Thomas of the United Kingdom

Thomas
Duke of Hanover
King of the British and of the People of his other Realms Canada 1997-2017 Australia 1997-2017 New Zealand 1997-2017 Jamaica 1997-2017 Barbados 1997-2017 The Bahamas 1997-2017 Grenada 1997-2017 Papua New Guinea 1997-2017 Solomon Islands 1997-2017 Tuvalu 1997-2017 St. Lucia 1997-2017 St. Vincent and the Grenadines 1997-2017 Belize 1997-2017 Antigua and Barbuda 1997-2017 St. Kitts and Nevis 1997-2017 Puerto Rico 1997-2017
Reign	15 January 1997 - 13 October 2017
Coronation	20 March 1997
Predecessor	Charles III
Successor	Alexandra
Prime Ministers	See list John Major Tony Blair Gordon Brown David Cameron
Born	(1953-12-17) 17 December 1953 Balmoral Castle, Scotland
Spouse	Christy Turlington (m. 1995)
Issue	William Smith Jacqueline Smith Queen Alexandra Richard, Duke of Cleveland Mary, Duchess of Sussex Princess Elle of Hanover Princess Vivian of Hanover
Full name Thomas Frederick Francis Albert Charles
House	Hanover
Father	Charles III
Mother	Lauren Bacall
Religion	Protestant
Military service
Branch/service	Royal Navy
Years of service	1979-1997 (active service)
Rank	Admiral of the Fleet
Battles/wars	The Troubles Falklands War Multinational Force in Lebanon Gulf War

Thomas (Thomas William Frederick Francis Albert Charles; born 17 December 1953) was King of the British from 15 January 1997 to 13 October 2017.

Despite his constitutional status, as King, he was noticeably instrumental in promoting continued relations between the United Kingdom and its former colonies in Asia through his respective state visits to the continent. Meanwhile, the latter half of his reign was otherwise marked by the early years of the War on Terror and by the respective deaths of his parents, the former King Charles III and Queen Lauren in the years 2011 and 2014, and lastly, by the 2016 Brexit referendum, in which the Remain vote prevailed with a 55.5% majority.

In his early adult years, he actively served in the Royal Navy, with Thomas notably being a part of the British task force involved in the Falklands War, and later as part of the coalition forces involved in the Gulf War, which successfully expelled Iraqi forces under Saddam Hussein from neighbouring Kuwait. Meanwhile, Thomas was also known for his somewhat controversial romantic history. In December 1995, he married the American supermodel, Christy Turlington, with whom he has five children, namely Alexandra, Richard, Mary, Elle, and Vivian. Moreover, he is also the father of two illegitimate children, namely the English former professional footballer, William Smith, an illegitimate son born from a relationship with the American actress, Jaclyn Smith during the late 1970s, and the English broadcaster and journalist, Jacqueline Smith, an illegitimate daughter born from a relationship with the British-Canadian actress, Kim Cattrall, with whom he was briefly romantically associated in the early 1990s.

Following a health crisis in the final year of his reign, and upon the recommendation of Prime Minister David Cameron, an ageing Thomas ultimately abdicated the throne in favour of his daughter, whom subsequently ascended to the throne as Queen Alexandra, while otherwise styling himself as Duke of Hanover. As a result, he became the third British monarch to ever effectively abdicate the throne, preceded by his own father, King Charles III in January 1997, and Queen Victoria herself in July 1837. Following his abdication, the Duke has since come to devote himself to both philanthropic and entrepreneurial causes, with the latter being the most prominent. In 2018, he founded the English football club, Buckingham F.C., which currently competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football.

Due to his mother having been born Jewish, Thomas is therefore recognised as being the first Jewish monarch of the United Kingdom, as per the Jewish matrilineal descent rule, with the designation being passed down to his oldest legitimate child and successor, the reigning Queen Alexandra, whom is consequently the United Kingdom's second Jewish monarch. In addition, he is also the second British monarch in history to be born to a father of royal ancestry and a mother of commoner descent after Queen Anne of the House of Stuart.

In October 2017, around the time of his abdication from the throne, he is said to be worth around $16.3 billion (£13.2 billion) in total, the highest among any living European monarchs, although, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, his net worth has since risen to an estimated amount of $32.9 billion (£26.7 billion), making him the richest person in the United Kingdom. Since March 2011, Thomas has been the full owner of the American-based shipping company, Southampton Line, which was founded in the 1920s by Prince George, Duke of Southampton, a long and distant relative of Thomas's. In addition to that, he is also one of the major shareholders of The Castiglione, a multinational hospitality company which manages Castiglione Hotels, an international hotel chain.

Early Life

Thomas was born on December 17th 1953 to the then Charles, Prince of Wales and Lauren, Princess of Wales, formerly known as Lauren Bacall, during the reign of his grandfather, King Frederick. His godparents, in a manner previously unknown to that of his predecessors, consisted of both British and American nationals, whilst also including both members of royalty and non-royalty, such as his great-uncle and aunt, Prince Frederick, Duke of Clarence and Avondale and Princess Astrid of Sweden, then-British Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, then-New York governor and his namesake, Thomas E. Dewey, and American Hollywood figures, actor, Frank Sinatra, and actress, Katharine Hepburn.

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 whom 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.

Prince of the Welsh

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 had 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 both of his parents' much modern and liberal parenting style, 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 Prince of the Welsh.

The American Prince

As his parents had previously been involved in the Hollywood industry as actors and actresses 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.

Katharine Hepburn

In particular, due to his parents' close association to the American actress, Katharine Hepburn, whom 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, whom 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".

Furthermore, during the period between 1968 to 1970, Thomas once more lived together for a while with Hepburn, with the latter acting as the prince's guardian, when he chose to study at the local Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, Connecticut, albeit under an assumed alias as to conceal his true identity there. Reportedly, Thomas himself had initially considered enrolling at the more prestigious Columbia University in neighbouring New York but, out of his desire to remain close to the actress, he chose to instead enroll in the local state university in Connecticut itself, which had also been the actress's own birthplace. Thus, this arrangement allowed Thomas a relative sense of easiness in travelling back and forth from the actress's family home in Fenwick to the city of New Britain up north. Ultimately, after a two years long study, under the assumed alias of George White, he then graduated from the university with a bachelor's degree in International Relations.

Post-University Years

Immediately following his graduation from university, Thomas, as expected of an heir to the British throne, began to officially undertake royal duties on his father's behalf. On April 1973, he privately met with the President of Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito, at his private estate at the Brijuni islands. Reportedly, like his own father, Thomas himself enjoyed a mutual friendship with the Yugoslav leader, whom Thomas was said to have wholly admired for the latter's success in stabilising the largely volatile relations between the various ethnicities situated within the federation, along with the Yugoslav strongman's more flexible approach to foreign issues, in contrast to other communist states in Eastern Europe.

Military Career

In 1979, Thomas attended the Britannia Royal Navy College in Dartmouth, after which he was subsequently commissioned as a midshipman in the Royal Navy. However, with the exception of a few months or so, during which he played a largely minor role in The Troubles conflict in the neighbouring Republic of Ireland, the prince would largely see minimal combat throughout most of his career in the Royal Navy. At the same time, in benefiting from the fact that he was less likely in general to ever see active combat, the prince, whom in his capacity as a Royal Navy officer opted to otherwise embark on a long naval trip aboard, which he later did so onboard the Royal Navy flagship, HMS Lauren, thereby allowing him to personally visit a number of countries located east of the European continent, namely Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Australia, 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, Margaret Thatcher, 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, whom 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.

Reign

Early Years

Upon his father's abdication on 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.

On January 1998, Thomas notably became the first high-ranking British official to visit the Islamic Republic of Iran, where in a private meeting in the capital city of Tehran, the King met with the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. He also met then-Chinese President Jiang Zemin later that February, before following up on a subsequent state visit to Taiwan on the same month, where he met the then-President of Taiwan, Lee Teng-hui. His visit to both countries, whilst receiving great attention from international commentators, was also seen as a symbolic diplomatic gesture since the year before, the United Kingdom had ceded the territory of Hong Kong to China itself after decades of colonial administration over the territory.

9/11 & Iraq War

In the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks, he publicly expressed his "greatest sympathies with the American people", stating that "innocent citizens should never be the target of such a heinous act of terror intended to promote a malicious goal". That same year, as head of state, he oversaw the Blair administration's participation in the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, which effectively toppled the predominant Taliban regime in the country. Just a couple of years later, the United Kingdom would also participate in the controversial 2003 invasion of Iraq, which in addition to sparking nationwide protests over the perceived justification for the invasion, also proved to be a source of controversy for the royal family themselves, when the King's sister, Catherine, Princess Royal infamously posed nude on the cover of a British Vogue magazine, in an act of personal protest against the invasion itself. The princess's manner of protest, which included draping herself with a Union Jack flag, as well as having herself leaning against a British Challenger 2 battle tank promptly became the source of condemnation and rebuke by a number of military officials, whom dubbed her manner to be "treasonous", while some sectors of the public dubbed the princess's manner of protest to be "shameful" and "unpatriotic". In response, the King himself was said to have afterwards reluctantly rebuked his sister himself in order to preserve the royal family's prestige and standing among the British public, while rumours allege that he had otherwise been privately supportive and approving of his sister's protest. Meanwhile, a statement which officially condemned the invasion on the grounds of its dubious justification published by his other sister, the Duchess of Albany, whom was then serving as the Commonwealth Secretary-General once more brought the royal family into the center of the controversy surrounding this action, although the duchess herself, whom in contrast to the Princess Royal, received a generally far less amount of rebuke or criticism for her own action regarding the invasion since she was then serving as the executive head of a global political association.

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, so as to contribute more financially to efforts in mending the recession's immediate effects. Evidently, in an interview with the BBC around that same time, he remarked, "When the Second World War happened, my father broke royal convention and decided to go to war against Japan in the Pacific while my grandparents chose to bravely face the German bombings head-on, thus putting them both in grave danger just as the average soldier and citizen". He promptly declared that "while I would not be the King of England to face an armed invasion of our country, I would also not be the one to sit back and watch my own people face the hardships alone, for that is what Louis XVI of France did, and in the end, as we all know it, he ultimately lost his head". At the same time, in a manner deemed unconventional by many as the country's head of state, Thomas also openly encouraged the government under then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown to pursue aggressive economic policies meant to combat the recession's immediate effects, declaring that "if God wills it, the United Kingdom would be the first country in the world to escape this burgeoning recession". Nonetheless, Brown himself was subsequently voted out of office in the 2010 general election, which saw him being replaced with the current Conservative prime minister, David Cameron, with whom he was said to have later developed a close working relationship, one that continued well under his successor, the reigning Queen Alexandra.

He later openly praised the historic legalisation of same-sex marriage in England and Wales, as well as the Conservative government's healthcare and welfare reforms. In the last few years of his reign, it was marked by three separate and notable referendums, with the first being a referendum on the method of electing Members of Parliaments at future general elections, the second concerning potential Scottish independence, while the third one otherwise revolved around the status of the United Kingdom's continued membership of the European Union. All three referendums went in the government's favour each time, while Thomas himself, whom in contrast to the demeanor shown during his previous years, largely kept silent on the respective outcomes of each of the three separate referendums. At around the same time, both his father and his mother would each respectively pass away on March 2011 and August 2014. In one interview conducted some time after his abdication, he went on to describe the last few years of his reign as "both eventful and also emotional in nature".

Abdication

In the final year of his reign, despite already being sixty seven years of age, Thomas was consistently described as being a "generally healthy, and well-conditioned man", as he was notably credited for almost regularly playing a game of polo with the palace staff and his close associates during his free time, leading him to be known as the Polo King among his close circles. However, on October 6th, having just gone back to his chambers alongside his wife, the King unexpectedly collapsed onto his bed while the latter had gone inside the chambers' bathroom. Around a minute later, royal doctors were immediately summoned following signs of a weakened pulse, leading him to be transferred instead to a special room for an operation. At the same time, by his own wife's insistence, any knowledge of the incident was kept secret from spreading outside of the palace itself, as to not force an immediate return for their daughter, Alexandra from her university. Following an initially successful operation, he was declared to be in a "mildly stable" condition but soon afterwards, subsequent operations were also conducted which lasted until just hours before his daughter Alexandra's return from her university, during which he was declared to had fully recovered from his illness, which was subsequently noted to have been a stroke but was otherwise kept secret from public knowledge.

In light of the incident, Thomas began seriously contemplating in an abdication, during which he made it known to the then Prime Minister David Cameron, whom he had specifically invited to Buckingham Palace for the matter. Discussions between the two would continue until December 10th when in a coordinated manner, Thomas first declared his abdication at 10:30 AM in a BBC broadcast from Buckingham Palace before an Act of Parliament was granted royal assent by the King himself, thereby effectively formalising his abdication. In his abdication speech, Thomas chose not to publicly disclose the details of his illness leading to his abdication, having instead chosen to cite "ill-health and inability to sustain the continuation of royal duties" as his primary reasons for abdicating. He subsequently attended the coronation of his daughter and successor, Queen Alexandra whom soon afterwards made her father Duke of Hanover as his post-abdication title.

Post-Abdication

Ever since his abdication took effect in October 2017, Thomas has largely been involved in both philanthropy and in the world of business, having established the Charles & Lauren Peace Foundation himself in December 2017, as well as towards the field of international relations. On February 2018, he held his second overall state visit (his first as the Duke of Hanover) to the People's Republic of China, meeting the country's incumbent President, Xi Jinping, with whom he subsequently toured a particular university in the capital city of Beijing, which was built in 1991 following the former's initial state visit to the country two decades prior. Nevertheless, amidst allegations and rumours accusing him of having "pro-Chinese sentiments", Thomas himself has largely been personally active in calling for an end to the ongoing trade war involving the two countries. In a March 2018 op-ed for The New York Times, he wrote that "the ongoing trade war going on at this very moment is nothing different than the Cold War conflict that terrorised the world throughout much of the previous 20th century". Afterwards, on May 9th 2018, in response to the American government's withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreement, Thomas himself took to personally criticising the decision, while also echoing his late father's proposed vision of the United Kingdom's overall foreign policy theme, as he subsequently referred to the decision as "a clear wake-up call for Britain's people and administrators to once more seek to chart their own path forward towards making the world a better place for all, with or without the help of the United States of America". Soon afterwards, although he was criticised by some for inserting himself into politics, a move which was largely disallowed among members of British royalty, his words were otherwise positively received by some groups as well, with Amelie Chambers of The Independent writing that "the Duke's words could never be truer for every living Brits waking up to the reality of an uncharacteristically brash and a rogue ally in the form of the United States of America".

Moreover, since his abdication, Thomas has been personally active in calling for "substantial reforms" regarding the shipping industry, particularly with regards to the type of oil used by shipping vessels around the world, having at times called for various shipping companies, including that of his own, Southampton Line to "effectively transition to the more ocean-friendly green hydrogen for a better future for us all". For instance, while addressing the United Nations General Assembly in 2018, the British royal notably declared that "shipping industries around the world have just as much of an obligation to protect and conserve the world's oceans for the foreseeable future just as much as they do in getting valuable goods to the billions of people spread out across the world".

Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Thomas, whom along with other members of the British royal family, has since taken to largely restricting their usual activities indoors, although, much like his fellow family members themselves, the Duke has also personally paid a number of visits to various healthcare facilities across the United Kingdom, while also emphasising the importance of COVID-19 safety protocols, as well as vaccinations.

Sports

In 2018, after a reportedly failed bid to secure the ownership of the popular English football club, Manchester United from its owners, namely members of the American Glazer family, Thomas subsequently announced that he would be founding a new professional football club that would "vigorously and persistently compete" in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. At the same time, in an interview on Sky News, he persistently denied rumours that the sole motivation behind his decision to do so was to supposedly "take revenge" against Manchester United, stating that he "cherishes and loves the club just as much as my daughter who actually played for it when she was just a teenager". Irrespective of this, the club was officially founded and established on June 5th 2018.

That same year, in its Premier League debut, the club was initially met with some criticism by commentators and observers, some of whom referred to it as "the Duke's failed experiment", in reference to the club having finished at 8th place behind Liverpool. However, the following year, the club went on to reach new heights in the Premier League arena, as Buckingham finished at 2nd place in the 2019-20 season, thereby besting the likes of the more established football clubs, Manchester United, Chelsea, and in particular, Manchester City, which finished the season at third place, albeit with a significant gap between itself and rival, Manchester United, which finished at 4th place. Then, despite some reversals of its fortunes, with the club finishing at 4th place in the 2020-21 season, it has nonetheless amassed and maintained a considerable amount of support from football fans within the United Kingdom, as well as those from foreign countries abroad, owing to its continuous success in international football, as well as the Duke's own personal popularity as a former British sovereign. Meanwhile, in covering the club's performance in the Premier League, the BBC described it as "a living tale of David and Goliath", an allusion to the club's competition with its more established opponents. In August 2021, the Crown Arena stadium was officially opened and has currently served as the club's stadium and training ground. The following year, the club achieved its first major success in an international competition after defeating fellow Premier League competitor, Liverpool at the 2022 UEFA Champions League Final, thereby winning its first international competition since the club's establishment in 2018. Meanwhile, in that same year, Thomas notably became the only owner of a "big seven" football club, consisting of Buckingham and the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Tottenham Hotspur to not agree to the formation of the controversial European Super League competition, which he called a "naked betrayal of English football culture and fans".

Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, which, among others, led to the imposition of sanctions on Russian oligarch, Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea F.C. by the British government, it was then rumoured that the Duke supposedly harboured some interest in securing the ownership of the English football club, in response to a decision by Abramovich to transfer the club's ownership amidst the prevailing controversy surrounding his ownership of the club. However, Thomas himself subsequently denied the rumours, claiming that "all things considered, my heart and interests will forever remain with Buckingham until the very end". Eventually, the ownership of Chelsea was later awarded to the American businessman, Todd Boehly, whom currently serves as the club chairman.

Shipping

Since his father's passing on March 2011, Thomas has since been the sole owner of the royal family's hugely profitable shipping company, Southampton Line, which was first founded in the 1920s by Prince George, Duke of Southampton, the younger brother of Thomas's great great grandfather, King Thomas V. From that point on, the company largely remained under the ownership of the Duke of Southampton, before being passed on to Thomas's father, King Charles III, following the former's death on December 1962, before later being passed on to Thomas himself as a result of the King's death on March 2011. By this time, the company, according to an estimate by CNN, is already said to be worth at around $1.5 billion (£1.1 billion), thereby giving him an estimated net worth of around $1.2 billion (£921 million), minus the total value of the various properties administered by the Crown Estate, a corporation sole that is believed to be worth around $19.5 billion (£14.9 billion).

Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was announced that the company would "indefinitely suspend operations in the Russian Federation for the time being", stating that "recent events have complicated the company's operations in the country".

Marriage

Katharine Houghton

Actress, Katharine Houghton alongside co-star, the late actor, Sidney Poitier in the 1967 film, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Due to his parents' rather hands-off approach in regards to his potential choice of marriage, Thomas himself thus became consequently linked to a number of important women of the time, all of which were mostly either of American or British nationalities. During the early 1970s, Thomas was at first popularly associated with that of the young and rising actress, Katharine Houghton, whom he had personally known through his father's close friend, namely the actress, Katharine Hepburn, Houghton's own aunt, with whom Charles was also closely familiar. Even so, in a manner apparently mimicking that of Thomas's father's previous romantic relationship with Hepburn decades prior, the two generally dated in secrecy, with Thomas himself being the one mostly travelling in private to Houghton's Connecticut residence, as the risks of the latter being spotted in public instead with the British royal back in his native home country were deemed to be great of a concern for either side. However, amidst the overwhelmingly positive encouragement in favour of a marriage between the two, and despite the eight-year age difference between them, neither Thomas nor Houghton ultimately agreed to ever seek such an option, with Houghton herself eventually marrying actor, Ken Jenkins in 1970. Ultimately, despite this setback, Houghton, in "inheriting" her aunt's close ties with the British royal family, has since continued to remain close with Thomas and the royal family as a whole, as evidenced by the actress being chosen as a godparent for Thomas's seven children.

Jaclyn Smith

Jaclyn Smith (left) with costars, Farrah Fawcett and Kate Jackson for the popular crime drama show, Charlie's Angels

Prior to his marriage to the American supermodel, Christy Turlington, from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, Thomas engaged in a lengthy romantic affair with American actress, Jaclyn Smith, with the affair resulting in two children, William and Jacqueline.

Sometime in 1977, Thomas, whom had then been residing in the United States for a while, first came into contact with the American actress whom, in that year, had been steadily rising in prominence thanks to her role in the popular crime drama show, Charlie's Angels, in which she had a major role alongside fellow actresses, Kate Jackson and Farrah Fawcett. Soon enough, Thomas, having been of a somewhat regular watcher of the show, decided to personally meet Smith herself, an endeavour in which he proved successful when the prince was personally invited by one of the show's executive producers, Aaron Spelling, whom subsequently arranged a meeting between the prince and the actress while the latter was in the midst of shooting for an episode of the show's second season.

In any case, the arranged meeting proved to be an instant success, with Smith, a divorcee since her marriage to her first husband and actor, Roger Davis, ended roughly two years ago, falling instantly for the British prince and heir to the throne, whom she later described as "very easy-going" and "impeccably charming" in their first encounter. Soon afterwards, the two began a longstanding and passionate affair which would last throughout the following decade, although this relationship, upon the behest of Thomas himself, was kept largely secret from the media and the public, and its knowledge being restricted to only a select few, which included Smith's co-stars, Kate Jackson and Farrah Fawcett, both of whom agreed to remain silent on the affair and to never disclose it to the public, out of respect for the couple's privacy. Despite this, in subsequent episodes of the show, Thomas himself would appear under an alias as a minor character whom began a relationship with Smith's character, Kelly Garrett, with the pairing between their characters said to have been deliberate and even agreed upon by both Thomas and Smith.

Roughly two years into their relationship, the couple would welcome their first child together, which is also Smith's firstborn child, that being a son, William, whom was born on May 11th 1979, a circumstance which led to the show temporarily halting production for a few months or so, in order to give much-needed time for Smith to raise her firstborn son with the help of Thomas himself whom, despite the accompanying risks and potential scandal should his affair with the actress ever be discovered and publicised, opted to remain closely with his romantic partner. In a later interview with Larry King, Thomas said, "Frankly, when Will was born, we initially had little idea in going forward with our relationship, and were kind of a little freaked out at the beginning, but then, we just soldiered up and decided that with what we have now, we are just going to do the best we could". Then, on June 22nd 1983, the couple would welcome a daughter, Jacqueline, named after her own mother, albeit in a slightly varied manner.

Eventually, despite the two enjoying a mutually happy relationship, the couple later parted ways mutually just a few months prior to Thomas's later marriage to his wife, thereby ending their almost nineteen year long relationship. Then, following a brief period of "separation", during which the two largely devoted themselves to their respective spouses, with Smith later marrying her husband, Brad Allen in 1997, the two reconnected with one another almost a decade later, when the career of their son, William with the English football club, Manchester United, brought Smith's family over to the United Kingdom, where they have since been permanently residing in.

Jacqueline Kennedy

Due to his father's strong and close ties to the prominent Kennedy family, it was even rumoured at some point by some media outlets that Thomas was supposedly planning on marrying the daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy, whom Thomas had first met while accompanying his father to the state funeral of Kennedy's father, whom on November 1963, was mortally wounded from assassination while in the city of Dallas, Texas. Ultimately, perhaps due to Kennedy's deeply entrenched and longstanding Catholic faith, coupled with the overwhelming publicity and media coverage that would be expected from a hypothetical marriage involving an heir to the British throne and a member of the prominent Kennedy family, no marriage proposals were ever brought forward by either side, although the two families, even to this day are said to have nonetheless remained in close contact with one another, with Thomas himself later enlisting Kennedy's uncle, Senator Ted Kennedy as one of his groomsmen for his wedding to Christy Turlington.

In recent years, Kennedy's firstborn child, Jack Schlossberg has been rumoured to be in a relationship with Thomas's eldest legitimate-born child, the reigning Queen Alexandra. So far, neither Kennedy nor Thomas has ever addressed the rumour themselves, amidst growing speculation regarding the matter.

Christy Turlington

Christy Turlington at the Christian Lacroix Spring Summer 1994

Around March 1994, while accompanying his sister, the Princess Royal to an exclusive gala in Paris, France, he was first introduced to the American supermodel, Christy Turlington by the Princess Royal herself, whom prior to that event, had been a close friend of the famed American supermodel, due to the two women sharing a common profession in modelling. Irrespective of this, according to the couple's close circles, they were able to immediately "hit it off" soon after being introduced to each other, so much so that according to one version in particular, Turlington herself soon afterwards "tightly hugged" and "incessantly thanked" the Princess Royal for having paired the two together at the start. However, despite a largely positive start for their relationship, the two did not immediately follow up on their initial successes the following day, although the subsequent "courting" process nonetheless took place in the days that followed, during which period the couple largely avoided media attention that could result from their equally high-profile statuses, which meant that the couple themselves would often take to reportedly wearing mostly inconspicuous outfits whenever the two would be with one another in public. It was also revealed later on by Thomas himself in an interview, that as an additional safety precaution, the couple would largely frequent the Caribbean islands for their many dates together, with the major reason being the supposed privacy and seclusion offered by the region's many island countries, in comparison to the United States, or any major European country where they were perceived to be more likely to be spotted together by paparazzi, thereby risking a premature media exposure of their relationship.

Eventually, around December of that same year, the couple's relationship would finally become public knowledge when in a speech marking his 44th birthday that month, Thomas personally acknowledged that a relationship between himself and the American supermodel had in fact taken place in the months prior, much to the surprise of both the British government and public, while both the King and Queen themselves were otherwise said to have been already made aware of it beforehand, so as to already secure the necessary permission from Thomas's own father, as per the Royal Marriages Act 1772, with the necessary condition being that Turlington herself would be willing to convert to Anglicanism in order to circumvent the longstanding ruling on marriages between a traditionally Anglican member of the royal family and a spouse of the Catholic faith, whereby the said member of the royal family would lose his or her position in the line of succession. Ultimately, such a decision proved unnecessary when in the months leading up to the couple's eventual marriage on December 1995, the Conservative government under then-Prime Minister John Major successfully proposed a bill that later became known as the Succession to the Crown Act 1995, which officially removed the longstanding practice of disqualifying those who married a Roman Catholic from the line of succession, thereby making Turlington the only Catholic British royal consort to date, while also notably replacing the male preference primogeniture system in favour of an absolute primogeniture system, thereby ensuring that the couple's firstborn child, the later Queen Alexandra would naturally succeed to the throne in the case of her father's death or abdication from the throne, which Thomas himself later did so on October 13th 2017.

The "big five" supermodels: Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, and Tatjana Patitz

Soon enough, when the announcement was broadcasted live to the public, it immediately sparked considerable controversy among British society, not least in part due to Turlington herself belonging to the Catholic denomination, but otherwise due to her current profession at the time, which was deemed by some to be inappropriate for a future queen consort, with even one Conservative MP at the time even claiming that "the marriage would be the end of the centuries-old monarchy". Moreover, when it was revealed by several media outlets that just two years prior, Turlington herself had personally posed nude for PETA's I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur campaign, members of the public once more took to protest over the aforementioned announcement, calling for the couple to immediately terminate their relationship. However, Thomas himself proved quick to defend his future wife's action, which he referred to in one interview as "somewhat unorthodox but nonetheless noble and commendable". In the midst of this, a rumour was spread which claimed that the Irish paramilitary organisation, the Irish Republican Army was reportedly intending to assassinate the royal couple, with the supposed and intended target being the Prince of the Welsh himself, whom had previously been involved in The Troubles conflict in Northern Ireland against the organisation itself. However, no such assassination plot ever came about, while leaders of the Irish Republican Army themselves never acknowledged the existence of such a plot.

Despite this, sometime later, both then-Prime Minister John Major and the then-Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey jointly agreed to approve such a union, under the strict condition that Turlington herself would ultimately convert to Anglicanism, in order to avoid any further complications. Meanwhile, Thomas's own father, King Charles III also personally came out in support of the union, claiming that "it is wrong for me to say that having a Catholic-turned-Anglican convert as my very own daughter-in-law would be something entirely strange or a new concept for myself, for my own great-grandmother (Queen Charlotte) was also a Catholic-turned-Anglican, and for that, she deserves absolutely no hate or condemnation at all for whom she was before as an individual". Meanwhile, rumours of the couple's incompatibility also began to surface, with some media outlets likening the couple to actor, Richard Gere and fellow supermodel, Cindy Crawford, both of whom were married to one another for approximately four years from 1991 to 1995, before eventually divorcing just a few months prior to Thomas and Turlington's own marriage that same year. Moreover, much like Gere and Crawford, both Thomas and Turlington possessed a significant age difference between themselves as well, with Turlington being sixteen years younger than her husband, despite marrying at a slightly later age compared to Crawford.

Eventually, on June 14th 1995, the couple were married in a similar fashion to that of Thomas's parents, specifically at Oheka Castle, a hotel in New York which notably served as the wedding venue for the prince's own parents back in 1946. On Thomas's side, his groomsmen included his own brother, Prince Nelson, along with Frank Sinatra Jr., son of the famed singer and actor, Frank Sinatra, actor, Hugh Grant, U.S Senator, Ted Kennedy, and then-vice president, Al Gore, whom was reportedly chosen as a result of then-President Bill Clinton's inability to participate in the wedding himself, while on Turlington's side, her list of bridesmaids largely included the likes of her fellow supermodel friends, namely the Princess Royal herself, along with Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Tatjana Patitz, and Kate Moss. Moreover, Thomas's other sister, the Duchess of Albany was also subsequently included as part of the bride's many bridesmaids. A New York Times article published the following day later described the wedding as "the most star-studded event since the weddings of King Charles III and Lauren Bacall in 1946 and of Rainier III, Prince of Monaco and Grace Kelly in 1956". Interestingly, Rainier himself, in addition to Charles's own parents, also attended the wedding ceremony, while his late wife, the actress, Grace Kelly had already passed away in 1982 due to injuries suffered from a fatal car crash in Monaco itself.

Then, for the first couple of weeks, the couple largely resided at the family home of actress, Katharine Hepburn, herself being a close friend and "aunt" of Thomas's, at Fenwick, Connecticut, before proceeding to spend the rest of their approximately month-long vacation period in Jamaica, during which the couple briefly met with then-Governor of Jamaica Sir Howard Cooke, whom then notably threw an elaborate ceremony in the couple's honour at the governor-general's residence of King's House in the capital city of Kingston. It was later believed that the American island state of Hawaii had initially been the couple's choice of destination for spending the vast majority of their honeymoon period, although this was otherwise abandoned in favour of the trip to Jamaica, supposedly due to Thomas himself having opted for a more "Caribbean-style honeymoon".

In the following days, a rumour briefly circulated which claimed that then-President Bill Clinton, whom with the supposed intention of honouring the Prince of the Welsh on the latter's wedding day, had reportedly intended to award the prince an honorary fleet admiral of the United States Navy, in line with the prince's rank of Admiral of the Fleet of the Royal Navy. However, then-President Clinton himself later denied the rumour, claiming that "no such idea has ever been proposed at any given moment". Nonetheless, had the decision actually come into effect, Thomas would have consequently become the first British royal to have ever held such a prestigious rank in any service branches of the United States Armed Forces, for his father, King Charles III had otherwise only acquired the rank of brigadier general as part of his service in the United States Air Force during the Second World War. Moreover, he would have also been the first non-serving member of the United States Navy in American history to have ever achieved such a rank, be it in an official or honorary manner since the rank's creation during the Second World War, during which period the rank was bestowed upon four high-ranking officers of the United States Navy, namely Thomas D. Leahy, Ernest King, Chester W. Nimitz, and Thomas Halsey Jr.

Actresses, Reese Witherspoon and Selma Blair as their respective characters, Elle Woods and Vivian Kensington from the 2001 film, Legally Blonde

Soon enough, just a year into their marriage, the couple would welcome the birth of their first child together, the reigning Queen Alexandra, although this was in turn followed by a roughly three-year long period during which the couple chose to live separately from one another, so as to accommodate for Turlington's decision to focus on her university studies back in the United States, which in turn led to rumours falsely claiming that the couple's marriage was in a terrible state as anticipated, with media outlets beginning to claim, often without basis, that both Thomas and Turlington have begun seeing another romantic partner in order to supposedly make up for their temporary separation at the time. Nonetheless, it was also during this time period that Thomas's father-in-law, Dwain Turlington passed away in 1997 at the age of sixty-four from lung cancer, just a year after the birth of the latter's granddaughter. Eventually, following Turlington's graduation from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study in New York in 1999, the two would finally begin to live together, initially as a family of three at the main royal residence of Buckingham Palace. Then, in the following year, Thomas's wife gave birth to their only son, Richard, followed by another daughter, Mary in 2003. The year afterwards, the couple welcomed another set of twins, Elle and Vivian, both of whom were respectively named after the two female characters from the 2001 film, Legally Blonde, namely Elle Woods and Vivian Kensington, played by actresses, Reese Witherspoon and Selma Blair respectively.

In the following years, the nature of the couple's marriage has occasionally made them a subject of comparison with other prominent couples, including former French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, whom is roughly two years his junior and also a former head of state himself as President of France from 2007 to 2012, and the Italian-French singer and fashion model, Carla Bruni, whom is often described by media outlets as the "French counterpart" to Thomas's wife, the American supermodel, Christy Turlington, whom is otherwise two years Bruni's junior. Consequently, a photograph in 2007, which depicted both couples posing side by side with one another in the hallway of Buckingham Palace proved quick to garner media attention.

Then, with the election of American businessman, Donald Trump as President of the United States in 2017, both Thomas and Turlington once more became the subjects of comparison, this time to the American president and his wife, the Slovene-born model, Melania Knauss. In this case, Trump himself is atleast sixteen years Thomas's senior, while his wife is only one year Turlington's junior. However, unlike the couple's rather cordial relationship with Sarkozy and Bruni, both Thomas and Turlington are otherwise rumoured to have largely been "dismissive" or "indifferent" towards the Trumps, although it was noted by observers that in both instances where the presidential couple visited the United Kingdom, both Turlington and Melania Trump appeared to be on "rather friendly terms with one another", as per a New York Times article covering the Trumps' state visits to the country, which subsequently stated that "the same could not be said however for their respective husbands, both of whom share a rather troubled and complicated history with one another, ranging back to the 1990s".

Meanwhile, from 2018 to 2019, Thomas was briefly compared to the Malaysian royal and ruler, Sultan Muhammad V of the Malaysian state of Kelantan, as a result of the latter's marriage to the Russian model and beauty pageant winner, Oksana Voevodina. However, unlike previous comparisons, the male partner in this case, namely Sultan Muhammad V himself is, much like the Duke's own wife, notably sixteen years younger than Thomas, while his Russian-born wife is twenty-three years younger than Thomas's own wife, a stark departure from the previous prominent couples the two have been compared to in the past.

Coincidentally, Thomas's personal romantic history, consisting of two former romantic partners and a wife of his own, is noted by some observers to have greatly mirrored that of his great-great-grandfather and supposed namesake, the late King Thomas V, whom, much like the former, was also known to have had two official mistresses throughout his life in addition to a wife of his own. Moreover, both Thomass also share a notable similarity in that both of them have atleast one child by their respective mistresses, although, in the case of the younger Thomas, all two of his illegitimate children were born prior to his marriage, while in the case of the older Thomas, it is the opposite, as the late king went on to father approximately fourteen illegitimate children while married to his wife, a record only surpassed by 12th-century English ruler, King Henry I, whom fathered twenty-nine children in total, a majority of which were illegitimate.

Titles & Honours

• 17 December 1953 - 1 January 1954 His Royal Highness The Duke of Cornwall
• 1 January 1954 - 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 Royal Highness The Duke of Hanover

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
• Barbados - Sovereign of the Order of Barbados
• Saint Lucia - Sovereign of the Order of St Lucia
• Solomon Islands - Sovereign of the Order of Solomon Islands
• Belize - Sovereign of the Order of Belize
• Antigua and Barbuda - Sovereign of the Order of Antigua and Barbuda
• St Christopher and Nevis - Sovereign of the Order of St Christopher and Nevis
• Grenada - Sovereign of the Order of Grenada​
• Tuvalu - Sovereign of the Order of Tuvalu
• Puerto Rico - Sovereign of the Order of Puerto Rico

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
• 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 1979 - 28 May 1980: Officer Cadet, Royal Navy
28 May 1980 - 25 June 1982: Midshipman, Royal Navy
25 June 1982 - 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

Ancestry

Ancestors of Thomas of the United Kingdom

8. George V of the United Kingdom 4. Frederick of the United Kingdom 9. Princess Sophia of Prussia 2. Charles III of the United Kingdom 10. Wilhelm II, German Emperor 5. Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia 11. Princess Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg 1. Thomas of the United Kingdom 12. Zalman Perski 6. William Perske 13. Sheyna Yofa 3. Lauren Bacall 14. Max Weinstein 7. Natalie Bacall 15. Sophia Bacall