Happy birthday Prince Charles
Friday, 14 November 2008 12:01 AM
Today is Prince Charles 60th birthday. Politics.co.uk takes a look back at his life so far.
1948 Birth celebrated across the British Empire with Union Jacks being raised and warships firing salutes.
1967-70 Attended Cambridge University.
1969 Invested as Prince of Wales.
1970-75 Serves in Royal Navy.
1981 Charles Marries Diana Spencer.
1986 In a television interview Charles reveals he enjoys talking with plants saying: "I just come and talk to the plants, really very important to talk to them. They respond I find."
1987 Charles gives his opinions of London architecture of the period during a speech at Mansion House: "You have to give this much to the Luftwaffe: when it knocked down our buildings it did not replace them with anything more offensive than rubble. We did that."
1992 Announces separation from wife Diana
1996 Divorces Diana
2000 Appears in T.V soap Coronation Street
2001 Slapped with a flower by a girl on tour to Latvia.
2002 A statue depicting Charles as the saviour of the world is unveiled in Brazil.
2003 The Prince offers his own take on Renzo Piano's 100ft "Shard of Glass" on London Bridge "At the moment it looks as though London seems to be turning into an absurdist picnic table - we already have a giant gherkin, now it looks as if we are going to have an enormous salt cellar."
2004 Charles causes controversy when a note to an aide about the education system was revealed. "This is all to do with the learning culture in schools," he wrote. "It is a consequence of a child-centred education system which tells people they can become pop stars, high court judges or brilliant TV presenters or infinitely more competent heads of state without ever putting the necessary work or having the natural ability. It is a result of social utopianism which believes humanity can be genetically engineered to contradict the lessons of history."
2005 In a leaked memo the Prince labels Chinese leaders as "appalling old waxworks".
2005 Marries Camilla Parker Bowls.
2008 Charles turns down role in T.V show Doctor Who.
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