This blog will look at the relationship with King Charles and his parents Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip from their rocky relationship from when he was born in 1948 to both their deaths in 2021 and 2022 and how their legacy lives on in Charles and the monarchy.
We start on the 17th November 1947 where Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip get married. They first met as children in 1934 at the wedding of Princess Marina Of Greece and Denmark and Prince George Of Kent. Then they met again in July 1939 at the Royal Navel College in Dartmouth when Elizabeth was 13 and Philip was 18 years old.
Princess Elizabeth was 21 years old and Philip was 26 years old when they got engaged on the 9th July 1947 and got married on the 20th November 1947. The wedding was the biggest celebrated thing since VE Day in 1945.
In June 1948 Elizabeth and Philip announced that they were expecting their first child which was due in November. And on the 14th November 1948 Elizabeth and Philip welcomed their first baby who was born at 9:14pm in the evening. It was a healthy baby boy who was named Charles Philip Arthur George. When Charles was born he became 3rd in line to the throne after his grandfather and mother.
As a Princess she became a full time mother and took the time to spend as much time as possible with her newborn son. They went on holidays often going to Balmoral in Scotland and they often used to spend time out in nature which is why Charles has always loved nature and the outdoors.
When his grandfather King George VII's health deteriorated in the early 1950s Elizabeth and Philip took over most of the duties for George as he cut back his engagements to get some rest. That meant that they would be going on tours around the country and the commonwealth their young children Charles and Anne would have to stay behind with their nannies and their grandparents and their auntie.
In 1952 King George VII passed away from lung cancer which meant that Princess Elizabeth became Queen at the age of 26 and Charles became heir to the throne at age 3. Due to her new role Queen Elizabeth II b
As a child Philip was known as a strict father to Charles. He wanted Charles to toughen up as a child he was a very very sensitive child so he wanted Charles sent to the schools he went to which was Chaem and Gordonston which focused on toughness
Charles however was bullied badly at both schools because of who he was as heir to the throne. The Queen Mother Charles's grandmother was worried about him during that time and so was Lord Mountbatten but Prince Philip insisted that his son would be toughened up by the school.
In Prince Philip's eyes his favourite child was Princess Anne the only daughter and he thought that she was stronger than her big brother. She didn't go to the schools that Charles attended as his school was an all boys school and the school that Anne went to was an all girls school. However despite the differences Charles and Anne remain close to this day.
In 1960 Queen Elizabeth II gave birth to her second son who was supposedly the favourite child due to some complications in their marriage around that time. 4 years later Prince Edward was born on the 10th March 1964. By the time they were born they had a much easier childhood as Queen Elizabeth learned to be a mother and be a queen and how she could compromise the two.
By the time Prince Charles was at the age of being invested as Prince Of Wales in 1969 and that moment was very special between mother and son as he paid homage to his mother and it was Elizabeth who put the Prince Of Wales Coronet on his head and put the cloak around his shoulders. Charles once said that when his mother put him in the cloak and put the crown on his head that it felt like when she used to dress him as a little kid. The mother and son bond were still there.
Charles in the early to late 70s was Britain's eligible bachelors at the time as he was at the age where he should be settling down and starting a family for heirs. He dated various different women but they never wanted anything serious because of the huge press attention. In the early 1970s he met Camilla Shand who was a bright girl with a brilliant sense of humour and for Charles it was love at first sight. Due to Camilla's past with boyfriends and her partying life the institution deemed her as a not appropriate wife for Charles.
So he was sent off to the Navy and was told out on sea that his family and Andrew Parker Bowles family went ahead and set up a wedding date for Camilla and Andrew. As you can imagine Charles was absolutely devastated by the news as he did really want to marry Camilla.
When he came back from the Navy he still needed to look for an appropriate bride to be Princess and Queen one day. He met a young lady called Diana Spencer who had the right looks as a Princess and a future Queen. Diana also didn't have a past which for The Royal Family was amazing.
It was his father who liked Diana from the get go and was the one who forced Charles to settle down with her and have a family with her. She and Charles announced their engagement 24th February 1981 to which they would have a July wedding that same year.
July 29th 1981 was the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer as St Paul's Cathedral. At the time of the wedding everyone was excited by the "fairy tale" wedding and no one saw that there were already cracks forming. Charles and Diana were not suited as their interests were not the same.
Diana gave birth to their first son called William in June 1982. It was a widely celebrated birth as he was second in line to the throne after his father so he would become king one day in the future. Elizabeth took William under her wing as the favourite grandchild as he was one day going to become king and she wanted him to know everything about the monarchy.
In September 1984 Diana gave birth to their second son called Harry. He was considered the heir of the two as he was third in line to the throne. After the birth of Harry the marriage between Charles and Diana decided to break down slowly. Diana had accused Charles of having an affair with Camilla around the same time. However Diana was having many affairs with other men before Charles got back with Camilla in 1985.
This made both Elizabeth and Philip very annoyed as they wanted this marriage to stay and didn't want any divorce or separation. During the breakdown of their marriage it was Elizabeth and Philip who mediated between them to get the couple to get along better.
On the 28th August 1996 the marriage had gotten so bad that it was Elizabeth who wanted them to be divorced. Even though she didn't want the divorce she thought that it was for the best if they'd divorce so they can stop the fighting via the press and get on with life in the best possible way. They both decided to co-parent their two sons and had joint custody of the two sons.
On the 31st August 1997 Diana, The Princess Of Wales passed away in a car accident after being on holiday with her new lover. Back in Scotland Charles and his two sons were staying on the Balmoral Estate and Charles wanted to do everything to protect his sons from the press as they found out about their mother's death.
Charles wanted to travel to France to collect Diana's body and use a government plane to which Elizabeth and Philip both oppose this decision but Charles was adamant to give her the send off she deserves. Elizabeth wanted to stay up at Balmoral to protect her grandsons and make sure they are comforted. However the public back in London were angry and grieving and wanted Elizabeth and her family to show up and support the public.
In the end Elizabeth, Philip, Charles and the boys went to London to look at the millions of floral tributes left outside the Buckingham Palace gates. They also shook hands of the grieving public.
The funeral took place on the 6th September 1997 at Westminster Abbey as a state funeral which Charles wanted for her. Elizabeth and Philip were again against the idea and wanted her family to sort out the funeral but Charles wanted to fight to have this funeral.
After that rocky road in the late 90s. In 1999 Charles and his longtime companion Camilla Shand appeared at a birthday party for her sister Annibel they had press waiting outside the Ritz in London waiting for the moment that they've been waiting for in years and years. When they emerged for the first time everyone was photographing them.
Elizabeth at the time never liked Camilla due to her involvement with her son's first marriage. But after a party that was hosted for King Constantine Of Greece's birthday Elizabeth and Camilla met and they talked and got on well under the circumstances.
In 2002 The Queen Mother passed away at royal Lodge in Windsor at the age of 101 surrounded by her elder daughter and Princess Margaret's children. Elizabeth phoned Charles to let him know about the death who was at the time on a skiing holiday with his two sons. He was of course devastated as he was extremely close to his grandmother and rushed back to the UK as soon as he heard the news.
Due to royal protocol heirs would never fly together due to any accident that could occur that would involve heirs but on this exception Elizabeth let this happen due to the circumstances.
At the funeral Elizabeth invited Camilla as a friend of the family but in the eyes of the public and press she was mainly there as a companion of Charles.
By 2003 Charles and Camilla moved in together at Clarance House and that was another step to Camilla being accepted in The Royal Family. Elizabeth did warm to her slowly and so did Philip.
In early 2004 Charles went to see his mother to ask if he could marry Camilla and ask his mother for her blessing to the marriage. Elizabeth had to think about it due to the fact that both Charles and Camilla are divorcees and had to seek advice from the archbishops. In the end they came up to a conclusion that Charles and Camilla could marry at Windsor guildhall and then have a blessing in St George's Chapel.
In February 2005 it was announced that Charles and Camilla were to be engaged and will be married on the 8th April 2005. Due to the death of Pope John Paul the wedding date was changed to April 9th 2005 instead that Charles could represent his mother at his funeral.
On the morning of the 9th April 2005 Charles and Camilla got married at a civil ceremony at the guild hall in Windsor. Elizabeth did not attend the civil ceremony due to the fact that she was head of the church of England and thought it was wrong to be there. She did attend the blessing ceremony to which she looked very happy for her son who is finally happy and content with the woman he loves. Camilla never took the title of Princess Of Wales to make the Diana fans happy so she used her husband's second highest ranking title of Duchess Of Cornwall.
Elizabeth did give the speech at the reception of her son's marriage. She toasted the couple by saying "My son is home and dry with the woman he loves" she also likened their long awaited union to the grand national horse racing that was on the same day "They have overcome Becher's Brook and The Chair and all kinds of terrible obstacles"
In the 2010s in her 80s she decided that she would reduce all foreign travel due to her age. Charles ended up doing most of the travel along with younger members of the family. She did continue to perform duties until her death in 2022.
In 2012 Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her diamond jubilee which meant that she would be on the throne for 60 years. During the concert her eldest son Charles made a speech for her talking about her "selfless service" and the "constant presence" she provided. He also referred to her in this speech as "mummy".
In 2017 Queen Elizabeth's husband announced that he would be retiring from royal duties at the age of 96 having served for 7 decades. He also stopped accepting public engagements. When he retired Charles accompanied his mother on the engagements that would be required for the consort to attend including The State Opening Of Parliament. He also took up the role of laying the wreath on behalf of his mother for the nation while Queen Elizabeth watched him from the balcony.
In 2020 the whole world was stopped due to the Coronavirus Outbreak the UK was in a national lock down and Charles and Camilla was locked down together and Elizabeth and Philip was also locked down together too. Being elderly Elizabeth and Philip were careful not to engage with people and they had to limit the amount of staff they have.
In February 2021 Charles's father Prince Philip was admitted into hospital in London. He did have a history of medical episodes in the late 2000s. But this admission felt different as he got admitted to the hospital during the covid 19 outbreak but at the time Buckingham Palace said that it wasn't anything related to Covid 19.
In March of the same year Philip's eldest son Charles visited his father in the hospital and spent 30 minutes with him. Charles left that hospital in tears. According to sources the reason why he visited his father in hospital and the reason why he looked so emotional is because he had a proper heart to heart with his father and Philip asked some wishes for him like the fact that he wanted to die at home at Windsor Castle and asked Charles to look after his mother.
On the 25th March 2021 Charles and Camilla visited Greece for Greek Independence Day where Charles laid a wreath on behalf of his mother. During the clips I've seen you can see how emotional Charles was during that event as there were closeups of tears in his eyes which probably had something to do with his father dying. Prince Philip was born in Greece so he was a Greek prince when he was born.
On the 9th April 2021 Prince Philip Duke Of Edinburgh passed away peacefully at the age of 99 at Windsor Castle he was surrounded by his wife of 73 years. The restrictions of the pandemic were easing off a bit during this time which meant that Charles was able to visit his mother but didn't stay long to see his father for one last time.
Prince Philip's funeral took place on the 17th April 2021 and due to the pandemic restrictions there were limited guests and no public allowed also the 30 guests that were invited had to be sitting 2 meters apart and in their bubbles which meant that Queen Elizabeth II had to sit alone at her husband's funeral.
Prince Charles and Prince Philip never had the easy relationship but further on in their relationship they became close as father and son as they got older and they understand each other more and more. At Philip's funeral Charles looked devastated and was in tears. During the procession you could see tears running down his face. He was supported by his wife Camilla The Duchess Of Cornwall who was also in his bubble.
After the death of Prince Philip everyone stepped up to help and support Queen Elizabeth II including her son and heir Charles. As his mother was grieving and having health issues of her own, Charles did more and more engagements to help her out.
In October 2021 Queen Elizabeth was admitted to hospital for some tests and she had to miss COP 26 in Glasgow so Charles, William and their wives went instead. She did do a speech via video where she mentioned how proud she was of her son and her grandson following Prince Philip's legacy with nature and the wildlife. In November 2021 Queen Elizabeth II unusually missed The Royal British Legion Festival Of Remembrance and the cenotaph Charles stood in for her on both occasions and was looking very very emotional.
In December 2021 Queen Elizabeth did her final Christmas Broadcast where she talked about how she is missing her husband and how the family had helped her during the time of grief. She also said that she can't wait to celebrate the upcoming Platinum Jubilee with the nation.
In February 2022 Queen Elizabeth II became the first British Monarch to be on the throne for 70 years which means that it was her Platinum Jubilee. In the statement that she revealed that Camilla is in the fullness of time to be known as Queen Consort when her son becomes King. Charles released a statement back and said that he and Camilla were "deeply conscious of the honour represented by my mother's wish" and praised The Queen's "devotion to the welfare of all of her people."
In March 2022 there was a memorial service for Prince Philip so that he can be celebrated by everyone who missed the funeral. Queen Elizabeth's mobility was worsening and had to enter the Abbey in a different way accompanied by her second son who was disgraced with his involvement with Jeffery Epstein. Prince Charles who in the end had a good relationship with his father attended and supported his mother was himself visibly emotional during the service.
In May 2022 due to her ongoing and worsening mobility couldn't attend the State Opening Of Parliament so Charles again as heir stood up and took on the responsibility. He was understandably nervous as he would be the next person to be doing this as the next King.
In June 2022 the whole nation and the Commonwealth celebrated her 70 years on the throne with the Platinum Jubilee. The Queen was again getting increasingly frail and couldn't be a part of all of the celebrations. The first day of the celebrations was The Trooping The Colour and Charles was at Horse Guards Parade standing in for his mother again but she did go up on the balcony with her cousin The Duke Of Kent to which they watched a flypast.
On the second day of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations it was the Thanksgiving Service to which Queen Elizabeth II didn't attend due to her worsening mobility issues so again Charles stood in her place and some people said that seeing Charles in this role will be the future. During the service Charles did look increasingly emotional probably due to his mother's absence.
On the third and final day was the Jubilee Pageant to which again Queen Elizabeth didn't attend and Charles again stood in for her. However Charles did convince his mother to come on the balcony for what would be her last balcony appearance. The balcony appearance only had her direct heirs Charles, William, George, Charlotte, Louis and Charles and William's wives.
After the Jubilee celebrations Queen Elizabeth's health began to deteriorate rapidly and she stayed up in Scotland for her final years. In her final weeks Charles was seen visiting his mother on a number of occasions at Balmoral Castle.
On the 7th September 2021 Charles was seen at Dumfries House for his last engagement as Prince Of Wales. In a clip from that engagement Charles was seen looking tired, emotional and just not himself and I guess looking back we know why he was acting differently.
On 8th September 2021 at around 12pm it was announced by Buckingham Palace that Queen Elizabeth II was under medical supervision by her doctors at Balmoral Castle. Her family were called up to Scotland and people were speculating on what was going on. Charles was at Dumfries House when he received the phone call that his mother was dying.
He was driving a car when he received the news that his mother passed away at the age of 96 at 3:10pm and the reason he knew was when his private secretary gave him the phone and her private secretary said 'your majesty'
He dealt with his mother's death really well. He was of course devastated but he was trained for this moment for 70 years and he knew what to do when it came to greeting people and holding meetings and travelling to the UK.
The legacy of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip will live in their eldest son as he now goes through his own reign. He will be always looking up at his parents and he will be continuing their legacy by keeping up with his duty to The Nation and The Commonwealth and keeping up with his nature and the climate change just like his father before him.
I have written various blogs on some of the topics above including Prince Philip's death and funeral, The Platinum Jubilee and Queen Elizabeth II's death and funeral. You can look for those blogs via my blog homepage.
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