Thomas, King of the British

Full name
	Thomas William Frederick Francis Albert Charles

Thomas
Thomas
King of the British and of the People of his other Realms
Reign	15 January 1997 - 13 October 2017
Coronation	17 December 1997
Predecessor	Charles III
Successor	Alexandra
Prime Ministers	See list John Major; Tony Blair; Gordon Brown; David Cameron;
Born	17 December 1960 (age 63); Balmoral Castle, Scotland
Spouse	Christy Turlington (m. 1995)
Issue	William Carter; Jacqueline Carter; Queen Alexandra; Prince Richard; Princess Nicole; Princess Elle; Princess Vivian;
Full name
Full name
	Thomas William Frederick Francis Albert Charles
House	Hanover
Father	Charles III
Mother	Lauren Bacall
Religion	Protestant
Military service
Branch/service	Royal Navy;
Years of service	1981-1997 (active service)
Rank	Admiral of the Fleet
Battles/wars	Falklands War; Multinational Force in Lebanon; Gulf War

Thomas (English: Thomas William Frederick Francis Albert Charles; German: Thomas Wilhelm Friedrich Franz Albrecht Carl; born 17 December 1960) was King of the British from 15 January 1997 to 13 October 2017.

A decorated naval aviator with the Royal Navy, Thomas's two-decades-long military career saw him involved in several notable conflicts, namely the Falklands War and the Gulf War in which a US-led coalition successfully repelled Iraqi forces under Saddam Hussein from neighbouring Kuwait. Besides this, under the alias "Charles Lawrence", Thomas also enjoyed a successful acting career in Hollywood, having starred in several critically acclaimed films including Out of Africa, Top Gun, The Untouchables, Batman, Batman Returns, Sleepless in Seattle, Sense and Sensibility, My Best Friend's Wedding, You've Got Mail, and Love Actually. Considered to be one of the greatest British actors of all time, Thomas is the recipient of seven British Academy Film Awards as well as three Academy Awards and Golden Globe Awards each. Since his retirement from acting, Thomas has begun a new career as a filmmaker, having so far directed and produced the critically acclaimed heist thriller The Golden Trail and its follow-up prequel The Founding Trail as well as other films including Don't Look Up and Gran Turismo under the media company Regal Legacy founded together with his siblings.

In January 1997, Thomas ascended to the throne upon his father's abdication. In his early years, he came to acquire a reputation as a vocal figure for reform in the United Kingdom with his most notable success in that regard being the passage of the Succession to the Crown Act 1995 which lifted restrictions on marriages to Roman Catholics, instituted absolute primogeniture, and abolished the requirement for the first six persons in line to the throne to seek the monarch's permission to marry. Moreover, the notable passage of the Church of England Act 1998 resulted in the formal disestablishment of the Church of England, making Thomas the last monarch to serve as supreme governor since King Henry VIII separated England from the Holy See. Meanwhile, abroad, Thomas was also an instrumental figure behind the independence of East Timor and the unification of the island of New Guinea under Papua New Guinea, both of which saw him receive the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize award together with Indonesian President B. J. Habibie. In October 2017, following a health crisis in the final year of his reign, an aging Thomas ultimately abdicated the throne in favour of his daughter who subsequently ascended to the throne as Queen Alexandra. Following his abdication, Thomas has since come to devote himself to both philanthropic and entrepreneurial causes.

Prior to his marriage, Thomas was involved in a long-term relationship with the American actress Lynda Carter, with whom he had two children that included a professional footballer and a journalist. In December 1995, he married the American supermodel Christy Turlington, with whom he had five children including the reigning Queen Alexandra.

As one of the major shareholders of the multi-billion dollar holding company Atlantic Connection, Thomas is estimated to be worth around $49 billion, making him one of the richest monarchs in the world.

Early Life

On 17 December 1960, roughly two years into his father's reign as monarch, Thomas was born as the eldest child of King Charles III and the American actress Lauren Bacall.

Christened Thomas William Frederick Francis Albert Charles upon his birth, his given name was derived from the Republican politician and New York governor Thomas E. Dewey, a two-time presidential nominee and who is both his godfather and a close friend of his father's. On the other hand, his middle names were reportedly chosen in honour of his maternal grandfather William Perske, the American singer Frank Sinatra, and his own father himself.

Heir Apparent

Soon after his birth, Thomas, being his father's heir apparent to the throne was immediately made Duke of Cornwall, which lasted until January 1st the following year, when he was then formally Prince of the Welsh by his father's behest. Notably, Thomas became the first heir apparent in British history to have ever used the princely title's much older styling, as his predecessors have all used the more common styling of Prince of Wales as opposed to Prince of the Welsh.

Mirroring that of his own father's upbringing, Thomas's upbringing in Buckingham Palace was reportedly said to have been somewhat restrictive in the early years, as a consequence of fringe rumours espousing harmful plots targeting the royal family. Nevertheless, the prince was able to benefit from the more modern and liberal parenting style of his parents, with his father in particular emphasising qualities of "individuality, self-dependent, and survivability" in the young prince, while his mother generally added onto the efforts of Thomas's father in "liberalising" the young heir to the throne.

The American Prince

As his parents had previously been involved in the Hollywood industry as actors themselves, Thomas also grew up with a firm passion for American movies and films, an interest helped by his parents' convenient associations with various Hollywood celebrities. At the same time, he also became fond of locally-made British films as well, with the famed English actress Audrey Hepburn, being a personal favourite and later a close friend of his.

Owing to his parents' close association with the American actress Katharine Hepburn who had consistently been a close friend of the royal couple and also the prince's own godmother, Thomas would also occasionally spend some time living under the actress's care at her family residence in Fenwick, Connecticut. Later on, in his memoirs, Thomas himself described his time of living in Hepburn's family home as a "wholly wild and fascinating experience". He also generally described the actress in a wholly positive light, having written in one instance, "While there were some minor, and understandable blunders from her, I could feel that we generally appreciated and cared for one another". Moreover, when living at the actress's Connecticut family home, Thomas was said to have generally fancied "dipping his toes every morning on the shores of the cold water", whilst also having much interest in sports such as golf and tennis, an interest made convenient with the presence of nearby golf courses and alike.

Interestingly, the supposed state of their "mother and son" relationship proved quick to gain a sizable degree of notoriety among the local community, so much so that Thomas was initially mistaken to be an alleged secret lovechild between Hepburn and her known romantic partner at the time, namely the actor Spencer Tracy, although these were quickly refuted by Hepburn's own family members who were already aware of the royal family's connections to the actress. Nevertheless, when the two were mostly apart, both Thomas and Hepburn maintained their lifelong friendship through the extensive use of telephones, and to a certain extent, an exchange of gifts, particularly during Christmas or during their own respective birthday celebrations. In later years, Thomas himself would often refer to Hepburn as "my mother on the other side of the pond" and sometimes as "my great Aunt Kate". Moreover, while pursuing his university studies in the United States, Thomas himself largely lived together with the actress who essentially acted as his overseeing his welfare and security while the latter was preoccupied with his academic studies, with Thomas himself having enrolled at the prestigious Yale University. Eventually, in 1975, Thomas graduated from the university with a bachelor's degree in international relations, making him the first royal to ever earn an academic degree. Since then, one former educator at the university later recounted Thomas as a "bright and energetic young student always on the verge of asking important questions whenever possible". Similarly, a former friend of Thomas's at the university described the royal as a "very unassuming, talkative, and intelligent young man".

Military Career

In 1981, Thomas attended the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, after which he was subsequently commissioned as a midshipman in the Royal Navy. However, given that his royal status meant that he was largely kept away from active combat, Thomas instead used his commission in the Royal Navy to venture to multiple countries around the world including Canada, Brazil, Madagascar, India, Singapore, and Japan.

Eventually, in 1982, with the onset of the Falklands War between the United Kingdom and Argentina, an opportunity for the prince to see his first active combat in the years since he was commissioned in the Royal Navy finally came about. However, the controversial decision to have Thomas on board the British task force sent to the Falkland Islands was initially met with considerable opposition by both the prince's father King Charles III and then-Prime Minister Edward Heath, both of whom were said to have opposed the prince's involvement in the conflict out of the need to protect the heir to the British throne. However, after a brief but overall contentious argument between Thomas himself and the prime minister, it was ultimately decided that the prince would be allowed to set sail on board the task force headed for the Falkland Islands, in exchange for the prince agreeing to be under strict supervision by a fellow Royal Navy officer who in a later interview claimed that the prime minister ordered him to "protect the prince at all costs" and "have him be the first to be evacuated in case the ship sinks by enemy fire". Regardless of this, with the conclusion of the war, Thomas was subsequently granted his first promotion as an officer in the Royal Navy, having been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. Then, he subsequently joined an international peacekeeping force in Lebanon, which earned him another promotion, this time to the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

From 1990 to 1991, Thomas would see his final active combat experience as a Royal Navy officer, when he was deployed to the Middle East as part of an international coalition force, which in the span of a few months, managed to successfully push Iraqi forces under Saddam Hussein out of neighbouring Kuwait. For his actions during the conflict, he was promoted to the rank of Commodore. Later on, shortly after his ascension to the throne, he promptly resigned his commission in the Royal Navy although he was nonetheless made an Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom as the ceremonial head of the Royal Navy itself.

In a 2018 interview with the BBC, Thomas publicly revealed that while serving in the British Armed Forces during the Gulf War in which a US-led coalition successfully repelled Iraqi forces under Saddam Hussein from occupied Kuwait, he once suggested to then-US President George H. W. Bush to oust Hussein completely rather than simply repelling Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Citing the later controversy that surrounded the Iraq War, Thomas said, "Of course, at the time, no one including myself would have known that we would invade Iraq once again albeit on a rather dubious and questionable basis but at that time, some part of me just felt that we should have kept going and remove Saddam right at that moment. At least from our perspective, the fact that he invaded another country unprovoked meant that there was a genuine reason to take military action against him and therefore the United Nations wouldn't really be pestering us that much about some sort of justification for the war like they did when we returned a decade later". In line with this, Thomas also sensationally revealed that in the months preceding the Iraq War, behind closed doors, he constantly asked and pressured then-Prime Minister Tony Blair about the conflict's actual justification until the very end, stating, "To simply put it, we all knew that Saddam was a ruthless and authoritarian dictator but weapons of mass destruction? As history shows, we never even saw a single one of these WMDs with our own two eyes, and by the looks of it, he couldn't even build a proper army that could fight well or not simply crumble within a few weeks". Aside from this, Thomas also revealed that his late father, whose reign was to be marked by, among others, the disastrous Suez Crisis in 1956, was so disturbed and angered by Blair's participation in the conflict that he once threatened to "hang" the latter in public if he could.

Acting Career

Having been exposed to the acting industry from an early age by his parents, both of whom were former actors, and also by the influential and successful American actress Katharine Hepburn, in preparation for adulthood, Thomas took up private acting lessons with the eventual hope of becoming a successful actor in his own right with his early inspirations and idols being Cary Grant, Laurence Olivier, Clark Gable, and Gary Cooper. Meanwhile, in order to hone his acting skills, Thomas went to the recently established Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York, United States where he was taught in method acting in which actors seek to bring out expressive performances by connecting with their characters' emotions and purposes in a story. Meanwhile, it was also during this period that, in order to conceal his true identity, he adopted the alias of "Charles Lawrence" in which the given name refers to his own father while the surname refers to British actor Laurence Olivier, one of Thomas's acting idols. To that end, in 1980, at twenty years old, Thomas made his debut in the teen comedy film The Hollywood Knights opposite Tony Danza and Michelle Pfeiffer, both of whom also made their acting debut in the film. Upon being met with immediate applause for his film debut, in the following year, Thomas took the lead role in the action comedy film Stripes which revolved around a couple of misfits who joined the American military, a role that later earned him his first nomination at the Academy Awards. Then, in 1983, after a brief one-year hiatus, Thomas returned to star in The Outsiders in which he portrayed Ponyboy Curtis, the younger brother of Darrel Curtis who was portrayed by Patrick Swayze. In the following year, Thomas starred in Birdy opposite Nicolas Cage while also appearing in The Bounty as the sailor Fletcher Christian, a role that later won him his first accolade at the British Academy Film Awards. Then, in 1985, aside from starring in the romantic drama Out of Africa opposite Meryl Streep, a film that subsequently won him Best Actor at the Golden Globe Awards, Thomas also appeared in the action film Top Gun alongside the likes of Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, and Val Kilmer where he played the relatively minor role of Michael "Bulldog" Star whose nickname is a reference to Thomas's British nationality.

In 1987, Thomas was paired alongside James Bond actor Sean Connery in the crime film The Untouchables where he portrayed the real-life Prohibition agent Eliot Ness who famously brought down the notorious mobster Al Capone portrayed in the film by Robert De Niro. In this, his portrayal of Ness subsequently earned him nominations at both the Academy Awards and the British Academy Film Awards. During a later interview, Thomas said that he did not bother not winning an award for his role in the film given that his participation was merely so he could pair up with the famous Sean Connery whom Thomas admired for his role as the British spy James Bond. In that same year, Thomas also starred in the neo-noir thriller No Way Out where he portrayed a US Navy officer Lieutenant Commander Tom Farrell. Then, in 1988, Thomas starred opposite Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man which subsequently won him Best Supporting Actor at the British Academy Film Awards. Buoyed by this success, Thomas was later cast by director Tim Burton to portray the DC Comics superhero Batman in 1989's Batman, a role he later reprised for its 1992 sequel Batman Returns and which also won him Best Actor at both the Academy Awards and the British Academy Film Awards. Meanwhile, in between the two Batman films, Thomas reunited with Sean Connery to portray Jack Ryan in The Hunt for Red October and also starred opposite Annette Bening in the drama film Regarding Henry.

Entering the 1990s, after appearing in the legal drama film A Few Good Men opposite Demi Moore and Jack Nicholson, his co-star from Batman, Thomas made another appearance in the 1993 romantic comedy Sleepless in Seattle alongside Meg Ryan as Sam Baldwin, a recently-widowed architect who came to be fancied by Ryan's character Annie Reed, a role that later won him Best Actor at the Academy Awards. Then, in 1994, Thomas appeared alongside his future sister-in-law Jodie Foster in the western comedy film Maverick as Bret Maverick, a role that saw him further win Best Actor at the British Academy Film Awards, while also making an appearance in the Richard Curtis romantic comedy film Four Weddings and a Funeral alongside fellow British actor Hugh Grant. In 1995, having seemingly confirmed his shift towards the romantic comedy genre, Thomas appeared as a supporting character in Sense and Sensibility alongside Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet as Edward Ferrars, a role that earned him nominations at both the Academy Awards and the Golden Globe Awards that same year. In 1996, Thomas portrayed the Hungarian aristocrat and aviator László Almásy in the romantic war drama The English Patient, earning him nominations for Best Actor at the Academy Awards and Golden Globe Awards. Then, in 1997, the year that he was to ascend to the throne following his father's abdication, Thomas starred alongside Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz in My Best Friend's Wedding, a film that later won him Best Supporting Actor at both the British Academy Film Awards and the Golden Globe Awards. In this, despite having officially ascended to the throne by that point, Thomas subsequently announced that he would appear in one final film before ultimately announcing his retirement. After much speculation, in 1998, he reunited with Ryan in You've Got Mail, a film that subsequently won him Best Actor win at both the Academy Awards and the British Academy Film Awards. However, despite officially announcing his retirement from acting for good, Thomas went on to return to the big screen a few more times, namely for Richard Curtis's 2003 romantic comedy film Love Actually, where he was reunited with Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson, its 2017 sequel Red Nose Day Actually, and the 2001 romantic comedy Kate & Leopold where he was paired for the third time with Meg Ryan and portrayed a 19th-century aristocrat who time-travels to the 21st-century. In this, during a subsequent appearance on The Graham Norton Show, Thomas revealed that he only starred in the film after Ryan personally asked for his participation, having felt that Thomas would naturally suit the role of Leopold in the film given his own royal background which complemented the pre-existing on-screen familiarity between the two. For this, Thomas later won Best Actor at both the Golden Globe Awards and the British Academy Film Awards, his last few acting accolades throughout his two-decades-long career.

A subject of much praise from critics for both his talent and versatility, Thomas has since been considered to be one of the United Kingdom's greatest actors irrespective of his royal background. Having starred in films that ranged from romantic comedies to action films, Thomas has been praised by multiple directors for his ability to almost seamlessly transition between roles, especially those that differ in genre, thereby allowing him to take on roles in various films and expand his acting range while simultaneously preventing himself from being typecast in one particular role. Meanwhile, regarding the fact that the second half of his acting career was largely filled with romantic comedies compared to the first half which saw him adopt a more varied approach regarding his roles, Thomas described his shift and consolidation into becoming a fully-fledged romantic comedy star as he entered the 1990s as a deliberate process, stating, "After about ten years of taking on different roles and doing different things in different types of movies, by that point, my guts feel that I should perhaps try and stick to one particular genre just to see what roles I would get with that sense of consistency. For me, if I wanted to be a full-on action star, I think I would have definitely taken the first chance at becoming James Bond, a role that I, as a Brit myself, felt that it was only right to take. However, I ultimately chose not to do so and, after having done Out of Africa before with a very talented woman like Meryl Streep, I felt that romantic comedies were my destiny and for that, fate sent me another talented woman by the name of Meg Ryan who, without much doubt, I will say that I had a very good time working with even if it was for just three films".

Owing to his good looks and British nationality, coupled with his transition to romantic comedies during the 1990s, for a while, Thomas was often compared to fellow British actor Hugh Grant, a well-known star in romantic comedies himself. Officially, the two first crossed paths when they were both included in the Richard Curtis-written Four Weddings and a Funeral and later in both Love Actually and its sequel Red Nose Day Actually. In the meantime, owing to their apparent similarities, the two promptly became subjects of constant comparison by media outlets who often speculated about a private but intense rivalry between the two stars. In this, the strongest rumours allege that Thomas narrowly beat out Grant for the role of Edward Ferrars in Sense and Sensibility while Grant, in turn, reportedly prevailed over Thomas for the lead role in Notting Hill in which he starred opposite Julia Roberts. To that end, on his part, Thomas later described the supposed rivalry between him and Grant as "nothing more than the usual competition that was otherwise somewhat exaggerated by tabloids", stating, "Personally, while my opinions, particularly those concerning actors who seemingly stuck playing one type of character only, might be somewhat negative, given that it otherwise made him famous and relevant, I have nothing but praise for Hugh for doing what he does best for as long as he enjoyed it".

Despite his usual appearance on movies, from time to time, Thomas has appeared, usually in a cameo capacity, on several popular television series including Blackadder, Cheers, Miami Vice, Knight Rider, Friends, and Law & Order. Later, when asked about which television series he enjoyed appearing the most in, Thomas named Law & Order as his favourite show to appear on, having also heaped much praise on the show's realism concerning the legal system and the performance of its stars, namely his personal favourite Mariska Hargitay, daughter of the late actress Jayne Mansfield. In one interview, citing the early death of Hargitay's mother from an accident when she was only three and her subsequent work in both acting and philanthropy, Thomas has praised the actress for "successfully and credibly establishing herself as someone unique and beyond being the child of some famous individual", adding, "When you look at how her character in the show inspires people and what she does in real life, it's amazing to see just how far she has come from what was perhaps a not so easy childhood to become a star and a figure in her own right to the point that when you talk about her, you don't simply refer to her as Jayne Mansfield's daughter but that actress from Law & Order, a show that she is definitely proud to be a part of". Meanwhile, owing to his real-life popularity, Thomas was also occasionally mentioned in television series including those he later appeared in as well such as the American sitcom Friends where in one episode, the character Rachel Green, portrayed by Jennifer Aniston, included Thomas in a celebrities list despite him later making a guest appearance on the show.

Reign

Reforms & Projects

Upon his father's abdication in January 1997, Thomas automatically ascended to the throne. Despite his longstanding ceremonial status, Thomas, in a manner similar to that of his father and predecessor Charles III, also partook to some degree in the country's political affairs whilst adhering to his position as a constitutional monarch.

Among others, the most notable instance was the passing of the Succession to the Crown Act 1995, a law that was actually passed roughly two years prior to his ascension to the throne, but in which Thomas himself had a rather prominent role in shaping it. Spurred by the opposition against his marriage to his Catholic-born wife, Thomas, in conjunction with a number of sympathetic politicians, campaigned for the removal of the longstanding restrictions on marriages between members of the royal family and Roman Catholic individuals, which he famously called an "immoral relic of the past" while also arguing that it would clash with the modernising image of the United Kingdom, particularly one that will host an ever-increasing number of religious minorities. Meanwhile, in addressing concerns over the potential of having a Catholic monarch due to the lifting of the restrictions, Thomas asserted that the British monarch, as per longstanding convention, will generally remain an Anglican Protestant regardless of marriage to a Roman Catholic spouse, stating, "There's a clear and implicit difference between marrying a Catholic and being a Catholic, which I hope the Parliament will soon realise and therefore take it upon themselves to correct this grievous injustice in a modern and increasingly tolerant country". Eventually, via votes from both Conservative and Labour parliamentarians, the bill proposed, which also included ending Hanover's longstanding semi-Salic succession laws, was successfully passed into law, thereby ensuring that Thomas would be allowed to marry his wife for as long as he remained a Protestant and that Hanover, in the event of the birth of a female heir, would not come to separate from the United Kingdom once again, hence securing a firm continuation of the union for the foreseeable future.

In his advocacy for the basic principles of separation of powers between the executive, legislative, and judiciary, Thomas was also a vocal figure calling for the establishment of a "supreme court", having once said, "As fine as everyone seems to be with it right now, does it not feel a little weird that all the supreme judicial stuff is being done by one half of the legislative branch rather than by the judicial branch itself". In this, Thomas proposed that each of the United Kingdom's five constituent countries, namely England, Scotland, Wales, Hanover, and Ireland be represented by one justice on the country's apex court while the chief justice would normally be from England. In addition, having learned from the politicisation of the United States Supreme Court, Thomas also proposed that the process of nominating justices should not involve elected parliamentarians, stating, "Undoubtedly, every politician, man or woman, in the House of Commons have their own vested interest which might or might not be good for the nation and the people as a whole. To even let them have a say in how the country's highest court should be run or how it should look ideologically is therefore absolutely dangerous and would only serve to weaken the country's democracy rather than bolstering it". Eventually, on 1 October 2009, via the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the United Kingdom Supreme Court was formally established and, despite not adopting the King's "one country, one justice" proposal, did make it that rather than being elected by lawmakers such as in the United States whose senators vote to confirm a new justice nominated by the president, an incoming justice would instead be nominated by an independent commission, followed by the Justice Secretary accepting or rejecting the nomination (which can only be done once), before later being officially appointed by the issuing of letters patent. Moreover, unlike their American counterparts who are appointed for life, British justices are required to retire upon reaching the current mandated age of seventy-five as a countermeasure against deliberate appointments of young justices for potentially political purposes.

A proponent of aggressive economic spending, Thomas has also actively called for the construction of "smart" and "useful" megaprojects via the Crown Heritage Investment Fund (CHIF), the country's sovereign wealth fund, having once famously remarked during a 1993 BBC interview, "The overall wealth of the United Kingdom's sovereign wealth fund is currently in the hundreds of billions which could only rise to even a trillion in the near future. With the Cold War now essentially over, this level of wealth should be fully unleashed and not for building more nukes or superweapons but rather infrastructure that will benefit the entire British people regardless of where they are from or where they currently live". To that end, just a few months after the Channel Tunnel linking Great Britain and mainland Europe was opened in 1994, Thomas, in conjunction with newly-elected Prime Minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, began an ambitious "Irish Sea Bridge" project with the aim of connecting the islands of Great Britain and Ireland. Officially started in 1999, after about seven years or so, the project, officially named "Celtic Crossing", was formally opened on 15 February 2007, thereby connecting the ports of Fishguard in Wales and Rosslare in Ireland. In the ensuing opening ceremony, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and First Minister of Wales Rhodri Morgan were symbolically driven to each other's constituent countries over the newly-opened bridge, a gesture intended to symbolise the newfound physical connection between the two islands that were long separated by the Irish Sea. During the ensuing inauguration ceremony, in officially opening the bridge, Thomas declared, "For centuries, the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, along with its respective people who share a deep connection and history, have been physically separated from each other by nature for generations. Now, the advancement of technology today allows these very same people to finally connect and reunite with each other in a physical sense, something that will hopefully last forever".

In 1999, as part of a series of reforms undertaken by the newly-elected prime minister Tony Blair, Police England and Wales came into being as a result of a merger of the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales which included the well-known Metropolitan Police which generally policed the ceremonial county of Greater London. In line with this, the simultaneously defunct rank of Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, the head of the Metropolitan Police and generally considered to be the highest in British policing, was reformed and renamed to "Chief Police Commissioner of the United Kingdom" and made the head of the United Kingdom Police Force, a directorate comprising all four of the country's national police forces, namely Police England and Wales, Police Scotland, Garda Síochána, and Police Hanover with the main aim of coordinating activities and responses between the four organisations which are each led by a chief constable.

Disestablishment of the Church of England

In the lead-up to the 1997 United Kingdom general election, which took place just several months into Thomas's reign as monarch, the opposing Labour Party, together with the Hanoverian Union Party, ran on a centrist platform that included a series of reforms which, among others, included a potential disestablishment of the Church of England, England's established church and to which Thomas, as the British monarch, is tied via his role as the Supreme Governor. Consequently, while not necessarily a theocratic state, together with Denmark and Greece, the United Kingdom is one of only a few European countries to officially have a state religion, something that the former King Charles III himself reportedly criticised, especially given that other European monarchies, namely the Netherlands, Spain, Hungary, Portugal, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Norway, and Sweden do not have state religions despite also being constitutional monarchies. In addition, the growing population of Roman Catholics, the majority of whom are concentrated in the constituent country of Ireland, also raised questions about the feasibility of a continuing Protestant state religion.

Eventually, in February 1998, following an expected Labour victory at the polls a year earlier that saw Tony Blair elected prime minister, the Hanoverian Union Party's Laurenz Aumann, whose party had entered into a confidence and supply agreement with the Labour Party on the premise of subsequently debating and potentially realising the disestablishment of the Church of England, brought forth what later came to be the Church of England Act 1998 that, after much intense debate and even considerable public commentary from the Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, was subsequently passed by a firm majority in the House of Commons. Then, upon reaching the House of Lords, where twenty-five of the six hundred seats are explicitly reserved for the Lords Spiritual, a select group of bishops of the Church of England, the bill was once again met with considerable attention and scrutiny but was eventually passed, albeit by a narrow majority, and was subsequently granted royal assent by Thomas himself, thereby marking the end of the Church of England as an established church for almost four centuries long while also seemingly confirming the United Kingdom as a secular state in line with the growing trend among its religious demographics. To that end, the title of Defender of the Faith, first granted in 1521 by Pope Leo X to King Henry VIII, was consequently discontinued, effectively signifying the secularisation of the British monarchy. Meanwhile, despite being allowed to remain as the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, together with twenty-four other bishops, were also officially disqualified from sitting in the House of Lords in their capacity as the Lords Spiritual, a title that was itself abolished with their reserved twenty-five seats being filled by crossbenchers at the next rearrangement of seats in the House of Lords.

In November 2017, following his abdication as monarch, Thomas publicly expressed his wish that his daughter and successor Alexandra, in a first for British history, have a civil ceremony rather than a religious one given that the British monarch is no longer formally associated with the Church of England save for a longstanding requirement to be of the Protestant faith in order to succeed to the throne. Such an idea was later realised when, in the absence of a coronation, a civil investiture ceremony for Alexandra instead took place in October 2019 at the Parliament Complex. Conducted by the President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, the ceremony saw the Queen pledge to "uphold the principles of the rule of law, representative democracy, the separation of powers, as well as ethnic, linguistic, racial, and religious inclusiveness" during which she also signed an accession oath, thereby formalising her status as monarch. In addition, unlike the religious nature of past coronations, its otherwise secular nature saw the participation of the leaders of all of the United Kingdom's major religious faiths including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sikhism.

Hong Kong handover & Secession of East Timor and Western New Guinea

On 1 July 1997, just several months into his reign as king, Thomas would personally be at the forefront of a monumental event in history with the British colony of Hong Kong, as per a 99-year lease agreed upon between the United Kingdom and Qing China, was to be officially handed back to China which is now currently administered by the Chinese Communist Party. To that end, a handover ceremony took place at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre where, in a move that surprised many observers, Thomas himself attended the ceremony as the British monarch while accompanied by his brother Prince Nelson, newly-elected Prime Minister Tony Blair, outgoing Governor of Hong Kong Chris Patten, and Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir Charles Guthrie. In a major highlight of the ceremony, Thomas himself read out a prepared speech bidding farewell to the native Hong Kong population while also wishing them well under the new administration of the Chinese government via the "one country, two systems" policy. Later, in recent times, amidst increasing tensions between the two countries, anonymous sources have claimed that Thomas "detested" the whole occasion and instead preferred a fully democratic and fledgling capitalistic Hong Kong independent of any sovereign nation's control in any shape or form. Adding further, the sources also claimed that Thomas "breathed a huge sigh of relief" and "immediately drank a bottle of whiskey" right after the aircraft carrying the British monarch and his entourage left Hong Kong's airspace, adding, "The King was very relieved to be on his way back home after having to sit through an excruciating boastful display of communist pride and power right in front of his own two eyes". Nonetheless, in the wake of the 2019-2020 Hong Kong protests, Thomas has vocally criticised the Chinese government for their "creeping violation and betrayal of the founding principles of Hong Kong's independence", adding, "The United Kingdom did not cede Hong Kong for it to essentially become a Chinese province or territory where they could do anything they want but rather a free nation with its own set of laws and regulations free from Chinese interference". In response, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi publicly criticised Thomas's remarks which he described as the "usual foreign meddling and interference in Chinese domestic matters".

A passionate supporter and advocate of decolonisation, Thomas, together with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, was an instrumental figure in the unification of the island of New Guinea under one single entity, namely Papua New Guinea. In this, Thomas, who supported Papua New Guinea's independence from Britain while otherwise being critical of Indonesia's controversial Act of Free Choice referendum in which citizens of Indonesia's Western New Guinea region handpicked by the military voted unanimously in favour of Indonesian control, first publicly pressed for a second referendum following the fall of Suharto's "New Order" regime, an event that was followed by gradual democratisation in Indonesia, firstly under Suharto's own deputy B. J. Habibie. To that end, just several months into Habibie's presidency, Thomas personally traveled to Indonesia to directly meet the Indonesian president where, after a week-long meeting behind closed doors, he ultimately proved successful in convincing the Indonesian leader to agree to a free and fair referendum concerning Western New Guinea as well as East Timor, both of which are former European colonies that came under Indonesian control.

Eventually, on 30 August 1999, under the sponsorship of the United Nations, joint referendums were simultaneously held in both East Timor and Western New Guinea asking voters to choose between greater autonomy within Indonesia or complete independence. In the end, the population in both areas voted decisively for independence, thereby resulting in East Timor becoming an independent nation several years later while Western New Guinea subsequently united with the independent Papua New Guinea, thereby uniting the island of New Guinea for the first time under a single political entity. Since then, for his role in directly meeting with President B. J. Habibie and successfully convincing the latter to grant independence to both areas respectively, Thomas has come to be well-regarded in both East Timor and Papua New Guinea, with the latter country, where he also reigns as monarch, later commissioning a statue of the king in the center of the capital of Port Moresby. Likewise, Bill Skate, whose premiership saw the country unite with the neighbouring Indonesian region, hailed Thomas as an "instrumental figure who publicly fought and advocated for the freedom and rights of Papuan islanders, be it those in Papua New Guinea itself or in the former Indonesian occupation region of Western New Guinea". Even more, both Thomas and Habibie were later nominated and jointly received the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize award for their successful diplomatic efforts regarding East Timor and Papua New Guinea, making the former the only monarch in history to ever receive the award. Meanwhile, Habibie himself left the presidency not long afterward in October 1999 while Indonesian nationalists have come to resent the independence of both East Timor and Western New Guinea, both of which they considered to be fundamentally Indonesian, a factor that reportedly led Thomas to avoid visiting Indonesia afterward for the entirety of his reign over fears of an assassination attempt by hardline Indonesian nationalists who allegedly blamed the royal for his role in precipitating both the independence of East Timor and the unification of the island of New Guinea. However, his daughter and successor Alexandra did otherwise visit the Southeast Asian country albeit with a heavy security presence due to security concerns. Likewise, during his daughter's investiture, Thomas personally met with President Joko Widodo, with whom he was reportedly photographed being somewhat cordial and generally friendly.

Final Years

With the onset of the financial crisis of 2007-2008, a global recession that was considered to be the most serious recession since the Great Depression, Thomas personally had the tax rate for himself as the British monarch raised to a slightly higher amount as a way to contribute more financially to efforts in mending the recession's immediate effects. Meanwhile, in 2009, Thomas himself also played a notable part in making London the host city for legendary pop star Michael Jackson's This Is It concert, a comeback tour that saw Jackson perform some of his biggest hits including "Beat It", "Billie Jean", "Smooth Criminal", and "Black or White" at a sold-out O2 Arena to much theatricality and widespread applause in his first tour since 1997.

Entering the 2010s, following the passage of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013, Thomas publicly praised the effective legalisation of same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom, describing it as "long overdue" and a "momentous step towards a more tolerant and inclusive Britain", a statement that was met with some criticism from social conservatives while others instead praised the monarch's remark given that his own younger sister is a known. Meanwhile, around that same time, amidst widespread political unrest in the Middle East caused by the Arab Spring, Thomas notably met with the Bahraini cleric and politician Ali Salman during the latter's highly-publicised trip to Europe with the primary aim of gaining the support of the European Union for the new republican regime in Bahrain which was then at odds with the likes of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, both of whom are monarchies and generally opposed the Arab Spring. Nonetheless, back home, the period also saw the deaths of Thomas's parents, namely the former King Charles III and Queen Lauren in March 2011 and August 2014 respectively. During a later interview, Thomas described the period as "the most emotionally difficult of my life" while simultaneously expressing his personal pride in his parents' "long and eventful lives".

On 1 January 2016, following intense political debate and longstanding concerns over the Palace of Westminster's deteriorating condition and its accompanying maintenance costs, the United Kingdom's parliament was officially relocated from the Palace of Westminster, which was subsequently converted into a paid national museum, to the nearby King Charles III Centre, a building that was previously opened by the late King Charles III in 1986 which boasts a capacity of up to 2,500, making it twice as large than the Palace of Westminster in terms of overall capacity. The relocation, which symbolically took place on the 1000th anniversary of the Palace of Westminster's construction in 1016, saw Thomas deliver a farewell speech as parliamentarians were set to depart the building before later delivering a welcoming speech at the King Charles III Centre in honour of its new role as the country's parliamentary complex. In line with this, after a spontaneous vote among parliamentarians, the building was renamed to "Parliament Complex" whereas the names of the lower and upper chambers, the House of Commons and House of Lords, were retained on the basis of familiarity. A personal proponent of the decision to relocate the country's parliament, Thomas himself later declared in his welcoming speech, "At this precise moment, exactly a thousand years since the building that defined this country's legislature was first built, a new era begins for one of the country's three important branches. With a more modern-looking building to call home, perhaps the country's politics will emulate this relocation in its own distinctive way, namely in the direction of better and healthier dialogue between political parties that benefits the people and ultimately the nation". Consequently, the 2015 United Kingdom general election became the last general election to be held prior to parliament's relocation while the 2020 United Kingdom general election became the first general election to take place after the relocation.

Meanwhile, during the last few years of his reign, two significant nationwide referendums took place in the United Kingdom with one being a referendum on an alternate voting system and another on the United Kingdom's continued membership in the European Union. In this, a proposal for an alternative voting system to replace the traditional "first-past-the-post" was shelved amidst a resounding vote against it in the referendum while the country's membership in the European Union, which they joined back in 1973, was secured after a majority of voters voted for the United Kingdom to remain in the European Union. Around that same time, the union, which currently consists of five constituent nations, came close to partial dissolution following an independence referendum in Scotland where a decisive majority otherwise voted to remain in the United Kingdom.

Abdication

On 6 October 2017, while in his bedroom, Thomas was suddenly hit by a stroke that appeared to paralyse him completely. However, the swift response from his wife, who happened to be nearby, saw him immediately receive treatment for his condition. Subsequently, throughout the next few days or so, while his stroke was not publicly disclosed, the BBC and other media outlets began reporting on the King receiving treatment for an apparent illness that was vaguely described as having resulted in him being temporarily put out of work, thereby resulting in his brother Nelson, his traditional second-in-command, taking charge for the time being. Eventually, after about a week, Thomas began making a gradual and promising recovery while his stroke was also publicly disclosed to the public for the first time with Thomas himself subsequently addressing a crowd that had gathered outside of Buckingham Palace in anticipation of the monarch's return from his illness.

Meanwhile, in light of the incident, Thomas, having reportedly seen it as a "divine intervention", began considering abdicating the throne just as how his own father did on his 80th birthday in 1997. To that end, Thomas consulted extensively with Prime Minister David Cameron and cabinet officials where, after much deliberation, it was agreed that Thomas would formally abdicate the throne on 13 October 2017 in favour of his daughter. However, in respecting her current priorities, it was also agreed that his wife Queen Christy would temporarily act as a regent for their daughter until August 2019 when the latter, having completed the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup the previous month, is expected to formally begin her reign as monarch.

Post-Abdication

Atlantic Connection

Following his abdication, Thomas began taking a more active role in overseeing the interests of the American-British multibillion-dollar holding company Atlantic Connection which holds considerable stakes in various industries through its many subsidiary companies. Having inherited his late father's shares in the company upon the latter's passing in March 2011 to become one of the company's select few biggest shareholders, Thomas has overseen some further expansion of the company's portfolio since assuming his position on the board of directors, with his particular interest being in sports. To that end, the company established the Major League Soccer side Los Angeles FC in 2014, and National Hockey League's Vegas Golden Knights in 2017.

As one of Atlantic Connection's biggest shareholders, Thomas has at times advocated for the company to pursue a "green and sustainable" strategy regarding its long-term future, stating, "Above all, there is the undeniable issue of climate change that regardless of everyone's opinions on it will ultimately bring only bad luck and terrible fortunes for all of humanity. At the same time, a solution rooted in both compromise and sustainability must and can be achieved to ensure that the company, in its current position, will be one of the foremost leaders in traversing a new and inclusive era where both consumers and companies can co-exist in peace while also providing mutual benefit for each other".

Return to Hollywood

In January 2019, having abdicated the throne roughly two years prior, Thomas made his directorial debut with the heist thriller film The Golden Trail which starred Gary Oldman as Michael Pearce, a retired master thief who recruits a group of individuals, each with their own expertise, led by Lawrence Spencer, portrayed by Henry Cavill, to recover a seemingly untraceable €100 million lost during an infamous 1970s bank robbery led by the notorious German thief Martin Ritschel (Christoph Waltz). Largely inspired by his own experience of watching the Ocean's heist films, the film, primarily shot in the United Kingdom as well as other countries including France, Switzerland, and Germany, proved to be both a critical and commercial success with praises directed towards the film's attention to detail, its ending twist, "witty" dialogue, and the particular performances of Henry Cavill, Daniel Kaluuya, and Lashana Lynch. Following this success, Thomas announced that a prequel exploring the past life of Michael Pearce is "under consideration" before later confirming its development sometime in June 2019 during an interview with The Guardian in which he offered a brief glimpse into the movie by summarising it as "a story where a man seemingly set for life suddenly finds himself extremely down on his luck and therefore decides to use his own instincts to uplift himself by any means necessary while sticking to his own set of morals". Later, during an interview in March 2020, Thomas revealed that production had wrapped in January and the film, titled The Founding Trail, was slated for a November release like its predecessor but the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to reconsiderations about its release. Eventually, in November 2022, starring Tom Hardy as the younger version of Gary Oldman's character, the film finally made its highly-anticipated debut to generally positive reviews with praises for Hardy's acting, its exploration of the English underclass, and its attention to detail for the robbery scenes, a trait carried over from the first film. However, despite the sustained success, Thomas announced that the sequel would be his last concerning the film, stating, "From the get-go, I always knew that in order to tell a compelling story like this one, it would need at least more than a single movie. Now, since the story is pretty much already told in its entirety across two critically acclaimed movies and judging by how the second movie ended, I've made it pretty clear that, as was intended, the story ends right where it should be and should not be expanded any further with an unnecessary sequel that could potentially erode or destroy the goodwill or enjoyment the public had with the first two titles".

Meanwhile, in addition to his work with The Golden Trail and The Founding Trail, Thomas also directed several other films of varying genres. To that end, he directed the otherwise critically panned 2020 political thriller The Last Thing He Wanted which starred Anne Hathaway, his daughter-in-law, and the likes of Ben Affleck and Willem Dafoe. Undeterred by the initial setback, he went on to direct the 2021 political satire film Don't Look Up which starred, among others, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Timothée Chalamet, and Meryl Streep. Then, in 2023, just a year after The Founding Trail was released, Thomas directed the sports biographical film Gran Turismo which starred Archie Madekwe as the real-life Jann Mardenborough, a teenage British Gran Turismo player who later became a professional racing car driver. A modest commercial success upon its release, Thomas later described the film as "somewhat of a personal project", adding that he found Mardenborough's unlikely trajectory from an unknown teenager to a professional racing driver similar to that of his eldest son William Carter who famously led the United States to victory at the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Personal Life

A noted collector of cars, Thomas is known to have possessed a modest collection of both vintage and luxury vehicles, some of which include the iconic Jaguar E-Type, along with several others such as an Aston Martin Vantage, a second-generation Dodge Challenger, a Ferrari F40, and a Nissan Skyline R33 GT-R. Meanwhile, for leisurely purposes, Thomas is known to have favoured riding his Ducati motorcycle, often alongside two of his closest confidants who normally serve as his bodyguards during his occasional motorcycle rides. Otherwise, Thomas normally drives a BMW i8 hybrid sports car which he often used to attend events and the like.

In a 2006 interview with the BBC, Thomas revealed that had it not been for his royal background, he would have preferred to play professional football in his youth, a career he ultimately never pursued owing to an inherent sense of nervousness originating from him likely being the only royal in a football team filled mostly by individuals of commoner background coupled with the sport's considerable physicality at the time which was deemed to be a safety risk for an heir to the throne although he has nonetheless described himself as "fairly adept in it but perhaps not enough to necessarily play for a big football club", adding that during his teenage years, his son William Carter, who later went on to become an extremely successful professional footballer, often practiced football with him in the family's backyard. Meanwhile, in a 1998 interview with the BBC, Thomas revealed himself to be a lifelong fan of Premier League club Manchester United whose legendary Irish former player George Best was named by Thomas as his favourite player of all time. Moreover, Thomas has been a longtime season ticket holder for decades and has also vocally spoken out on the club's apparent issues, namely its decline in performance following the retirement of longtime manager Sir Alex Ferguson. In this, Thomas was once briefly linked to a potential buyout of Manchester United from the Glazer family, its longtime owners, although the royal himself later denied this.

Known for his physically active lifestyle, in addition to football, Thomas is known to have enjoyed a variety of other sports including swimming, polo, golf, and tennis. Moreover, since its introduction in 1981, save for only a few instances, Thomas has consistently run in almost every edition of the London Marathon, often alongside his wife, a fellow marathon enthusiast, since the couple's marriage in 1995. Aside from this, while previously a habitual smoker, since becoming a father and especially following the death of his father-in-law from smoking-induced lung cancer, Thomas has long abstained from smoking and, in turn, has been a vocal advocate against the habit himself. In November 2017, while addressing a stroke that briefly paralysed him the previous month, Thomas jokingly claimed that he would have been "dead for good" if not for his decision to quit smoking beforehand, adding, "Since at least 1979, I have had a very solid purpose to live for a long time which is to see my children grow up and have their own children afterward. Because of that, I'm doing everything possible so that like my father, who passed away late into his 90s, I'll live long enough to see my family grow and enjoy what life has to offer me next". In the meantime, Thomas is also said to be trained in martial arts, namely in Krav Maga, boxing, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

While initially seen by observers and media outlets in his youth as the stereotypical "playboy prince", owing to his good looks and the fact that he later married a well-known American supermodel, since ascending to the throne and even after abdicating afterward, Thomas is deemed by observers to have successfully reinvented his image and persona from that of a "playboy prince", a label that he has since contested, to more of an attentive and mindful monarch, owing to his role in the United Kingdom's mid-2000s constitutional reforms, and also that of a loving father and family man, particularly to his seven children, each of whom has mostly described Thomas in relatively glowing terms. In this, regarding the past public perception of him, Thomas said, "Sure, I was fairly good-looking, rich, and knew a lot of women, some famous and some not so, but to call me a playboy or the sort is stretching the truth a little. Like any other normal person, I had my fair share of romantic crushes but, as those who know me will say, once I find a particular woman that I like, I will be absolutely loyal to that person until the end for I'm not necessarily the type of person to fool around when I shouldn't be, especially with a woman's heart". During his bachelorhood, Thomas was often compared to Monaco's Prince Albert II, both of whom are well-known European royals and are the sons of famous American actresses, namely Lauren Bacall and Grace Kelly respectively. However, in a 2011 interview, Thomas disclosed that he and Albert are "nothing more than just two simple friends" while adding that the apparent similarities between the two are "just coincidences and nothing more". Moreover, owing to his family's close association with the Kennedy family, in later years, Thomas was occasionally seen by some media outlets as the British equivalent of the American lawyer John F. Kennedy Jr., son of President John F. Kennedy given that both were born just a month apart and, at one point or another, were romantically involved with a "big five" supermodel, namely Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington, to whom Thomas has been married since.

Romances

Considered to be one of the world's most eligible bachelors, in his youth, Thomas was variously linked to many different famous women of both royal and non-royal lineages. However, since his marriage to the American supermodel Christy Turlington, Thomas has only ever acknowledged two other prior relationships, namely one with the American actress Lynda Carter and the other with the American politician Caroline Kennedy. Otherwise, since 1996, Thomas has been married to the American supermodel Christy Turlington, with whom he has five children in total.

From 1978 to 1992, a period of almost two decades long, Thomas engaged in a long-term relationship with the American actress Lynda Carter. In this, the two had first met each other while Carter was in the midst of starring in the popular superhero television series Wonder Woman as the titular character. Subsequently, in 1979, the couple welcomed their first child together, namely a son named William, and in 1982, a daughter named Jacqueline. However, despite the births of their two children, Carter's status as a divorcee, coupled with her ex-husband still being alive at the time, meant that the two could not practically marry without triggering a constitutional crisis back home in the United Kingdom where Thomas, being next in line to the throne, was expected to marry a Protestant woman who is neither married nor divorced in line with his eventual status as the supreme head of the Church of England. Eventually, by 1992, the couple decided to part ways on mutual terms, thereby leading to a brief period of separation before they were reunited around a decade later due to their son's decision to further his career as a professional footballer in England.

In addition to Carter, for a brief period from 1975 to 1976, Thomas was also briefly romantically involved with the American politician Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy. However, despite some encouraging signs, coupled with traditionally close relations between the British royal family and the Kennedy family, the latter family's Roman Catholic identity, coupled with Kennedy's intention to avoid the spotlight of being a queen consort, resulted in the two ending their short-lived romance although they have since remained friends on rather warm terms. Meanwhile, given his high-profile pairing with actress Meg Ryan in three acclaimed romantic comedies, all of which came about while either Thomas or Ryan were already married at one point or another. For several years throughout the 1990s, Ryan, who previously dated Thomas's brother Nelson for a while before later marrying actor Dennis Quaid in 1991, was often rumoured to be Thomas's love interest both on-screen and off-screen given their apparent friendliness towards each other in general and their widely-praised chemistry when acting out their roles. However, Thomas, who later married the American supermodel Christy Turlington in 1995, has since strongly denied such rumours while otherwise describing themselves as "two actors who simply clicked with each other when necessary". Nonetheless, following the birth of his daughter Alexandra, Ryan was appointed as one of the child's godmothers while Thomas himself is also a godfather to Ryan's only child and son Jack Quaid.

Beginning in 1992, following a chance encounter at the Met Gala in New York, United States Thomas began a romantic relationship with the American supermodel Christy Turlington, to whom he was initially introduced by his sister, namely the Princess Royal. In this, despite issues over Christy's Roman Catholic belief and her suitability as a queen consort, the couple enjoyed a firm and strong relationship which eventually translated into an official wedding on 14 December 1995, an event that saw the American supermodel become the first British royal consort of the Roman Catholic faith, a feat made possible by the passage of the Succession to the Crown Act 1995 which, among others, replaced male-preference primogeniture in favour of absolute primogeniture while also lifting the longstanding restrictions on British royals marrying a Roman Catholic spouse, something that was previously forbidden by the Royal Marriages Act 1772. Following this, in 1996, the couple then welcomed their first child together, namely the future Queen Alexandra, followed by their only son Richard in 1999, and three further daughters in 2003 and 2004, namely princesses Nicole as well as twins Elle and Vivian, who are named after the Legally Blonde characters Elle Woods and Vivian Kensington, played by actresses Reese Witherspoon and Selma Blair respectively.

Titles & Honours

17 December 1960 - 15 January 1997 His Royal Highness The Prince of the Welsh
15 January 1997 - 13 October 2017 His Majesty The King of the British
14 October 2017 - Present His Majesty The King Emeritus

Honours

National & Commonwealth

United Kingdom - Sovereign of the Most Noble Order of the Garter
United Kingdom - Sovereign of the Royal Williamite Order
United Kingdom - Sovereign of the Royal Family Order of King Thomas
United Kingdom - Recipient of the Royal Family Order of King Charles III
United Kingdom - Sovereign of the Medal of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of King Charles III
United Kingdom - Sovereign of the Royal Guelphic Order
United Kingdom - Sovereign of the Order of St. George
United Kingdom - Sovereign of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle
United Kingdom - Sovereign of the Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick
United Kingdom - Sovereign of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath
United Kingdom - Sovereign of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George
United Kingdom - Sovereign of the Order of the British Empire
United Kingdom - Sovereign of the Distinguished Service Order
Canada - Sovereign of the Order of Canada
Australia - Sovereign of the Order of Australia
New Zealand - Sovereign of the Order of New Zealand
West Indies - Sovereign of the Order of West Indies
Solomon Islands - Sovereign of the Order of Solomon Islands
Belize - Sovereign of the Order of Belize
Tuvalu - Sovereign of the Order of Tuvalu

Foreign

Spain - Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece
Norway - Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of St Olav
Norway - Recipient of the Medal of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of King Olav V
Norway - Recipient of the Royal House Centenary Medal
Norway - Recipient of the King Harald V Silver Jubilee Medal
Sweden - Member of the Royal Order of the Seraphim
Sweden - Commander Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Sword
Denmark - Knight of the Order of the Elephant
Denmark - Grand Commander of the Order of the Dannebrog
Germany - Grand Cross Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Netherlands - Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau
Japan - Collar and Grand Order of the Order of the Chrysanthemum
Japan - Golden Medal of Merit Japanese Red Cross
Japan - Golden Medal of Honorary Member of Japanese Red Cross
France - Grand Cross of the National Order of the Legion of Honour
Malaysia - Honorary Recipient of the Order of the Crown of the Realm
China - Recipient of the Order of Friendship
Republic of China - Recipient of the Order of Brilliant Jade

Military Appointments

United Kingdom
3 June 1981 - 28 May 1982: Officer Cadet, Royal Navy
28 May 1982 - 25 June 1983: Midshipman, Royal Navy
25 June 1983 - 11 January 1984: Lieutenant, Royal Navy
11 January 1984 - 5 May 1985: Lieutenant Commander, Royal Navy
5 May 1985 - 15 June 1991: Captain, Royal Navy
15 June 1991 - 14 December 1995: Commodore, Royal Navy
14 December 1995 - 15 January 1997: Admiral of the Fleet, Royal Navy
15 January 1997 - 13 October 2017: Lord High Admiral, Royal Navy
13 October 2017 - Present: Admiral of the Fleet, Royal Navy
25 June 1982 - 3 June 1986: Colonel, British Army
3 June 1986 - 12 November 1990: Brigadier, British Army
3 June 1986 - 15 January 1997: Major General, British Army
15 January 1997 - 13 October 2017: Commander-in-Chief of the British Armed Forces
13 October 2017 - Present: Field Marshal, British Army
5 June 1986 - 15 January 1997: Air Marshal, Royal Air Force
15 January 1997 - Present: Marshal of the Royal Air Force

Canada
15 January 1997 - 13 October 2017: Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian Army
15 January 1997 - 13 October 2017: Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Canadian Navy
15 January 1997 - 13 October 2017: Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Canadian Air Force

Australia
15 January 1997 - 13 October 2017: Commander-in-Chief of the Australian Army
15 January 1997 - 13 October 2017: Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Australian Navy
15 January 1997 - 13 October 2017: Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Australian Air Force

New Zealand
15 January 1997 - 13 October 2017: Commander-in-Chief of the New Zealand Army
15 January 1997 - 13 October 2017: Commander-in-Chief of the Royal New Zealand Navy
15 January 1997 - 13 October 2017: Commander-in-Chief of the Royal New Zealand Air Force