The accession of King Charles III to the British throne now makes him St Vincent and the Grenadines’ new head of state.
Born on November 14, 1948, Charles, before being proclaimed as the King, was the longest-serving heir to the throne.
8 Interesting facts to know
1) He is the third Monarch of England to go by the name ‘King Charles’.
King Charles I, the monarch succeeded his father James I in 1625 as the King of England and Scotland. Charles’ acts during his reign enraged his Parliament, sparked the English Civil War, and ultimately ended in his execution in 1649.
King Charles II was the king of Great Britain and Ireland from 1660 until he passed away in 1685.
2) Born on November 14, 1948, Charles, before being proclaimed as the King, was the longest-serving heir to the throne. He’s also the oldest person to accede to the crown.
3) He once built a town! Poundbury is the name of the town, which is situated in Dorchester, England.
Charles wanted the town to be a blend of traditional architecture and modern urban planning because he has a long history of interest in urban planning and development.
4) In 1996, he was the first heir to the throne to have been granted a divorce. He was married to Lady Diana Spencer. A year later, Princess Diana died in a car accident in Paris.
As a result, Prince Charles was exempt from the Church of England’s remarriage limitations, even though Camilla Parker Bowles and Prince Charles were legally wed in 2005 after the law had already been established in 2002.
5) He is also an accomplished painter. In fact, he is among the best-selling living painters in the UK!
People Magazine reports that King Charles mainly creates watercolor landscapes, and since 1997, sales of his artwork have brought nearly USD 3 million.
Charles gives the Prince of Wales’ charitable foundation the money from the sale. His lithographs can sell for anything between USD 3,600 and over USD 21,000.
6) King Charles loves farming and gardening! He farms alone and has a green thumb of his own. He even acknowledged that he communicates with (and instructs!) the plants at his farm, according to People Magazine.
He also loves the environment so much that he has a company ‘Duchy Originals’, which distributes food and goods produced ethically, and is an advocate of organic farming.
He even modified his vintage Aston Martin car so it could run on bioethanol fuel, made from surplus English wine.
7) Unlike Queen Elizabeth II or any other heir to the throne before him, he was not home-schooled. In fact, he was the first heir to the throne who earned a university degree. He attended the University of Cambridge in 1967.
8) While giving an interview to British journalist Jonathan Dimbleby, Charles admitted to committing adultery during his marriage to Princess Diana.
King Charles III will be head of the Commonwealth a political association of 56 countries, mostly former British colonies to which SVG is member.
The voluntary association covers 2.5 billion people across the globe. Togo and Gabon became the latest members this year, despite never having been under British rule.
Of those 56 countries, 14 are part of the commonwealth realm; those countries still keep King Charles as their monarch.
In addition to the UK, those countries include Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.
The other countries became independent after Queen Elizabeth II took the throne in 1952, and many have since thrown off the monarchy, but she saw the Commonwealth as a way to keep the diverse nations together.
