Prince Charles turns 70 waiting to inherit British throne

* Born in Buckingham Palace at 9.14pm on November 14, 1948, Charles is the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.

* He was the first heir to go to school and university, being educated at Gordonstoun school in northern Scotland and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he obtained a second class history degree. Charles went on to serve in the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy. He qualified as a helicopter pilot.

* His investiture as the Prince of Wales took place on July 1, 1969 at Caernarfon Castle.

* After leaving the armed forces, Charles set up the Prince’s Trust in 1976 to help disadvantaged young people in the United Kingdom, using his Royal Navy severance pay of STG7400 to fund a number of community initiatives. It has since helped more than 870,000 people into work, education or training.

* He married Diana Spencer at St Paul’s Cathedral on July 29, 1981 with a crowd of more than 500,000 lining the route between Buckingham Palace and the cathedral. The couple had two sons, William, born in 1982 and Henry, known as Harry, born two years later.

* Charles and Diana were divorced in August 1996 after years of acrimonious marital problems. Diana blamed Charles for his refusal to end his affair with his long-term lover, Camilla Parker Bowles. Charles said he had remained faithful in the marriage “until it became irretrievably broken down”. On August 31, 1997, Diana died in a car crash in Paris.

* Charles and Camilla were married on April 9, 2005 in a civil ceremony in Windsor. They were later joined by 800 guests for a service of prayer and dedication at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle before a reception hosted by the queen.

* He became the longest-serving heir apparent to the British throne in April 2011. He was three when his mother became queen in 1952 and four at her coronation the following year.

(Sources: Reuters archives, www.royal.gov.uk)