Charles III of the United Kingdom

Charles III
King of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth Realms Canada 1951-1985 Australia 1951-1985 New Zealand 1951-1985 Jamaica 1962-1985 Barbados 1966-1985 The Bahamas 1973-1985 Grenada 1974-1985 Papua New Guinea 1975-1985 Puerto Rico 1977-1985 Solomon Islands 1978-1985 Tuvalu 1978-1985 St. Lucia 1979-1985 St. Vincent and the Grenadines 1979-1985 Belize 1981-1985 Antigua and Barbuda 1981-1985 St. Kitts and Nevis 1983-1985 Mauritius 1968-1985 Fiji 1970-1985 Pakistan 1952-1956 South Africa 1952-1961 Ceylon 1952-1972 Ghana 1957-1960 Nigeria 1960-1963 Sierra Leone 1961-1971 Tanganyika 1961-1962 Trinidad and Tobago 1962-1976 Uganda 1962-1963 Kenya 1963-1964 Malawi 1964-1966 Malta 1964-1974 The Gambia 1965-1970 Guyana 1966-1970
Reign	7 July, 1951 - 15 January, 1997
Coronation	25 October, 1951
Predecessor	Edward VII
Successor	William VI
Born	Charles Frederick William Louis (1917-01-15)15 January 1917 Haga Palace, Sweden
Died	2 March 2011(2011-03-02) (aged 94) Edinburgh Palace, Scotland
Burial	5 March 2011 Westminster Abbey, London
Spouse	Lauren Bacall (m. 1947)
Issue Detail	William VI William, Duke of Clarence and St Andrews Catherine, Crown Princess of Norway Alexandra, Duchess of Albany
Full name Charles Frederick William Louis
House	Hanover
Father	Edward VII
Mother	Victoria Louise of Prussia
Religion	Protestant

Charles III (Charles Frederick William Louis; 15 January, 1917 - 3 March, 2011) was King of the United Kingdom from 1951 to 1997. Known for his controversial marriage to the Jewish American actress Lauren Bacall, his somewhat outspoken support for decolonisation, political and social liberalism, and his personal opposition against what he termed as American necolonialism, his reign, which spanned throughout most of the second half of the 20th century saw a series of wide-ranging and dramatic reforms that effectively transformed Britain's political and social climate, all of which were personally directed or orchestrated by himself or his wife.

On January 15, 1997, following his 80th birthday, Charles formally abdicated his throne in favour of his son William VI on the grounds of "ill health" and "personal issues", becoming the first British monarch to do so. With both government and public approval, Charles was allowed to retain his title of King which lasted until his death in 2011. Following his death, he was posthumously given the epithet the Great, the second and first monarch in both English and British histories to be bestowed with the epithet, after his 9th century predecessor, Alfred the Great.

Early Life

Charles was born on the 15th of January, 1917 to the then Edward, Prince of Wales and German princess Victoria Louise. A member of the ruling House of Hanover of the United Kingdom, he was also a prince of both Britain and Germany by virtue of both his patrilineal descent from George V of the United Kingdom and German Emperor Frederick III and alternatively, his matrilineal descent from the last German Emperor Wilhelm II. However, as a result of the Royal Titles Revocation Act 1924 in the aftermath of the First World War, Charles's German titles were accordingly deprived by his father's verdict as to placate British nationalist sentiments. While his given name had been of his father's choice, his middlenames and surname however had been that of his mother's, whom had based the names off her Prussian ancestors, German Emperors Frederick III (whose first two names from which it was derived) and Wilhelm I (whose surname Charles's own surname had been derived from).

In 1913, Charles's parents had chose to reluctantly move into exile in Sweden, a neutral country as a consequence of heightening tensions between the major superpowers of Europe which had produced a World War. Thus, he was born in the Swedish royal residence of Haga Palace in the presence of the Swedish royal family. Despite his foreign background, Charles was warmly received by the family of King Gustaf V who took an instant liking to the princely family, and were quick to assist them in the young Charles's upbringing.

In his early years, Charles was given a form of private education, with both English and Swedish tutors employed to educate him and later his brother in the general subjects. Having been brought up in a mixed cultural environment, the young prince was able to become gradually fluent in both his mother language and the Swedish language itself, evidenced by his fluent daily conversations with the Swedish royal family in their native language. Charles was also said to had been particularly close to that of the king's granddaughter Ingrid whom, as a result of being seven years his senior was often considered as his "sister figure" as Ingrid herself had actively supported Charles in his upbringing, resulting in a close bond and even possible rumours of marriage once Charles himself had came of age, though this was never realised.

Prince of Wales

At the age of six, upon the passing of his grandfather George V, a seven-year old Charles was formally proclaimed as Prince of Wales and heir apparent to his father Edward VII. Despite being mostly confined to the interior of Buckingham Palace alongside his brother William, Charles's development as a young prince was relatively undeterred. While the young prince excelled in his academic subjects, Charles also proved to be adept in horseback riding, and was considerably versed in the arts of hunting, having at times accompanied his father on private hunting trips in both the United Kingdom and Canada on several occasions.

Upon reaching the age of majority, Charles chose to pursue a career in the British Army, much to the subtle disapproval of his pacifist-minded father. However, Britain's financial situation at the time dimmed prospects of the prince in ever seeing military action. Nevertheless, he was made a Counsellor of State and was subsequently tasked with several state visits to the Commonwealth realms and British-allied countries. In the following July, Charles performed his first state visit to Iran under Reza Shah of the Pahlavi dynasty. Having said to had enjoyed a warm friendship with the Shah, he soon followed up with a visit to Kabul in Afghanistan, where he met the young Afghan king Mohammed Zahir Shah. A planned follow-up visit to British India however was unexpectedly dropped following rumours of Charles's alleged sympathy with the Indian masses.

Life in the United States

In early 1938, hoping to escape the distressing anti-German sentiment back home, Charles voluntarily withdrew incognito to the United States, which he entered via Canada alongside a few trusted escorts of his own. Though the situation, in terms of anti-German sentiment proved somewhat indifferent, Charles, who had been travelling under the alias of "Robert Clarke" chose to acquire a residence of his own in the north-eastern state of New York. At the same time, he unexpectedly chose to take up acting instead as a means of making additional money. To that end, he took lessons at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, to which he considerably excelled in his lessons despite his distinctive accent, before gradually establishing himself as a rising actor in the Hollywood scene. As an actor, he was recognised for his distinguished "upper-class" persona and his unique Anglo-German accent.

In 1941, Charles received the news of his brother, the Duke of Edinburgh whom had been killed in service during a naval confrontation in the Denmark Strait. This incident would ultimately prevent Charles from ever enlisting for the Second World War, as he was required to live in order to properly succeed his father Edward VII. However, throughout the duration of the war, Edward himself was active in the Allied propaganda effort, often meeting with exiled leaders from the Allied countries alongside periodic discussion with United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Following the success of the Normandy landings, he was made a Field Marshal by the British government for his wartime contribution.

In 1943, having built a relatively modest acting career of his own, the prince came into contact with a new and upcoming actress, Lauren Bacall. Due to the glaring difference in their social classes, the two began a private off-screen relationship until it was formalised into a marriage three years later when Charles's father granted his consent for the union amidst much controversy and mixed reactions from Parliament MP's, with even Bacall herself expressing initial skepticism and concern over the royal German background of Charles's mother and her future duties and responsibilities as queen consort. Regardless, in 1949, the couple departed back for Britain onboard the royal yacht, HMS Sophia.

King of the United Kingdom

Despite their return to the United Kingdom, it was at first deemed unlikely for Charles to succeed his father in the vicinity though at times, he would occasionally serve as a stand-in for the latter at public events. However, following a hunting incident which left the King with minor and non-worrisome injuries, Charles began to take up his role as Prince of Wales more frequently, with himself taking a more active role in further strengthening the Commonwealth of Nations with several visits to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the Caribbean states including Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and The Bahamas. Exactly two months before his ascension to the throne, Charles and his wife hosted a visit to India, where they exchanged brief and friendly dialogues with the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, whom Charles greatly admired due to his previous sympathies with Nehru's cause.

On the afternoon of July 7th 1951, King Edward VII died in his sleep. The princely couple, who were in the midst of a hunting trip at the Scottish Highlands were then promptly informed of the king's death, leading to its immediate cancellation followed by a return back to Edinburgh Palace before departing for London onboard the Royal Train. When asked by his private secretary Lord Davies regarding his regnal name, Charles immediately told the former that he would be using his own given name which, when relayed to the government officials and ultimately to the public incurred a degree of controversy, largely due to the name's association with its two previous holders. In response, just a few hours after his arrival in Buckingham Palace, Charles publicly declared in a televised speech his right to choose his own regnal name and his own contrasting image to the two previous holders, "I am neither an enemy to my own country like the first, and neither I am a philanderer like the second".

On October 25th 1951, Charles's coronation was held at the traditional site of Westminster Abbey. The ceremony, which saw the expected amount of various foreign dignitaries of multiple backgrounds was also the first to be televised by Charles's strict insistence though with the exception of the anointing and the communion processes. During the coronation's rehearsal however, upon discovering from the list of attendees that his mother-in-law Natalie Bacall was to be excluded from the list as to not upstage the ceremony due to the former's commoner status led a reportedly outraged Charles to successfully pressure the then Duke of Norfolk, who simultaneously holds the position of Earl Marshal into whitelisting Bacall's mother instead. The former was later granted her own permanent residence in Buckingham Palace by Charles's own courtesy, where she remained until her death in 1972.

Reign

Following his ascension as King, Charles was simultaneously the ceremonial head of the United Kingdom and various other member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, which had arose from the gradual decolonisation process undertook by the British government. In 1952, Charles resumed his Commonwealth-oriented tour by hosting state visits to Pakistan, South Africa, Nigeria, and several other African countries with the likes of Sudan and Tanganyika. He also paid brief visits to Malaya, the island city of Singapore, and Brunei, becoming the second British monarch to do so after his great-grandfather, King William V who had first visited the peninsula in 1875 by the invitation of the Sultan of Johor whom later became a close friend of the former. During his visit to the peninsula, he held several exclusive and private dialogue sessions with local nationalist leaders, and purportedly escaped at least two assassination attempts by radical dissenters. On June that year, in the midst of their Commonwealth tour, the royal couple was exclusively hosted by President Harry S. Truman at the newly reconstructed White House in a lavish ceremony. The couple later retreated to their New York residence where they spent approximately three days before resuming their tour, and proceeding to Canada afterwards for convenience.

In light of the revolution which overthrew the Egyptian King Farouk, Charles, on the advice of the then Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden initially offered asylum to the former Egyptian monarch in Buckingham Palace, under the premise of a possible restoration of the latter to the throne. However, Charles himself was reportedly reluctant, albeit partially towards such a decision over his concern for Farouk's known promiscuity. Nevertheless, despite a previously warm acceptance of the former king, Farouk himself was promptly evicted from the palace just three days later by the insistence of Queen Lauren who reportedly found the former king a "strikingly repulsive, dangerous and unruly" person. When Farouk later passed away almost a decade later in 1965 while staying at his own residence in England, Charles himself was said to had immediately abstained and to an extent, drastically forbade his own family members from attending the former king's funeral, with his wife Lauren herself having reportedly said, "he [King Farouk] deserves no rights to our sympathy".

In 1956, a tripartite invasion by Britain, France and Israel sought to topple popular Egyptian leader, Gamal Abdel Nasser under the pretext of Nasser's seizure of the Suez Canal held by the British and French governments. Despite Eden's claim that the King had been "considerably" in favour of the invasion, it was later revealed that the latter had instead been partially critical of the decision due to his prior lack of knowledge regarding the invasion itself and his own opposition to what he saw as a "preservation of imperialism", though Charles himself reportedly chose to concede as to not cause a dangerous division between the monarchy and government.

Relations with left-wing leaders

As King of the United Kingdom, one of Charles's main obligations was hosting various state visits from foreign leaders and at the same time, Charles himself would undertake his own series of state visits to other countries aswell, with the most notable ones being that of his Commonwealth tour.

Nevertheless, Charles would occasionally face intense scrutiny following his mostly private meetings with foreign leaders, particularly those of the left-wing political spectrum, with one particular example being that of his private meeting with Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro in Canada, which took place shortly after the latter had assumed power in Cuba. Reportedly, while Charles had commended Castro's anti-imperialist rhetoric, he urged however for the Cuban strongman to "democratise" his approach in the fallout of his successful coup, though this was never realised. Moreover, his working relationship with the ideologically socialist Prime Minister Harold Wilson, whom Charles once referred to as "my greatest right hand man" brought much ire and skepticism, mostly from Conservative politicians egged on by the then ongoing Cold War conflict.

Marriage

In contrast to his father Edward, following the death of his great-grandfather William V, Charles's future marital prospects were left entirely to the judgement of his own parents whom, due to the complications surrounding the aftermath of the First World War desired for the young Charles to be married off to a Scandinavian princess instead as to exhibit a more neutral image surrounding the future king.

Initially, such prospects were deemed likely following rumours of a possible engagement between Charles and the much older Princess Ingrid whom, following the death of her mother Princess Margaret when she was only ten years old was adopted by the princely couple through a private arrangement with Ingrid's father Prince Gustaf Adolf and was entrusted in looking after the young Charles and his brother William who were in turn taught with a strong sense of self-discipline and various household skills by Ingrid herself. Consequently, Charles himself proved quick to grow fond of the Swedish princess whom he generally came to saw as his principal sister figure, as he would often spend much of his daily time with the latter while occasionally seeking assistance from the much older Ingrid regarding household chores and at times, his daily loads of homework given to him by his private tutors.

In 1921, when his parents obligingly returned to the United Kingdom as a result of his grandfather George V's death, Charles, now the Prince of Wales was said to had been immensely overjoyed upon learning that Ingrid, with her grandfather's permission was allowed to accompany him, a decision supported by Charles's own parents who both saw the princess as an vital companion of the young Prince of Wales. Thus, throughout the succeeding years until Ingrid's own marriage to Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark in 1935, both Charles and Ingrid continued to grow up together at the royal family's primary residence of Buckingham Palace. When Ingrid herself turned eighteen years old, an adolescent Charles was often seen accompanying the princess on her usual drive around London, where the two would occasionally stop at the local shops to run their respective errands. Occasionally, Charles and Ingrid would also compete against each other in various sports, with tennis in particular being a favourite of the two.

Reportedly, around a year prior to Ingrid's marriage to Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark, both Charles and Ingrid were said to had unanimously brushed off proposals of a marriage between them, stating that the two felt more like "a brother and a sister, rather than a husband and a wife". Ultimately, for reasons most likely due to Ingrid's own departure, aside from the rampant Germanophobia at the time compelled a twenty-one year old Charles to secrelty withdraw to the United States with a small entourage, after having decided against initially exiling himself to Denmark instead as to not burden his adoptive sister.

Following his retreat to the United States, Charles did not initially chose on immediately seeking a love interest of his own, having instead chosen on building an acting career under the guise of his pseudonym. While posing as a British-American actor under the alias of Robert Clarke, he met and subsequently fell in love with an upcoming actress, namely Lauren Bacall whom prior to their relationship had starred together with the prince in several films of considerable success, some of which were directed by Charles himself under his pseudonym. The two's off-screen relationship gradually amassed attention from the American media and was consistently compared to that of Charles's own cousin's relationship with fellow Jewish American actress Hedy Lamarr. At the same time, Bacall herself moved in together with the prince at the latter's estate in New York, which had been built years prior with financing from both of Charles's earnings in the United States and royal funds shipped from London.

In late 1945, Charles personally telegraphed his father Edward for the latter's permission to marry Bacall, in which he wrote: "For Ingrid is my beloved sister, and this woman is my dearest wife". While the king and queen unanimously chose not to oppose their son's decision out of fear of disappointing the latter, prospects of the prince's marriage with an American commoner however became the subject of a heated debate among Parliament members, with several of them arguing that such a marriage would be "wholly unacceptable" to the British public, then compounded by anti-British riots led by Zionist militias in Mandatory Palestine.

Consequently, a private emissary was sent to New York by the British Foreign Secretary in order to convince the couple to abandon any pretext of a marriage, while citing "irreconcilable differences" as a cover-up. However, neither side were able to reach a common agreement, with Charles himself adamantly refusing to give up his romantic interest and concede to the proposed alternatives. In an immediate follow-up to the event, Charles and Bacall then promptly embarked on a four country trip to the four Dominion countries, namely Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa where the approval of their respective Prime Ministers' were fundamental in securing legitimacy for Charles's proposed marriage. Ultimately, all four of the Prime Ministers that the royal couple personally sought for approval from agreed to support their marriage, with the New Zealand Prime Minister Peter Fraser being the last to do so due to his country being the most distant from the United Kingdom.

In light of Churchill's electoral defeat that year, the succeeding Prime Minister Clement Attlee promptly declared his support for the marriage while arguing that Bacall's status as a non-divorcee would not conflict with the Church's laws though he admitted that the latter's Jewish faith was "politically compromising". Unfounded rumours of Bacall allegedly serving as a spy for Zionist militant groups in Mandatory Palestine were also disproven and rebuked by Charles himself. A private meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury in September that year ultimately confirmed the Church's support for the union which led to an engagement in February 1946, while the couple was advised to wait for at least a year until a formal marriage.

In the months leading up to their marriage, by King Edward VII's advice, the couple embarked on a series of international tours meant to better their image among both the British and global populace. Beginning with a state visit to Turkey where the couple briefly discussed with Turkish President İsmet İnönü regarding the Soviet threat, the two furthered their visit to British-occupied Iraq before travelling next to Kuwait. The couple then departed from Kuwait for a five months long tour comprising Australia, New Zealand, and the Oceanian island countries, where they were said to had enjoyed immense popularity among the locals. Before returning back to the United States, the couple briefly visited Charles's family in London though the meeting was closely guarded due to public disaffection against the Princess of Wales in particular. In a followup to the tense meeting, the couple also paid an unscheduled visit to Denmark, which was done so by Charles's own insistence in surprising his longtime adopted sister, the then Crown Princess Ingrid of Denmark.

On March 1947, the couple were married at an Anglican ceremony which was attended by several government officials which included that of the United States led by President Truman and of the United Kingdom which included several senior members of the British royal family, led by the Duke of Southampton, then also a resident of the United States. The then incumbent Prime Minister Clement Attlee whom had been unable to attend the event was instead represented by Ernest Bevin, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. The newlywed couple then held a state tour in the immediate aftermath of their marriage ceremony, where they were joined by President Truman and the First Lady. Upon concluding a follow-up state dinner at the White House, the royal couple was initially coerced into returning back to Britain as to accustom themselves, particularly that of Bacall's to their later life in the country. Nevertheless, the couple chose to remain at their New York residence until 1950 though this was mixed with periodical visits to the United Kingdom itself.

Titles & Honours

• 15 January 1917 - 5 January 1923 His Royal Highness Prince Charles of Cambridge
• 5 January 1923 - 7 July 1951 His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales
• 7 July 1951 - 3 March 2011 His Majesty The King

Ancestry

Ancestors of Charles III of the United Kingdom

8. William V of the United Kingdom 4. George V of the United Kingdom 9. Charlotte of Belgium 2. Edward VII of the United Kingdom 10. Frederick III, German Emperor 5. Sophia of Prussia 11. Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom 1. Charles III of the United Kingdom 12. Frederick III, German Emperor 6. Wilhelm II, German Emperor 13. Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom 3. Victoria Louise of Prussia 14. Frederick VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein 7. Princess Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg 15. Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg