Latest news with #PrinceCharles
Daily Mail
6 hours ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
The wry comment the Queen made when she saw newborn Prince William - and why he was known as 'baby Wales'
The birth of an heir is a time for national celebration. Street parties were held, commemorative plates were made and broadcasting was paused for the royal announcement. Baby Wales, as he was known for his first few days, was born at around 9pm on June 21, 1982, weighing 7lb 1oz. The most dedicated members of the press and public gathered outside St. Mary's Hospital and Buckingham Palace, where a notice announcing the birth was placed. Everyone was desperate to catch a glimpse of the future king before anyone else. But the late Queen, known for her wry sense of humour, had one concern on her mind. Andrew Morton wrote in his book Diana: Her True Story: 'When the Queen came to visit her grandchild the following day her comment was atypical. 'As she looked at the tiny bundle she said drily: "Thank goodness he hasn't got ears like his father."' Prince Charles was born with large ears compared to his head, which have become one of his most well-known and ridiculed features. The late Duke of Edinburgh reportedly said baby Charles looked like a 'plum pudding' when he was a baby. Diana had been a difficult pregnancy - and an even more challenging delivery. Morton wrote: 'During her labour Diana's temperature soared dramatically, which in turn gave rise to concern for the baby's health.' She was in labour for 16 hours and she was attended to by the Queen's own surgeon, George Pinker, who also oversaw her pregnancy. Morton wrote that Diana was continually sick and at one point Mr Pinker and his fellow doctors considered performing an emergency Caesarean operation. But in the end Diana was given an epidural and gave birth naturally. Charles was by her side during the delivery and she gave birth standing up with her husband holding her, as advised by natural childbirth activist Sheila Kitzinger. The news of the royal birth made the front page of the national papers Diana's birth would be a complete contrast to the Queen's reflection that, with modern anaesthesia, birth had become 'a sleep and a forgetting'. While Diana enjoyed the experience of having her husband by her side, she later recounted the 'disappointment' Charles felt when Harry was born and not a daughter. And then came choosing a name. Morton wrote: 'Charles wanted to call his first son Arthur and his second Albert, after Queen Victoria's consort. 'William and Harry were Diana's choices while her husband's preferences were used in their children's middle names.' Baby Wales' name was chosen after William the Conqueror, victor of the famed Battle of Hastings in 1066. He was christened William Arthur Philip Louis. His second name came from the legendary King of the Round Table, his grandfather inspired third name and the name Louis rounds out the mix - a name he has since passed down to his second son. But not everyone shared the good news. Prince Charles (pictured right in 1949) was born with large ears compared to his head, which have become one of his most well-known features Morton wrote: 'William and Harry were Diana's choices while her husband's preferences were used in their children's middle names' Despite now being thought of as Charles's right-hand woman, Princess Anne and Charles went through a challenging period in their relationship. According to the book Battle of Brothers by Robert Lacey, Anne's 'notorious frostiness seemed to grow a couple of degrees chillier whether the subject of Diana came up'. Anne appears to have been unreceptive when told that Diana had given birth to Prince William in June 1982. The princess had been touring Indian reservations in New Mexico for Save the Children when a reporter asked for her reaction to the good news. 'I didn't know she had one,' the princess snapped. Another reporter tried with: 'Do you think everyone is making too much fuss of the baby?' 'Yes,' came the curt response. At the time, says Lacey, Anne was undertaking more than 200 engagements a year compared with Diana's 50 and only 90-plus for Charles. Anne and Charles got on well as children and are pictured in the grounds of Balmoral Castle in September 1952 According to Lacey, a Palace insider explained as follows: 'Anne works very hard and sees her sister-in-law picking up the glory. She's sick to the back teeth with it all.' The depth of the ill-feeling was exposed soon afterward when, although Anne had asked Charles to be a Godparent to her first child, Peter Phillips, the compliment was not reciprocated. Anne was not invited to be William's Godmother and was not on the list when it came to Prince Harry's turn to be baptised in 1984. William's godparents instead included King Constantine II of Greece and Princess Alexandra of Kent. His christening took place in the Music Room at Buckingham Palace on August 4, 1982, on the 82nd Birthday of his great-grandmother the Queen Mother. William reportedly cried through the entire photoshoot as he was only a month old. Diana gave an emotional account of the day to Morton a decade later in 1992, remembering the event in the context of the breakdown in her marriage. 'Nobody asked me when it was suitable for William,' she said. '11 o'clock couldn't have been worse. Endless pictures of the queen, queen mother, Charles and William. I was excluded totally that day.' As Harry was carried to the font at St George's chapel, Windsor, Anne was out with her husband in the Gloucestershire countryside - shooting rabbits. Charles and Diana are pictured at home with William in December 1982 For as long as possible William was allowed to grow up not knowing that his future was already mapped out for life. He was a boisterous child, briefly known as 'Basher Billy' at nursery school. But it could not have been long before a sensitive child such as William came to understand there was something different about his own life. As he teaches his own children, George, Charlotte and Louis, about their roles within the Firm, he will be all too aware of the pressure they will face. But even the most senior royals are able to crack a joke when the time comes. The late Queen made a similar quip when she was asked about Prince George's impending arrival back in 2013. While visiting the Lake District days before her great-grandson arrived, the monarch met a group of students who eagerly asked her what gender she hoped the new baby would be.
Times
12 hours ago
- General
- Times
Léon Krier obituary: architect who designed Poundbury
Léon Krier once described himself as 'an architect, because I don't build'. As a minority voice in his profession who deplored the modernism that had dominated postwar architecture, Krier said he had made himself redundant. He assumed that he would remain a 'utopianist' for the rest of his life. Then he met Prince Charles (now the King). By the mid-Eighties the Prince of Wales was the British architecture profession's public enemy No 1 after a speech in 1984 in which he described a proposed extension of the National Gallery as a 'monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend'. Charles and the London-based architectural theorist and academic Krier were destined to meet. They did so at an exhibition in 1986 to present Krier's masterplan to restore a Georgian quarter of London's Spitalfields that was under threat from modern development. Krier's elegant drawings acted like catnip on the royal visitor. 'He [Charles] said, 'Let's talk',' recalled the Luxembourg-born Krier, who wore slightly dandified Edwardian-style outfits topped off by his trademark silk scarves and had the air of a central European intellectual. 'And then he [Charles] said 'Would you like to be my consultant on architecture and particularly on urbanism?' and I said, 'Wow, my God. How could I refuse.' And then we'd meet at strange times and places. Like 3am with some Russian princess in Chelsea.' He remembered feeling touched by the 'desperate, even tragic ring' to Charles's voice when lamenting architecture. Charles had continued to blame architects for ruining postwar Britain, but in 1988 seized his chance to develop his own urban Arcadia on 400 acres of land, near the Dorset town of Dorchester, owned by his Duchy of Cornwall. The development would be planned in rigorous accordance with Krier's 'New Urbanist' principles of human scale. No building could be more than five storeys and would be configured in traditional street patterns. Houses and businesses would exist cheek by jowl. 'Timeless' materials of stone, brick and wood would be used. No one could be more than 15 minutes away from all the amenities they might need and even their place of work. Car use would be minimal. To reduce the urban sprawl he so deplored, he proposed reintroducing terraced housing that had become anathema to the modernists. It was a social experiment to disprove so much of the postwar urban redevelopment that replaced traditional street patterns and market squares with dual carriageways through town and city centres surrounded by residential tower blocks and the zoning of residential and commercial uses that created car-dependent suburban sprawl. 'Modernism is a totalitarian ideology which, like all dogmatism, is based on unprovable assumptions,' Krier said. About a year after starting on the project, Krier presented his masterplan for Poundbury, replete with Italianate piazzas linked by tree-lined streets. The plan was strong on details, from elaborate lampposts to wrought-iron fencing. Alarmed staff at the Duchy of Cornwall warned Charles that Krier's plans would be far too expensive. Krier countered that the rise in values would justify the cost in the long run. According to Clive Aslet's recent book King Charles III: 40 years of Architecture, the duchy appointed the surveyors Drivers Jonas to 'rein Krier in'. Krier had walked away from many other projects for less. 'He was gentle but uncompromising in everything he did, preferring to withdraw than be drawn into political skirmishes, inhuman bureaucracy or pollute his designs,' said his wife Irene. Matters came to a head at the prince's home, Highgrove, in Gloucestershire, when Krier, Christopher Jonas and Charles looked at the plans laid out on the large dining table. Jonas said: 'Sir, we will of course take on board what Mr Krier says.' The prince banged his fist on the table and replied: 'Christopher, you are not going to take on board what Leo says, you are going to do what he tells you.'Krier recalled: 'From then on it was open war. He called me from everywhere saying, 'You can't do this.' And I'd say, 'You have to do it. The prince wants it and he is The Boss.'' In June 1989 a marquee was erected at Poundbury Farm and the public were invited to view Krier's masterplan. It was an exercise in community architecture run by Charles's friend, the architect John Thompson. Sometimes the prince himself would arrive by helicopter and drop in on meetings unannounced. The marquee was packed and local people were mostly won round, although many thought that the buildings were too classical. An unabashed classicist by personal taste, Krier revised his plans with vernacular architecture more in keeping with the surrounding area. Planning permission for phase one was achieved in 1991. Britain was in the midst of a property crash, which many smugly predicted would scupper Poundbury — especially as Krier had ignored the advice of property experts and sited affordable housing alongside the more expensive private properties. As the buildings started to rise up in 1993, the profession went to war on Poundbury. It was sneeringly described as a 'Toy Town' pastiche of neoclassicism with its portentous porticos and public squares. A critic in this newspaper once said: 'If Hallmark were to film a Christmas movie in Britain, Poundbury would be an ideal setting.' Yet over the years the community has continued to thrive. There are now some 4,500 people living there, with 185 businesses sustaining 2,300 jobs. Poundbury has been visited by architects, planners and developers from all over the world. The estate agent Savills reported that Poundbury homes are on average worth 25 per cent more than other homes on the local market. Krier himself lived for many years in a townhouse in Belsize Park, north London, full of 19th-century Biedermeier furniture. To his critics in the profession Krier said: 'Look at where architects live. They live in old traditional houses just as I do. Why do they impose these inhuman structures on others?' For much of Krier's professional life this view was countercultural, but when the tide turned he came to be known as the 'godfather of New Urbanism'. Léon Ernest Krier was born in Luxembourg in 1946 to Jean Pierre Jacques Krier, a tailor who specialised in ecclesiastical robes and supplied most of the bishops in the country. His mother was Emma Marguerite (née Lanser). He grew up in a small, handsome town that he later described as a 'perfect embodiment of New Urbanism' and attended the Lycée Classique in the baroque monastery of L'Abbaye d'Echternach. He wanted to be a pianist, but decided to study architecture to follow in the footsteps of his elder brother Robert, whom he hero-worshipped. As a teenager he was a confirmed modernist and dreamt of 'blasting the cities I saw around me and building skyscrapers'. Then he realised that he was 'in love with the cities of Italy'. 'I tried hard to reconcile them with the theories of Le Corbusier. It was impossible.' He won a place to study architecture at the University of Stuttgart, but found his tutors impossible to talk to. The situation worsened when he researched the work of Albert Speer, the architect of the Third Reich, and his teachers described Krier's scholarship as 'fascist'. He left without graduating and moved to London, where he worked in the office of the modernist architect James Stirling. Four years working for 'big Jim' cured him of any remaining proclivities towards modernism. After leaving Stirling's office he developed masterplans for Kingston upon Hull, Rome, Luxembourg, West Berlin, Bremen, Stockholm, Munich and Washington, none of which were taken forward. He made his living teaching at the Architectural Association and the Royal College of Art, where he made his reputation as a lone architectural theorist crying in the wilderness. While working on Poundbury in the Nineties, he also masterplanned the Cité Judiciaire in his native Luxembourg. In recent years he worked on projects in Guatemala City and a new town near San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. In 2017 it emerged that he was working on a waterside masterplan to redevelop Fawley power station on the Solent, near Southampton, into 1,500 homes on a 300-acre site. The £2.3 billion project became known in the press as 'Venice in Britain', but, without the royal protection he had enjoyed at Poundbury, the scheme was largely cancelled last year after the developers said it was no longer viable. Krier was divorced from his first wife Rita Wolf, a painter. He is survived by his second wife Irene. Defending his New Urbanist approach to placemaking, Krier said: 'Traditional architecture and urbanism is not an ideology, religion, or transcendental system. It cannot save lost souls or give meaning to empty lives. It is a body of knowledge and know-how allowing us to build practically, aesthetically, socially and economically satisfying cities and structures. Such structures do not ensure happiness but they certainly facilitate the pursuit of happiness for a large majority of people.' Poundbury is due to be completed in 2028, 35 years after it broke ground, at which point there will be homes for 6,000 people. When he started work on the project Krier was a 43-year-old with what a profile in The Guardian described as 'a mad scientist mop of black hair'. By the time of his death the hair was snowy white but in the same unruly mop and he was proud to be the only member of the original team still involved in the project, along with the King. Léon Krier CVO, architectural theorist and urban planner, was born on April 7, 1946. He died of colon cancer on June 17, 2025, aged 79
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
How a 'severe blow' to William's head signalled the end of Prince Charles and Princess Diana's turbulent marriage
Princess Diana was enjoying lunch with a friend on June 3, 1991, at her favourite Italian restaurant in Knightsbridge when their conversation was interrupted by her bodyguard. Prince William, then eight, had suffered a 'severe blow' to his head while he and a fellow pupil were playing with a golf club in the grounds of their private boarding school Ludgrove in Berkshire. As Diana apologised to her friend and hurried from the restaurant, Prince Charles embarked on the drive from Highgrove to the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading where his eldest son had been taken for tests. When both parents arrived, the doctors suggested William be taken to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children in London. Thankfully, the young royal was 'chirpy and chatty' as he rode in the ambulance alongside his mother, with his father following closely behind in his Aston Martin sports car. Doctors, including the Queen Elizabeth's physician Dr Anthony Dawson and neurosurgeon Richard Hayward, soon found that William had suffered a depressed fracture of the skull and required an immediate operation. 'They made it clear that there were potentially serious risks, albeit relatively small, both in the operation and in the possibility that the Prince could have suffered damage to the brain during the initial accident,' royal biographer Andrew Morton wrote in Diana: Her True Story - In Her Own Words. But instead of staying with his wife, and, more importantly, standing by his eldest son's side, Charles left the hospital to attend a performance of Puccini's Tosca at the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden. Princess Diana apologised to her friend and swiftly travelled to the Royal Berkshire Hospital after receiving the news of William's injury His decision to put duty before family may have come as a shock to the public - but it did not surprise his wife. She accepted his decision to go to the opera as 'nothing out of the ordinary', according to Morton. William, holding his mother's hand, was wheeled into surgery for the 75-minute operation. Diana then waited anxiously in another room until Dr Hayward emerged to tell her William was fine. She later said it was one of the longest hours of her life. As she sat with William in a private room watching nurses come and go every 20 minutes to test his blood pressure and shine a light in his eyes, Charles boarded the royal train for an overnight journey to North Yorkshire where he was due to attend an environmental study. Although a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said he stayed in close touch with doctors, the media quickly cottoned on to the fact that Charles was not with his recovering son. Pictures of the prince wandering the Yorkshire Dales on his green mission were plastered across front pages. 'What kind of dad are you?' asked the Sun's headline. Diana, on the other hand, saw this as yet another example in a continuing pattern. Morton wrote that a close friend who spoke to her as soon as William came out of the operation room said: 'Had this been an isolated incident it would have been unbelievable. She wasn't surprised. 'It merely confirmed everything she thought about him and reinforced the feeling that he found it difficult to relate to the children. She got no support at all, no cuddles, no affection, nothing.' James Gilbey, Diana's lover and the man behind 'Squidygate', reinforced this view: 'Her reaction to William's accident was horror and disbelief. By all accounts it was a narrow escape. 'She can't understand her husband's behaviour so, as a result, she just blocks it out. Diana thinks: "I know where my loyalties lie: with my son."' Following two anxious nights spent at the hospital, William was discharged and travelled home with his mother. The bandages had been removed, revealing a noticeable bump and a line of stitches on the young prince's head. When Charles became aware of the public's disdain, he allegedly blamed Diana for making an 'awful nonsense' about the severity of William's injury. He also claimed he was unaware that his son and heir to the throne could have suffered brain damage. 'The dramatically different manner in which the couple responded to William's injury publicly underlined what those within their immediate circle had known for some time: the fairytale marriage between the Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer was over in all but name,' wrote Morton. Charles told his official biographer Jonathan Dimbleby that he picked things back up with Camilla in 1986. Meanwhile it is alleged Diana's affair with army captain James Hewitt started around the same time. The Prince and Princess of Wales, who had separate bedrooms at their homes for years stopped sharing the same sleeping quarters during an official visit to Portugal in 1987. The next few years saw Charles and Diana plagued with rumours of marital problems, culminating in the blistering tell-all of the collapse of their marriage as published by Morton in 1992. The doomed royal couple announced their separation just months after the publication of Diana: Her True Story - In Her Own Words and finalised their divorce in August 1996. As well as the scar of his parent's divorce, William was left with a visible scar running across his forehead, which he humorously refers to as his 'Harry Potter' scar. He told the story of the injury while he was being interviewed by a 10-year-old cancer patient for CBBC's Newsround in 2009. Speaking to Alice, a patient at the Royal Marsden Hospital, he pointed at his head, saying: 'That was for my Harry Potter scar, as I call it, just here. Prince Charles leaves Kensington Palace after visiting William who was moved home after his two-night hospital stay 'I call it that because it glows sometimes and some people notice it - other times they don't notice it at all. 'I got hit by a golf club when I was playing golf with a friend,' he explained. 'Yeah, we were on a putting green and the next thing you know there was a seven-iron and it came out of nowhere and hit me in the head.
South Wales Guardian
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- South Wales Guardian
What is Trooping the Colour 2025? How to watch on TV today
Military pomp and pageantry will be on display to mark the King's 'official' birthday but the event will also remember those killed in the Air India plane crash this week. The King has requested a minute's silence be observed in tribute to the 241 passengers and crew killed, and others affected, when a Boeing 787 Dreamliner bound for Gatwick Airport came down on Thursday (June 12) in the Indian city of Ahmedabad. Black armbands will also be worn by the head of state and senior royals riding in the ceremony, also known as the King's Birthday Parade, staged in Horse Guards Parade in Whitehall. This year marks the third Trooping the Colour of His Majesty's reign. 📷 Prince Charles, aged 3, attends his first Trooping the Colour in 1951, riding in a carriage with his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and aunt, Princess Margaret. 📷 Prince Charles, held by… On horseback and wearing the armbands will be the Royal Colonels – Prince of Wales, Colonel of the Welsh Guards, the Princess Royal, Colonel Blues and Royals, and the Duke of Edinburgh, Colonel Scots Guards. A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said the King requested amendments to the Trooping the Colour programme 'as a mark of respect for the lives lost, the families in mourning and all the communities affected by this awful tragedy'. But ahead of the occasion on Saturday morning, what exactly is Trooping the Colour? This is all you need to know. As the birthday celebrations for the reigning King or Queen usually take place outdoors, Trooping the Colour takes place each June if the member of the royal family in charge wasn't born in the summer months of the year. The King's official birthday is on November 14, and towards the end of 2025, he will be 77 years old. Trooping the Colour will see more than 1400 parading soldiers, 200 horses and 400 musicians come together in a 'great display of military precision, horsemanship and fanfare to mark the Sovereign's official birthday,' reports The Royal Family's website. It adds: 'The streets are lined with crowds waving flags as the parade moves from Buckingham Palace and down The Mall to Horse Guard's Parade, alongside Members of the Royal Family on horseback and in carriages. 'The display closes with an RAF fly-past, watched by Members of the Royal Family from Buckingham Palace balcony.' Additionally, Trooping the Colour will see more than 1,000 servicemen taking part in the military display who when not performing ceremonial duties are fighting soldiers. The colour – regimental flag – being trooped this year is the King's Colour of Number 7 Company, Coldstream Guards, a prestigious regiment known as the sovereign's bodyguard which is celebrating its 375th anniversary this year. For today's event, the Queen, the Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Edinburgh are expected to be among the royal party watching the event and royal fans will hope Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis will join them as they did in 2024. Members of the royal family not taking part in the parade and who normally watch events from the Duke of Wellington's former office will not wear black armbands. Trooping the Colour: The King's Birthday Parade will air on BBC One and iPlayer from 10.30am until 1.10pm. Recommended reading: Celebrities on Birthday Honours list from David Beckham to Claudia Winkleman How does the British honours system work and what do the different honours mean? Red Arrows announce 2025 UK display schedule - are they flying near you this year? The Radio Times summary explains: 'Clare Balding introduces live coverage from London, as the Coldstream Guards troop their Colour on Horse Guards Parade. 'Marking the King's official birthday, this event will culminate with the annual RAF flypast and The Royal Family's iconic balcony appearance. 'Radzi Chinyanganya will be on the ground speaking live to those involved.'
Glasgow Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
What is Trooping the Colour 2025? How to watch on TV today
Military pomp and pageantry will be on display to mark the King's 'official' birthday but the event will also remember those killed in the Air India plane crash this week. The King has requested a minute's silence be observed in tribute to the 241 passengers and crew killed, and others affected, when a Boeing 787 Dreamliner bound for Gatwick Airport came down on Thursday (June 12) in the Indian city of Ahmedabad. Black armbands will also be worn by the head of state and senior royals riding in the ceremony, also known as the King's Birthday Parade, staged in Horse Guards Parade in Whitehall. This year marks the third Trooping the Colour of His Majesty's reign. 📷 Prince Charles, aged 3, attends his first Trooping the Colour in 1951, riding in a carriage with his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and aunt, Princess Margaret. 📷 Prince Charles, held by… — The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) June 14, 2025 On horseback and wearing the armbands will be the Royal Colonels – Prince of Wales, Colonel of the Welsh Guards, the Princess Royal, Colonel Blues and Royals, and the Duke of Edinburgh, Colonel Scots Guards. A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said the King requested amendments to the Trooping the Colour programme 'as a mark of respect for the lives lost, the families in mourning and all the communities affected by this awful tragedy'. But ahead of the occasion on Saturday morning, what exactly is Trooping the Colour? This is all you need to know. What is Trooping the Colour? As the birthday celebrations for the reigning King or Queen usually take place outdoors, Trooping the Colour takes place each June if the member of the royal family in charge wasn't born in the summer months of the year. The King's official birthday is on November 14, and towards the end of 2025, he will be 77 years old. Trooping the Colour will see more than 1400 parading soldiers, 200 horses and 400 musicians come together in a 'great display of military precision, horsemanship and fanfare to mark the Sovereign's official birthday,' reports The Royal Family's website. It adds: 'The streets are lined with crowds waving flags as the parade moves from Buckingham Palace and down The Mall to Horse Guard's Parade, alongside Members of the Royal Family on horseback and in carriages. 'The display closes with an RAF fly-past, watched by Members of the Royal Family from Buckingham Palace balcony.' Additionally, Trooping the Colour will see more than 1,000 servicemen taking part in the military display who when not performing ceremonial duties are fighting soldiers. Which regiment will Troop the Colour in 2025? The colour – regimental flag – being trooped this year is the King's Colour of Number 7 Company, Coldstream Guards, a prestigious regiment known as the sovereign's bodyguard which is celebrating its 375th anniversary this year. For today's event, the Queen, the Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Edinburgh are expected to be among the royal party watching the event and royal fans will hope Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis will join them as they did in 2024. Members of the royal family not taking part in the parade and who normally watch events from the Duke of Wellington's former office will not wear black armbands. What time is Trooping the Colour today? See when it's on TV Trooping the Colour: The King's Birthday Parade will air on BBC One and iPlayer from 10.30am until 1.10pm. Recommended reading: The Radio Times summary explains: 'Clare Balding introduces live coverage from London, as the Coldstream Guards troop their Colour on Horse Guards Parade. 'Marking the King's official birthday, this event will culminate with the annual RAF flypast and The Royal Family's iconic balcony appearance. 'Radzi Chinyanganya will be on the ground speaking live to those involved.'
