King Charles III - a man who's never done things by the book
09.09.2022 - 11:57
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
King Charles III has never been one to do things by the book. At the age of 73 and after spending 70 years as heir to the throne, he has now become King.
As a senior member of the royal family and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II, the former Prince of Wales has been compelled to devote his life to service and uphold many long-standing traditions. Following the death of the Queen, Charles III automatically succeeded the throne, but will not be formally proclaimed King until an Accession Council is held at St James’s Palace in London on Saturday.
While he might be following in the footsteps of his mother, if his public life thus far is anything to go by, Charles could take steps to modernise the monarchy even more after he is crowned.
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Far ahead of the mainstream, Charles has campaigned for environmental awareness since the 1980s and in 2021 unveiled a hugely ambitious project. The Nature Capital fund seeks to raise £7.5bn from businesses to invest in sustainable initiatives around the world.
A keen gardener, he became interested in organic farming after acquiring Highgrove Estate, later co-authoring a book on the topic and founding organic food brand Duchy Originals, sales of which go to the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund.
Usually, the royal family does everything it can to keep romantic scandals under wraps, but in 1994, Charles admitted in a television interview that he had been unfaithful to Diana, Princess of Wales, whom he married in 1981. He said that the marriage had already 'irretrievably broken down' by the time the affair began.
Charles and Diana divorced in 1996, a year before Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris.