Photos Of King Charles III’s Life And Family Through The Years

Sep 13, 2022 by apost team

The last few years have been momentous for the British monarchy. After a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic affected the entire world — and how the royal family does their jobs — they were rocked with the news that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle planned to step down as senior members of the royal family in January 2020. The unprecedented news was shocking and even led to rumors of a rift between the couple and the royal family. 

They later shed light on the situation during an exclusive interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021. But the controversial interview was soon overshadowed by the death of Queen Elizabeth II's beloved husband, Prince Philip in April 2021. With the pandemic still causing lockdowns worldwide, the rest of the year remained difficult, but the queen continued to go above and beyond to carry out all of her responsibilities and see over all of the members of the royal family. 

It's safe to say that Elizabeth had to deal with several overwhelming emotions before really focusing on taking care of herself and her physical health. But in February 2022 she celebrated 70 years as monarch of the United Kingdom and 15 Commonwealth Realms before her Platinum Jubilee celebration took place in June of the same year.

However, sadly, Her Majesty encountered more health troubles and on Sept. 8, 2022, Britain's longest-reigning monarch passed away. It was a devastating day for the royal family as many members gathered to be by her side in her final moments. 

That same day, Elizabeth's eldest son, King Charles III ascended the throne and one day later he addressed the UK as its new monarch. In honor of the start of his reign, let's take a look at moments throughout Charles' life as a son, father and grandfather.

Almost a year to the day after the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip’s wedding on Nov. 20, 1947, the future queen gave birth to her eldest son King Charles III on Nov. 14, 1948. Charles was born in the Buhl Room of Buckingham Palace via cesarean section when Elizabeth was still a princess. Prince Philip was not present as his wife was in labor for 30 hours, and to quell his nerves, he decided to play a game of squash with his private secretary. The Daily Mail reported that when the prince finally received news of a successful delivery, he bounded to the room, which had been converted into an operating theater, still in his sporting flannels and open-neck shirt before declaring the child looked like a plum pudding.

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By August 1950, Princess Anne was born, and for the following 10 years, they remained a family of four. In February 1952, King George VI passed away, making Elizabeth the new monarch at the young age of 25. Pictured here in the same year that she ascended the throne, Elizabeth, Philip and their two children, Charles and Anne pose for a photo outside Balmoral Castle. 

Pictured here are Elizabeth and Charles, then 11, awaiting Philip's arrival at London Airport after he had been on a trip around the world.

Charles became the Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester in July 1958, however, his investiture didn't take place until July 1, 1969, pictured here, when he was crowned by his mother, Queen Elizabeth, in Caernarvon, Wales. The ceremony was televised to the public.

After Elizabeth and Philip had two more children — Prince Andrew in 1960 and Prince Edward in 1964 — the queen's family extended to six people in total. Here, they're pictured all together posing for a family photograph in 1972. Charles was around 25 years old and had graduated from the University of Cambridge with a Bachelor of Arts a couple of years earlier. 

On July 29, 1981, Princess Diana and Charles were married at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. Despite their union not lasting, their wedding went down in history and is still remembered today — there's a reason it's called the "wedding of the century." Diana was just 20 years old while Charles was 32. 

Charles and Diana pose with their firstborn son and future king, William, Prince of Wales, not long after his birth on June 21, 1982. The couple had been married less than a year by the time William was born. 

Just two years later, Prince Harry was born on Sept. 15, 1984. Here, Charles and Diana are pictured leaving St Mary's Hospital in London. Sadly, after Harry’s birth, the relationship between Diana and Charles forever changed. Royal biographer Andrew Morton included transcripts of a conversation he had with the late princess in his re-release of “Diana: Her True Story – In Her Own Words.” According to Harper’s Bazaar, Diana said:

“Charles and I were very, very close to each other the six weeks before Harry was born, the closest we’ve ever, ever been and ever will be. Then, suddenly, as Harry was born, it just went bang, our marriage. The whole thing went down the drain.”

Despite appearing as a happy family for a number of years, behind closed doors, Charles and Diana's marriage suffered. A royal commentator said in an upcoming documentary titled "The Princess," as reported by Marie Claire, that despite being a husband with two young children, Charles, "always carried on ever since he got married as if he were a bachelor." Alleged affairs racked their marriage before Charles and Diana eventually separated in 1992, before finally getting divorced in 1996.

April 9 marks the passing of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, but it's also another royal anniversary — the day that King Charles and Camilla, Queen Consort of the United Kingdom were married in 2005, pictured above. Over the years, the couple's relationship has definitely raised eyebrows.

After Charles' marriage to Diana ended, tragedy struck when she passed away in a car accident in 1997. Two years later Charles and Camilla began officially seeing each other, but because of Diana's untimely death, Charles didn't want to overwhelm his family with the sudden inclusion of a new spouse, as Prince Harry and Prince William were still minors when their mother passed. Therefore, Charles decided that it would be best to wait until they were adults to get married to Camilla.

Then, finally, in 2005, the couple married in a private ceremony, despite having dated in public for six years prior to tying the knot. Since then, their relationship has been a stable one, as they've embarked on royal trips together, as well as many official engagements. 

The late queen and Charles are pictured here sharing a sweet moment during the Chelsea Flower Show in 2009. Although Elizabeth never stood down from her position as monarch, she relied on Charles as heir apparent to carry out important work as a senior royal. From their many interactions, it's clear that there was a lot of love between the two, including when Charles endearingly referred to the late queen as "mummy" during his speech at her Platinum Jubilee celebration.

Queen Elizabeth reached a major milestone when in February 2022 she celebrated 70 years as Queen of the United Kingdom and 15 Commonwealth realms. This was not only a milestone for her but for the entire world, as she was the first British ruling monarch to reach the seven-decade mark. In fact, she had already made history and was the second longest-serving monarch ever. She was only bested by one other ruler, Louis XIV of France after she overtook two rulers — Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand and Johann II of Liechtenstein — in 2022. Her Platinum Jubilee celebration, which took place in June 2022, proved to be quite a spectacle.

Here, the royal family is pictured on the balcony of Buckingham Palace for Trooping the Colour, including Charles, his son William and his grandchildren, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. The Platinum Jubilee was the last major royal event before the late queen's passing and King Charles III's official succession to the throne on Sept. 8, 2022.

Now that Charles is king, what do you think will be different within the British monarchy? Which is your favorite photo of Charles and why? Let us know, and pass this on so others can look at his life through pictures too!