Here are 70 facts about Prince Charles to mark his 70th birthday on 14 November 2018.

Early Life and Family

1. HRH Prince Charles Philip Arthur George was born at Buckingham Palace on 14 November 1948 at 9.14 pm, weighing 7lbs 6oz (3.345 kg).

2. Archbishop of Canterbury Geoffrey Fisher christened Prince Charles on 15 December 1948 in the Music Room at Buckingham Palace. His godparents included his maternal grandfather, George VI, his cousin King Haakon VII of Norway, his maternal aunt Princess Margaret, his paternal great-uncle Prince George of Greece and Denmark, his paternal great-grandmother the Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven (Princess Victoria of Hesse and By Rhine), his cousin Lady Brabourne (Patricia Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma) and his maternal great-uncle the Hon David Bowes-Lyon.

3. The Prince has been the heir apparent since he was three years old and is the longest-serving Prince of Wales.

4. He is the 21st Prince of Wales and the first since 1936. Edward VIII was the previous Prince of Wales.

5. The Prince is the first heir to see his mother crowned as Sovereign.

6. The Prince of Wales became the 24th Duke of Cornwall on The Queen’s accession to the throne in 1952. At the age of 21, in 1969, HRH took on the management of The Duchy of Cornwall, the estate of The Duke of Cornwall.

7. Cecil Beaton took the first formal photograph of Prince Charles in December 1948.

8. Prince Charles has three siblings: Princess Anne, The Princess Royal, Prince Andrew, The Duke of York, and Prince Edward, The Earl of Wessex.

9. The Prince has two sons: The Duke of Cambridge (Prince William), born on 21 June 1982; and The Duke of Sussex (Prince Harry), born on 15 September 1984.

10. The Prince has three grandchildren, five step-grandchildren and another grandchild on the way – the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s first child.

11. The Prince travelled to Malta during his first official visit abroad when he was only 5 years old.

12. Prince Charles spent two terms as an exchange student at Timbertop, a remote annexe of Geelong Church of England Grammar School in Melbourne, Australia, from February to July 1966.

13. The Prince spent a term at the University College of Wales at Aberystwyth, from April to June 1969, learning Welsh. HRH still often uses Welsh phrases in speeches in Wales.

14. The Prince studied archaeology and anthropology in his first year at The University of Cambridge, then changed to history for the remainder of his degree. He finished his studies in 1970.

15. The Prince played the piano, trumpet and cello while at school. He performed, playing the cello, in a symphony concert by the Trinity College Orchestra, on 4 December 1967, during his time as an undergraduate student at Cambridge.

16. The Prince played the lead in Shakespeare’s Macbeth in November 1965, as a student at Gordonstoun School.

17. The Prince became the first heir to the throne to earn a university degree in 1970, graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree at Trinity College, then a Master of Art’s degree at Cambridge in 1975.

18. The Prince learned to ice skate at the Richmond Ice Rink, receiving a Certificate of Merit in March 1962.

19. The Prince’s favourite tea is Darjeeling with honey and milk.

20. The Prince does not eat lunch.

Military and Titles

21. Prince Charles holds the titles of The Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Lord of the Isles, Baron Renfrew and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland.

22. The Prince is affiliated to 18 military regiments.

23. Prince Charles took up his first Service appointment in 1969 as Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Regiment of Wales.

24. As the first member of the Royal Family, Prince Charles obtained his RAF wings as Flight Lieutenant Wales in August 1971.

25. The Prince is a qualified jet and helicopter pilot.

26. The Prince first rode at The Queen’s Birthday Parade as Colonel of the Welsh Guards, aged 26, in June 1975.

27. The Prince is Admiral of the Fleet of The Royal Navy.

28. In 1975, as an accomplished diver, Prince Charles spent 47 minutes underwater examining the wreck of King Henry VIII’s flagship, The Mary Rose. HRH became President of the Mary Rose Trust the same year.

29. The Prince commanded HMS Bronington in 1976 during his time in the Royal Navy.

30. The Prince was the first member of The Royal Family to successfully complete the Parachute Regiment’s training course before he was appointed Colonel-in-Chief of the Regiment in 1977.

31. The Prince is an Air Chief Marshal in the Royal Air Force.

32. The Prince was given the title, ‘Keeper of the Cows’, by the Masai in Tanzania in 2011 to recognise his work as a farmer.

33. The Prince was given the title Mal Menaringmanu (High Chief) when he visited the Pacific Island of Vanuatu in 2018.

34. The Prince has a frog named after him: Hyloscirtus Princecherlesi or Prince Charles Magnificent Tree Frog.

35. The Prince’s name in Pidgin English is ‘Nambawan pikinini bilong misis kwin’ which translates as ‘The number one child of The Queen.’

Charities

36. The Prince is President or Patron of over 420 charities.

37. The Prince started his charity The Prince’s Trust with his Navy severance pay of just over £7,000 in 1976.

38. The Prince has founded nearly twenty charities in areas including youth opportunity, environmental sustainability, education and the arts.

39. Prince Charles’ charities raise more than £140 million for good causes every year.

40. An independent study reported that £1.4 billion has been added in value to the UK economy by The Prince’s Trust in the last ten years alone.

41. So far, The Prince’s Trust has helped over 875,000 disadvantaged young people into employment or business.

42. Waitrose Duchy Organics (Founded as Duchy Originals 26 years ago) contribute more than £3 million a year to The Prince’s Charitable Fund, which The Prince donates to good causes.

43. In the last ten years, The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund (PWCF) has given more than £50 million in small and medium-sized grants for issues including sustainable farming methods, flood-damaged communities, wildlife anti-poaching initiatives and humanitarian relief.

44. The Prince is Chairman of The Royal Collection Trust, commissioning paintings for the Royal Collection including portraits of the last remaining D-Day Veterans called ‘The Last of the Tide’.

45. A champion of environmental issues for nearly 50 years, The Prince first spoke publically about his concerns about pollution and plastics and their impact on the natural world in 1970.

Official Duties

46. The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall undertook over 600 engagements in the United Kingdom and around the world, during the reporting year, 2017-18.

47. The Prince has visited nearly 100 countries around the world.

48. Since 1969, The Prince has visited 44 Commonwealth countries, many of them on several occasions.

49. The Prince’s first official engagement was attending a student garden party at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in June 1965.

50. The Prince made his first public speech in Welsh in May 1969, on the final day of the Urdd Gobaith Cymru (Welsh League of Youth) Eisteddfod at Aberystwyth.

51. Prince Charles laid the nation’s wreath on behalf of Queen Elizabeth during the Remembrance Day Service in 2017 at the Cenotaph.

52. During the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2018, Commonwealth Leaders elected The Prince of Wales to succeed The Queen as the next Head of the Commonwealth. Head of the Commonwealth is not a hereditary position, unlike the Throne.

Interests

53. Prince Charles has written and published books, The Old Man of Lochnagar, based on stories he used to tell his younger brothers, and ones on the natural world and the environment including Harmony and Climate Change, a Ladybird Expert Book.

54. The Prince is a keen painter and had a watercolour displayed in the Royal Academy’s 1987 summer exhibition after it was submitted anonymously.

55. In 1975, The Prince became a member of the Magic Circle, a society of stage magicians founded in London in 1905, after passing his audition with a ‘cup and balls’ trick.

56. In 1980, The Prince rode in the Ludlow steeplechase and finished second. The Prince has been a keen equestrian throughout his life and played polo until 2005.

57. The Prince made a cameo appearance in popular comic The Beano alongside The Duchess of Cornwall in 2013.

58. The Prince also made a cameo appearance on Coronation Street in 2000.

59. The Prince has presented the weather forecast on the BBC.

60. The Prince marked the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth by appearing in Shakespeare Live! From the RSC.

61. The Prince has his own brand of whisky, Barrogill, through the North Highlands initiative.

62. The Prince’s first car, an MGC GT, was purchased in January 1968.

63. Contrary to popular belief, The Prince purchased his Aston Martin DB6 Mark 2 Volante in November 1970 himself, not a 21st birthday present from Queen Elizabeth. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge left Buckingham Palace in HRH’s Aston Martin in April 2011 after their wedding.

64. The Aston Martin was converted to run on E85 bioethanol made from by-products of the wine and cheese industries in 2008.

65. The Prince uses a fully electric Jaguar to travel to engagements in London.

66. Clarence House, The Prince of Wales’s official London residence, had solar panels installed on the roof in 2010.

67. The Prince of Wales’s Welsh home, Llwynywermod, near Llandovery in Carmarthenshire, was bought in 2007 by the Duchy of Cornwall. It is used as their base during royal engagements in Wales. The farmhouse was refurbished using local materials and the skills of Welsh craftsmen and women.

68. The Prince was given a quartet of huge olive-oil jars from Italy. The terracotta jars were intended to be sent to HRH’s Highgrove House in Gloucestershire and were shipped in a crate tagged “The Prince of Wales, Tetbury”. The jars ended up being mistakenly delivered to the local pub of the same name.

69. The Prince keeps Burford Brown and Maran chickens in his garden at Highgrove House in Gloucestershire.

70. Prince Charles often carries out tree planting ceremonies during engagements. After planting each tree, HRH gives a branch a friendly shake to wish them well.

Source: The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, 70 facts about HRH The Prince of Wales