Royal Facts About Prince Charles and King of England

Royal Facts About King Charles III, The Patient King
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Royal Facts About King Charles III, The Patient King
Jul 16
PEOPLE
Henry Gomes
Royal Facts About King Charles III, The Patient King
We spent years knowing him as the Prince of Wales, but Charles now goes by the title of King Charles III of England —and his scandalous and tragic past rivals the messiest monarchs in Britain’s long history.
From his quietly bitter childhood to the disturbing details about his relationship with Princess Diana, Charles has spent most of his life hiding his darkest royal secrets. But eventually, the truth always comes out.
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1. He Was Criticized At Three Years Old
He may have been born into a fairy tale, but Charles's childhood was incredibly lonely. When he was only three years old, his mother went from princess to Queen Elizabeth II . But no one thought Charles was good enough to follow in her footsteps.
Even at this young age, people criticized the poo boy for being too sensitive, too sickly, and too prone to crying. But that wasn’t the worst part.
Bettmann, Getty Images
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2. His Family Was Disappointed in Him
According to royal insiders, Charles’s chief critics were his own parents, with Elizabeth worrying he was a “slow developer”. On top of that, he had to deal with his father Prince Philip —a strapping, athletic man—acting particularly cold, since Charles looked unlikely to be any good at sports. But instead of simply accepting Charles as he was, Philip came up with a ghastly plan.
Wikipedia
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3. They Sent Him Away To A Horrible Place
Like many traditionalists before him, Prince Philip thought Charles just needed a jolt to make him man up. Accordingly, when the boy was eight, Philip sent Charles to the infamously harsh boarding school Gordonstoun. It was more terrible than Charles could have imagined . He later called it “Colditz in kilts,” referring to the notoriously forbidding German castle used as a POW camp in WWII.
And when details of Charles’s time at Gordonstoun came out, they were downright chilling.
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4. His Classmates Were Utterly Merciless
While Charles tried to grow a backbone at the school, his fellow classmates had other plans. Sniffing out his weaknesses, the other boys actively bullied him, either by just plain ignoring him or by physically attacking him. And that wasn't all. If anyone so much as showed a shred of kindness to the Prince of Wales, the other boys would make bizarre “slurping” noises at these allies to discourage them.
As Charles reached young adulthood, however, he underwent a scandalous rebirth.
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5. He Got Down And Dirty
The boys may have given him a hard time, but by the time Charles hit the prestigious Cambridge University, the girls knew that they had an opportunity on their hands. Soon enough Prince Charles was going on date after date with eligible bachelorettes. And his scandalous activities were no secret. His own great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten , happily admitted to the press, Charles was “popping in and out of bed with girls”.
Um, I regret to inform you that it gets a whole lot grosser than that.
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6. He Borrowed His Uncle's Love Shack
Lord Mountbatten acted as a father figure to Charles, b ut their relationship had a dark side . For one thing, Mountbatten seemed creepily focused on Charles’s virility, encouraging the prince to “have as many affairs as he can" and even providing Charles with one of his homes for discreet hookups. Ew. And that wasn’t even his most disgusting advice.
Wikimedia Commons
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7. His Mentor Gave Him Suspect Advice
Lord Mountbatten seemed to be all for free love, yet when it came to marrying, he took a completely different tack. Case in point: He urged Charles to choose an uber-young bride “before she has met anyone else”. In his infinite wisdom, Charles’s mentor believed “It is disturbing for women to have experiences if they have to remain on a pedestal after marriage”. In other words, Mountbatten was insisting that Charles choose a naïve virgin. Again: Ew.
Within years, those words would prove infamous—but in the meantime, Charles got into bigger trouble.
Flickr, Ross Dunn
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8. He Met A Woman Who Changed Everything
In 1971, when he was just 23 years old, Charles had a fateful meeting. While visiting the home of a friend, Charles was introduced to Camilla Shand , the respectable upper-class daughter of an Army Major. Camilla, who had grown up with eminently British aristocratic hobbies like horse-riding and dog-rearing, immediately hit it off with Charles. Still, there was an unsettling detail about their meet-cute.
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9. He Has An Unsettling Dating History
Although Charles and Camilla had run in the same circles, they had never formally met one another before—however, they did have a strange connection. At the time of their meeting, Camilla’s on-again, off-again boyfriend Andrew Parker Bowles had recently broken up with her…and started to date Charles’s sister Princess Anne . Well, it was about to get a whole lot more incestuous.
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10. He Had A Secret
Within weeks or months, Charles was keeping a dirty little secret . He and Camilla were seeing each other on the down-low from the press, though everyone in their immediate social circle was aware of the dalliance. And while it started out as good fun, especially since Andrew Parker Bowles was never far out of Camilla’s picture, it finished quite differently.
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11. He Got Serious Early On
Before long, it was obvious to anyone who knew Charles that he was in deep with Camilla. Charles didn’t even try to hide the fact. He met Camilla’s family at her childhood home and even convinced some members of his own family to meet her. But nothing good can last forever...and in Charles’s case, it ended with a bang.
Flickr, Queensland State Archives
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12. He'd Chosen The “Wrong” Woman
Camilla was everything Charles wanted in a woman: Easy to talk to, interested in intellectual pursuits, and familiar with his aristocratic world. But she had one fatal flaw . Slightly older than Charles, Camilla was also, er, “experienced” in romantic pursuits. And remember what Lord Mountbatten had said about "experienced" women?
This made her singularly unsuitable. So what was the royal family to do but...ruin everything?
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13. He Thought Camilla Betrayed Him
Charles left for the Royal Navy and broke things off with Camilla at the behest of his family. He immediately regretted it. Before the year was up,   Charles received absolutely crushing news . While he’d been away, Camilla had seemingly gotten busy, and The Times published her engagement announcement to Andrew Parker Bowles.
All of society was atwitter about this abrupt betrayal, and Prince Charles was likely steaming. Yet there was even more to this story than met the eye.
Flickr, Queensland State Archives
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14. He Was In A Romeo And Juliet Story
Charles was certainly betrayed—but not by Camilla. According to someone within her inner circle, the announcement had come fr…

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