Despite his unpopularity he was made head boy, and given his own room in the apartment of the art master. Harry also said that Charles kept a teddy bear which he had had since he was at Gordonstoun which had “broken arms and dangly threads”. Harry wrote that the bear “expressed eloquently, better than Pa ever could, the essential loneliness of his childhood”. In 1980, the pair met again and Diana, then a nursery teacher’s assistant in London’s Pimlico, soon began accompanying Charles to events at Balmoral Castle and Sandringham House. The relationship attracted intense media speculation and it was his father, the Duke of Edinburgh, who reportedly urged Charles to propose.

The gold state coach leaves Westminster Abbey in central London on 3 May 2023 during a rehearsal for the coronation of King Charles III. Photograph: Andreea Alexandru/AP Charles and Camilla’s decades-long romance culminated in their marriage on 9 April 2005 – the celebration having had to be postponed by a day so that Prince Charles could represent the Queen at the funeral of Pope John Paul II in Vatican City.Charles has had the joy of seeing both his sons follow him up the aisle. In 2011, his eldest son, William, married his long-time sweetheart Kate Middleton in a lavish service at Westminster Abbey. The proud father took on the music selection for the day, including pieces from his own wedding to Diana in the mix as a touching tribute to their late mother. First, there was the sensitive little boy with the ruthless father and the often absent mother, sent to board at the spartan and hated Gordonstoun school in Scotland. In 2004, Charles was reported to have said: “Nobody knows what utter hell it is to be the Prince of Wales.” Authored by renowned King Charles biographer Robert Jobson, a number-one New York Times and Sunday Times best-selling author and royal correspondent, this coffee-table-style book chronicles His Majesty’s life – from his celebrated birth and early years, through his responsibilities as the Prince of Wales, to his accession and coronation as king. The prince has had some grounds for complaint – but equally brought many of his difficulties on himself. He did not ask for his first marriage to crumble in the full glare of the media, but the story the tabloids reported about his infidelity and thoughtlessness towards his wife was, after all, largely true. It was the photographers who first spotted his envy of her celebrity and her heedlessness of his ingrained obsession with protocol and sense of his own importance. The royals depend on public exposure and they can hardly complain if they get burned by its glare as, in Bagehot’s famous phrase, daylight is let in on the magic. The fairytale wedding to Diana fell apart and he had no one to blame but himself. Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales, are photographed arriving at the Cannes film festival, 1987. Photograph: Tim Graham/Getty Images

I mind about the inclusion of other people’s faiths and their freedom to worship in this country,” he said in 2015. “It’s always seemed to me that, while at the same time being Defender of the Faith, you can also be protector of faiths.” There have been suggestions that the coronation oath might be altered accordingly. In the years after his formative schooling, Charles broke with tradition again by attending university instead of joining the armed forces. He studied archaeology and anthropology at Trinity College, Cambridge University, before switching to history. It was during this time, in 1969, that he was bestowed with the title Prince of Wales and, in the second year of his degree, he spent a term studying Welsh history and language at University College of Wales in Aberystwyth.

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As well as his wife and daughter-in-law, he could also call upon the Duchess of Edinburgh to host the ceremonies, when the member of the Royal family places the decoration on the recipient and congratulates them on their honour. (Those who are receiving a knighthood kneel on an Investiture stool to be dubbed – more on that, later.) As Charles III prepares for his coronation, all eyes will be on how his contemporary court adapts to – and remains relevant for – today’s UK. Speaking about his role in public life, Charles has said: “The most important thing will be to have concern for people and give some form of leadership.