable and educational bodies – for instance, the Prince's Trust – and contributed more seriously to public debate than any of his predecessors.
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 The Prince of Wales
www.princeofwales.gov.uk
Charles' own website, with information on his charities, interests and other activities.
Heroes of the Environment: Prince Charles
www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/
0,28804,1663317_1663319_1669898,00.html
Article from Time magazine that highlights one of the prince of Wales' great interests.
Freud would recognise this family
www.nytimes.com/2005/02/27/weekinreview/
27lyall.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Thought-provoking column by New York Times journalist Sarah Lyall, written as Charles and Camilla's wedding approached.
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The Prince of Wales: A biography by Jonathan Dimbleby (Time Warner, new ed. 1995)
This is based on extensive interviews with the prince, in which he admits having been unfaithful to Diana, but only after the marriage had broken down.
Get this book
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The Firm: The troubled life of the House of Windsor by Penny Junor (HarperCollins, new ed. 2006)
Taking its title from the term invented by Prince Philip for the royal family, this book questions what monarchy is for and asks if Prince Charles has sacrificed the throne for love.
Get this book
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 Highgrove House
Doughton
Tetbury
Gloucestershire GL8 8TN
Website: www.princeofwales.gov.uk/ personalprofiles/ residences/highgrove/
The Duchy of Cornwall bought the late 18th-century Highgrove House in 1980 as the country residence for the prince of Wales, who has overseen its transformation into a model of ecological management. Its organic waste is dealt with by a reed bed, all vegetable waste is composted, all bottles, cans and paper are recycled. Groups can tour the gardens from April to October, but there is a three-year waiting list and they can visit only once.
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