Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (Charles Philip Arthur George Mountbatten-Windsor; born 14 November, 1948) is the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. He is heir apparent to the respective thrones of the United Kingdom and the other 15 Commonwealth Realms. The prince is well known for his extensive charity work, particularly for the Prince's Trust. He also carries out a full schedule of royal duties and, increasingly, is taking on more royal roles from his ageing parents. The prince was married to the late Diana, Princess of Wales with whom he has two sons, Prince William of Wales and Prince Henry of Wales. He is now married to Camilla, The Duchess of Cornwall; his private life has been extensively reported in the press.

Sourced

• I think it's something that dawns on you with the most ghastly, inexorable sense. I didn't suddenly wake up in my pram one day and say 'Yippee, I —', you know. But I think it just dawns on you, you know, slowly, that people are interested in one, and slowly you get the idea that you have a certain duty and responsibility.
  • "The Prince of Wales: Full text of replies in radio debut", The Times, 3 March 1969, p. 3.
  • Asked when he had first realised that he was heir to the throne, in a Radio interview with Jack di Manio broadcast on 1 March 1969. This was the first time the Prince had appeared on radio.

• You have got to choose somebody very carefully who could fulfill this particular role, because people like you, perhaps, would expect quite a lot from somebody like that and it has got to be somebody pretty special.
  • "Prince Charles discusses marriage", The Times, 27 June 1969, p. 10
  • Asked about "the lady the Prince should marry" in a joint televised interview with BBC and ITN broadcast on 26 June 1969.

• I, Charles, Prince of Wales, do become your liege man of life and limb and of earthly worship and faith and truth I will bear unto you to live and die against all manner of folks.
  • Oath of fealty taken by the Prince at his investiture at Caernarfon Castle, 1 July 1969.

• When people are uncertain about what is right and what is wrong, and anxious about being considered old-fashioned, it seems to be worse than folly that Christians are still arguing about doctrinal matters which can only bring needless distress to a number of people.
  • Clifford Longley, "Handicaps of royalty are highlighted by Prince's controversial remarks", The Times, Monday, 3 July 1978, p. 2
  • Speech to the International Congress of the Salvation Army at the Empire Pool, Wembley, 30 June 1978. Senior British Roman Catholics took this as an attack on their Church and pointed to the religious disabilities attaching to the succession to the throne.

• Delighted and frankly amazed that Diana is prepared to take me on.
  • BBC News online 'On this day', 24 February 1981.
  • Interview with the BBC on announcing his engagement to Lady Diana Spencer.

• Anthony Carthew (ITN): And, I suppose, in love?
  Lady Diana Spencer: Of course!
  Charles, Prince of Wales: Whatever 'in love' means.
  • "Anthony Carthew" (Obituary), The Times, 22 January 2007.
  • On announcing his engagement to Lady Diana Spencer.

• Instead of designing an extension to the elegant facade of the National Gallery which complements it and continues the concept of columns and domes, it looks as if we may be presented with a kind of municipal fire station, complete with the sort of tower that contains the siren. I would understand better this type of high-tech approach if you demolished the whole of Trafalgar Square and started again with a single architect responsible for the entire layout, but what is proposed is like a monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend.
  • Prince of Wales' website
  • Speech at the 150th anniversary of the Royal Institute of British Architects, Royal Gala Evening at Hampton Court Palace, 30 May, 1984.
    • The Prince had undoubtedly read "The Spencers on Spas" written the previous year by his step-mother-in-law, Raine, Countess Spencer, which included on page 14 the observation that "Monstrous carbuncles of concrete have erupted in gentle Georgian Squares".

• Medieval Islam was a religion of remarkable tolerance for its time, allowing Jews and Christians the right to practise their inherited beliefs, and setting an example which was not, unfortunately, copied for many centuries in the West. The surprise, ladies and gentlemen, is the extent to which Islam has been a part of Europe for so long, first in Spain, then in the Balkans, and the extent to which it has contributed so much towards the civilisation which we all too often think of, wrongly, as entirely Western. Islam is part of our past and our present, in all fields of human endeavour. It has helped to create modern Europe. It is part of our own inheritance, not a thing apart.
  • Speech on Islam and the West to the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, 27 October 1993.

• Jonathan Dimbleby: Understandably, when your marriage collapsed, you form close friendships, you re-establish close friendships, of whatever character that friendship is. Were you, did you try to be, faithful and honourable to your wife when you took on the vow of marriage?
  Charles, Prince of Wales: Yes, absolutely.
  Dimbleby: And you were?
  Charles: Yes, until it became irretrievably broken down, us both having tried.
  • Alan Hamilton, "Intimate portrait of a private man in the public eye", The Times, 30 June 1994.
  • Interview with Jonathan Dimbleby for the television programme "Charles: The private man, the public role", transmitted 29 June 1994.

• Islamic culture in its traditional form has striven to preserve this integrated spiritual view of the world in a way we have not seen fit to do in recent generations in the West.[...] There is the potential for establishing new and valuable links between Islamic civilisation and the West. Perhaps, for instance, we could begin by having more Muslim teachers in British schools, or by encouraging exchanges of teachers. Everywhere in the world people are seemingly wanting to learn English. But in the West, in turn, we need to be taught by Islamic teachers how to learn once again with our hearts, as well as our heads.
  • Speech on A Sense of the Sacred: Building Bridges Between Islam and the West to Wilton Park, 13 December 1996.

• After my speech, the President detached himself from the group of appalling old waxworks who accompanied him and took his place at the lectern. He then gave a kind of "propaganda" speech which was loudly cheered by the bussed-in party faithful at the suitable moment in the text.
  • Katie Nicholl, Dominic Turnbull, "Appalling waxworks", Mail on Sunday, 13 November 2005, p. 1.
  • Entry in private journal about the handover of British sovereignty in Hong Kong in 1997 referring to President Jiang Zemin of China. The contents were disclosed in the Mail on Sunday in November 2005.

• Such is the end of Empire.
  • "'It's no wonder this region gets jumpy about the Chinese...'", Mail on Sunday, 13 November 2005, p. 8.
  • Entry in private journal referring to an incident in which he had to fly in business class while leading politicians flew in first class.

About

• Oh, the little grovelling bastard.
  • Graham Moorby, "Goon spikes tribute from the `grovelling bastard' Prince", The Independent, 5 December 1994.
  • Spike Milligan's reaction when the Prince's tribute to him was read out at the 1994 British Comedy awards.
• The slobbering chinless sympathiser of Islam, a witless dauphin who goes to the mosque these days, will become the head of the Church.
  • Christopher Hitchens, at the LA Times Book Festival in 2007 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veekHo8krOM