Present situation of Crown colonies. Status of American colonies and explanation for current political strife!! Read carfully!! Prince of Wales (Charles Philip Arthur George; a titled royal Charles does not use a family name, when one is needed it is Mountbatten-Windsor), born 14 November 1948, is the heir apparent of Queen Elizabeth II. He is known in Scotland as Duke of Rothesay, and in South West England as Duke of Cornwall. He he is the longest-serving heir apparent in British history, having held the position since 1952. He is also the oldest heir to the throne since 1714. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, baptised him in the palaces Music Room on 15 December 1948, using water from the River Jordan. The princes godparents were: the King (his maternal grandfather); the King of Norway (his cousin, for whom the Earl of Athlone stood proxy); Queen Mary (his maternal great-grandmother); Princess Margaret (his maternal aunt); Prince George of Greece and Denmark (his paternal great-uncle, for whom the Duke of Edinburgh stood proxy); the Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven (his paternal great-grandmother); the Lady Brabourne (his cousin); and the Hon David Bowes-Lyon (his maternal great-uncle). As the child of a daughter of the sovereign, Charles would not usually have been accorded the titles of a British prince or the style Royal Highness. Instead, he would have taken his fathers secondary title, Earl of Merioneth, as a courtesy title. However George VI issued letters patent granting a royal and princely status to any children of Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh, making Charles a royal prince from birth. In his youth his great-uncle Lord Mountbatten advised him: In a case like yours, the man should sow his wild oats and have as many affairs as he can before settling down, but for a wife he should choose a suitable, attractive, and sweet-charactered girl before she has met anyone else she might fall for ... It is disturbing for women to have experiences if they have to remain on a pedestal after marriage. He graduated from Cambridge with a 2:2 Bachelor of Arts on 23 June 1970, the first heir apparent to earn a university degree. On 2 August 1975, he was subsequently awarded a Master of Arts degree from Cambridge, per the universitys tradition. Charless interests encompass a range of humanitarian and social issues. Mark Bolland, his ex-private secretary, declared in a statement to the High Court that Charles would readily embrace the political aspects of any contentious issue he was interested in ... He carried it out in a very considered, thoughtful and researched way. He often referred to himself as a dissident working against the prevailing political consensus. Jonathan Dimbleby reported that the Prince has accumulated a number of certainties about the state of the world and does not relish contradiction. An ex-member of his household handed the press an internal memo in which Charles commented on ambition and opportunity, and which was widely interpreted as blaming meritocracy for creating a combative atmosphere in society. Charles responded: In my view, it is just as great an achievement to be a plumber or a bricklayer as it is to be a lawyer or a doctor. His primary source of income is generated from the Duchy of Cornwall, which is one of two royal duchies in England, the other being the Duchy of Lancaster. The eldest son of the reigning British monarch inherits the duchy at the time of his birth, or of his parents succession to the throne. If the monarch has no son, the estates of the duchy are held by the crown as was the situation of the American Colonies in 1775. The principal activity of the duchy is the management of its land and properties. The duchy owns 133,658 acres, including farming, residential, and commercial properties, as well as an investment portfolio. Highgrove is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, having been purchased for his use in 1980, and which Prince Charles rents for £336,000 per annum. The Public Accounts Committee published its 25th report into the Duchy of Cornwall accounts in November 2013. For the fiscal year ending March 31st 2013, the duchy was valued at £763 million, and annual profit was £19 million, a revenue surplus gain of 4.1% from the previous year. The duchy also exercises certain legal rights and privileges across Cornwall, including some that elsewhere in England belong to the crown. The government considers the duchy to be a crown body and therefore exempt from paying corporation tax. The tax position of the duchy has been challenged by British republicans. Clarence House in London is the Prince of Waless current official residence. Previously, he had an apartment at St Jamess Palace. Charles also has two private homes: Highgrove House in Gloucestershire and Birkhall near Balmoral Castle. Both Clarence House and Birkhall were previously the residences of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. In 2007 the Prince purchased a 192-acre property (150 acres of grazing and parkland, and 40 acres of woodland) in Carmarthenshire, and applied for permission to convert the farm into a Welsh home for him and the Duchess of Cornwall, to be rented out as holiday flats when the royal couple is not in residence. A neighbouring family said the proposals flouted local planning regulations, and the application was put on hold temporarily while a report was drafted on how the alterations would affect the local bat population. He attends services at various Anglican churches close to Highgrove, and attends the Church of Scotlands Crathie Kirk with the rest of the royal family when staying at Balmoral Castle. In 2000, he was appointed as Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. The Prince of Wales has visited (amid some secrecy) Orthodox monasteries several times on Mount Athos as well as in Romania. Charles is also patron of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies at the University of Oxford. Sir Laurens van der Post became a friend of Charles in 1977; he was dubbed his spiritual guru and was godfather to Charless son, Prince William. From van der Post, the Prince of Wales developed a focus on philosophy, especially that of Asian and Middle Eastern nations. He has praised Kabbalistic artworks, and wrote a memorial for Kathleen Raine, the Neoplatonist poet who died in 2003. Charles has held substantive ranks in the armed forces of a number of countries since he was made a flight lieutenant in the Royal Air Force in 1972. Charless first honorary appointment in the armed forces was as Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Regiment of Wales in 1969; since then, the Prince has also been installed as Colonel-in-Chief, Colonel, Honorary Air Commodore, Air Commodore-in-Chief, Deputy Colonel-in-Chief, Royal Honorary Colonel, Royal Colonel, and Honorary Commodore of at least 32 military formations throughout the Commonwealth, including the Royal Gurkha Rifles, which is the only foreign regiment in the British army. Since 2009, Charles holds the second-highest ranks in all three branches of the Canadian Forces. On 16 June 2012, the Queen awarded the Prince of Wales honorary five-star rank in all three branches of the British Armed Forces, to acknowledge his support in her role as Commander-in-Chief. As Prince of Wales, Charles undertakes official duties on behalf of his mother and the Commonwealth realms. He officiates at investitures and attends the funerals of foreign dignitaries. At the funeral of Pope John Paul II, Charles unintentionally caused controversy when he shook hands with Robert Mugabe, the President of Zimbabwe, who had been seated next to him. In 2008, The Daily Telegraph declared Charles the hardest-working member of the royal family. He carried out 560 official engagements in 2008, 499 in 2010, and over 600 in 2011. Charless office subsequently released a statement saying: The Prince of Wales was caught by surprise and not in a position to avoid shaking Mr. Mugabes hand. The Prince finds the current Zimbabwean regime abhorrent. He has supported the Zimbabwe Defence and Aid Fund which works with those being oppressed by the regime. The Prince also recently met Pius Ncube, the Archbishop of Bulawayo, an outspoken critic of the government. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles,_Prince_of_Wales#Residences_and_finance
Posted on: Sun, 22 Jun 2014 01:54:47 +0000
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