Charles III is the longest-serving heir-apparent in British history.
Aged 73, he has been heir to the throne since the age of just three, when his mother became Queen Elizabeth II.
Following are key dates in his life:
- Early years -
December 15, 1948: Charles is christened by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the palace's Music Room.
February 6, 1952: Death of Charles's grandfather, King George VI, and ascent of Queen Elizabeth II. As the sovereign's eldest son, Charles, aged just three, becomes heir to the throne.
June 2, 1953: Charles becomes the first heir to the throne to attend his mother's coronation.
July 26, 1958: He becomes the 21st Prince of Wales, aged nine.
April 1962: Charles starts at Gordonstoun, a boarding school in northeast Scotland, which his father, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, attended.
- Gown and crown -
July 1, 1969: He is invested as Prince of Wales in a televised ceremony at Caernarfon Castle, after spending a term at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, learning Welsh.
1970: Charles graduates from university -- the first heir to the throne to do so.
- In the navy -
1974: Already a trained jet pilot, he qualifies as a helicopter pilot and joins an air squadron operating from the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes.
1976: Charles commands the coastal minehunter HMS Bronington before leaving the Royal Navy. He uses his navy severance pay of £7,400 to set up The Prince's Trust charity.
- Loss, love and children -
July 29, 1981: The prince marries Lady Diana Spencer at London's St. Paul's Cathedral in a fairy-tale wedding watched by an estimated 750 million people worldwide. She becomes Princess of Wales.
June 21, 1982: The couple's first son, Prince William, is born, ensuring the succession. 
March 10, 1988: Charles escapes uninjured in an avalanche while skiing in Klosters, Switzerland, but one of his friends is killed and another injured.
- Divorce and tragedy -
August 31, 1997: Diana, her boyfriend Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul are killed in a high-speed car crash in Paris as they try to flee paparazzi photographers.
Charles repatriates her body and insists she be granted full royal honours in death.
September 6, 1997: Charles accompanies William, Harry and their uncle, Charles Spencer, on foot behind her coffin to the funeral.
- Camilla and grandchildren -
April 29, 2011: William marries Kate Middleton, a commoner, at Westminster Abbey.
July 22, 2013: Charles becomes a grandfather after the birth of William and Kate's son, Prince George. Princess Charlotte follows in 2015, then Prince Louis, in 2018.
November 14: Charles turns 70.
- Later years -
May 6, 2019: Charles becomes a grandfather again, as Meghan gives birth to Archie. Lilibet Diana follows in 2021.
He accuses Charles of being suffocated by tradition and of cutting him off financially after the move, although royal officials later maintain he "allocated a substantial sum" to the couple to help them with the transition.
November 30, 2021: Charles attends a ceremony in Barbados as the Caribbean islandbecomes a republic.
June 2022: Charles' role as future monarch becomes increasingly prominent as he deputises for the ailing queen at several of her Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
September 8 2022: The queen dies in Balmoral, Scotland at the age of 96. Charles ascends to the throne, becoming King Charles III, and his wife Camilla is named queen consort.
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© Agence France-Presse
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