Arms: The Royal Arms, differenced by a label of three points argent, in the centre an escutcheon of the arms of the Principality of Wales, viz., quarterly or and gules four lions passant guardant counterchanged, ensigned by the coronet of the Heir Apparent, the whole encircled with the Garter. >Crest: The Royal Crest, differenced with a label of three points argent but with the coronets of the Heir Apparent. Supporters: The Royal supporters differenced by a like coronet and label. Badges: 1 Dexter, a plume of three ostrich feathers argent enfiled by a coronet composed of fleurs-de-lys and crosses-patées or alternately, with the motto Ich Dien (‘I serve'), 2 sinister, a representation of the Royal Badge of Wales, viz., on a mount vert a dragon passant gules, differenced as in the crest with a label of three points argent; between the badges the shield of the arms of the Duchy of Cornwall, viz., sable fifteen bezants or, ensigned by the coronet of the Heir Apparent. Personal Flag in Wales: Quarterly or and gules, four lions passant guardant counterchanged, over all an inescutcheon vert charged with the coronet of the Heir Apparent. Scottish banner: Quarterly, 1st and 4th, or a fess chequy azure and argent (for the Great Steward of Scotland); 2nd and 3rd, argent a lymphad sable flagged gules (for the Lord of the Isles), overall on an inescutcheon or a lion rampant gules armed and langued azure within a royal tressure gules, the inescutcheon charged overall at the honour point with a label of three points azure (for the Duke of Rothesay). Creations: Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester 26 July 1958 (invested 1 July 1969) (the other titles became his automatically at his mother's accession).

THE PRINCE OF WALES, DUKE OF CORNWALL, DUKE OF ROTHESAY, EARL OF CHESTER, EARL OF CARRICK, BARON OF RENFREW, LORD OF THE ISLES, GREAT STEWARD OF SCOTLAND (Charles Philip Arthur George Windsor, KG (1958, invested and installed 1968), KT (1977), GCB (1975), AK (1981), QSO (1983), PC (1977)) [HRH The Prince of Wales KG KT GCB PC, Highgrove House, Doughton, nr Tetbury, Glos GL8 8TN; St James's Palace, London SW1A 1BS]; b Buckingham Palace 14 Nov 1948; educ Cheam School, Gordonstoun, Geelong GS Australia, Trin Coll Cambridge (MA, Hon Fell 1988) and U Coll Wales Aberystwyth; Personal ADC to HM 1973–, ktd 1977, Capt RN 1988 (ret), Col-in-Ch: Roy Regt Wales (24th/41st Foot) 1969–, Cheshire Regt 1977–, Lord Strathcona's Horse (Roy Canadian) Regt 1977–, Para Regt 1977–, Roy Australian Armoured Corps 1977–, Roy Gurkha Rifles 1977–, Roy Regt Canada 1977–, Air Reserve Gp Air Cmd Canada 1977–, Roy Winnipeg Rifles 1977–, Papua New Guinea 2nd Bn Roy Pacific Islands Regt 1984–, Roy Canadian Dragoons 1985–, Army Air Corps 1992–, Roy Dragoon Gds 1992–; Dep Col-in-Ch Highrs 1994–; Col Welsh Gds 1975–; Gp Capt RAF 1988–; Hon Air Cdre: RAF Brawdy 1977–92, RAF Valley 1993–; Air Cdre-in-Ch RNZAF 1977–; Pres: Bach Choir 1976–, Br Horse Soc 1997–, Business in the Community, Disability Ptnrship, Fndn for Integrated Medicine, King's Fund, Mary Rose Tst, Phoenix Tst, Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum 1990–, Prince of Wales's Inst Architecture 1992–, Prince's Tst Bd 1977–, Prince's Scottish Youth Business Tst 1986–, Prince's Tst 1976–, Prince's Youth Business Tst, Roy Acad Tst 1993–, Roy Ag Soc of England 1990–91, Roy Coll GPs 1991–92, Roy Jubilee Tst 1977–, Roy Shakespeare Co 1991–, Scottish Business in the Community, Soc Friends of St George's and Descendants of KGs 1975–, Utd World Colleges 1978–93, Wetlands Tst 1979–, Wildfowl Tst, Prince's Tst Vols; Adml Roy Thames Yacht Club 1986–; High Steward Roy Borough Windsor and Maidenhead 1975–; Patron: Abbeyfield 1979–, African Medical and Research Fndn, Age Concern England, Almshouse Assoc, Ancient Monuments Soc 1990–, Assoc for Business Sponsorship of the Arts 1988–, Bath Internat Music Festival, BBC Nat Orchestra Wales, Bristol Roy Hosp for Sick Children 1996–, Br Sch Athens 1997–, Civic Tst 1985–, English Chamber Orchestra and Music Soc, Gloucester Cathedral 900-Year Fund, Gurkha Welfare Tst, Henry Doubleday Research Assoc, Macmillan Cancer Relief, Nat Gallery Tst 1993–, Music in Country Churches, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Phoenix House, Roy Opera, Roy Soc Nature Conservation 1977–, Roy TV Soc 1997–, Scottish Civic Tst, Scottish Wildlife Tst, Welsh Nat Opera, Yorkshire Dales Millennium Tst; V-Patron Br Cncl 1984–; V-Pres Nat Tst; Chllr: U of Wales 1976–; Chm: Cambridge Cwlth Tst, Roy Collection Tst 1993–; Coronation Medal 1953, Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal 1977, Great Master Order Bath 1975, Extra Companion Queen's Service Order NZ 1983, Grand Cross White Rose Finland 1969, Grand Cordon Supreme Order Chrysanthemum Japan 1971, Grand Cross House of Orange Netherlands 1972, Grand Cross Order Oak Crown Luxembourg 1972, Kt Order Elephant Denmark 1974, Grand Cross Order Ojasvi Rajanya Nepal 1975, Kt Order Seraphim Sweden 1975, Grand Cross Order Southern Cross Brazil 1978; Grand Cross Collar Republic of Egypt 1981, Grand Cross Order Orange Nassau Netherlands 1982, Grand Cross Order St Olav Norway 1978, Offr Order Star Ghana 1977, Grand Cross Legn Hon 1984, Grand Cross Order Carlos III Spain, Nepal Coronation Medal 1975, Grand Cross Khalifiyyeh Order Bahrain, Grand Cross Order Lion Malawi, Grand Cross Order Merit Saudi Arabia, Papua New Guinea Independence Medal 1975, Fijian Independence Medal 1970, NZ Commemorative Medal 1990, Order Merit Qatar 1986, Order Mubarak the Gt Kuwait 1993; Freedom: Cardiff 1969, Roy Borough New Windsor 1970, Cities of London 1971, Chester 1973, Canterbury 1978, Portsmouth 1979, Lancaster 1993, Swansea 1994; Liveryman: Farmers' Co 1980, Pewterers' Co 1982, Fruiterers' Co 1989, Fishmongers' Co 1971, Gardeners' Co 1987, Carpenters' Co 1992; Freeman: Drapers' Co 1971, Shipwrights' Co 1978, Goldsmiths' Co; Hon Memb: Master Mariners' Co 1977 (Master 1988–90) and Bar Gray's Inn 1974 (Hon Bencher 1975); Bencher Middle Temple 1988; Hon DCL Oxon 1983, Durham 1998; m 29 July 1981 at St Paul's Cathedral London (divorce 28 Aug 1996) Lady Diana Frances Spencer (d in a car crash 31 Aug 1997), yst dau of 8th Earl Spencer (qv), and has:

1a +WILLIAM ARTHUR PHILIP LOUIS; b St Mary's Hosp Paddington 21 June 1982; educ Ludgrove and Eton

2a +Henry (Harry) Charles Albert David; b St Mary's Hosp Paddington 15 Sept 1984; educ Ludgrove and Eton

Prince of Wales (and Earldom of Chester), previous holders of title of: The dignity of Prince of Wales, though exclusive since 1301 (when it was instituted) to the Heir Apparent of the Sovereign, is not automatically conferred. Moreover, as will be seen, its possessor by no means always inherits the Crown.

The first such, EDWARD of Caernarvon, later EDWARD II, was so created 7 Feb 1301, just under three months before his 17th birthday. On succeeding his father as King in 1307, the title merged with the Crown. This has been the pattern ever since where the title is extant at all. But the next holder was not EDWARD II's own first-born son, the future EDWARD III, even though he was at least 16 at the time of his father's deposition, but EDWARD III's own eldest boy, EDWARD of Woodstock, better known as the Black Prince, created PRINCE OF WALES in 1343, when he was not quite 13. EDWARD II's failure to create his own successor PRINCE OF WALES is perhaps due to the turbulence of his reign in its closing stages, perhaps also to the novelty of the title.

The Black Prince predeceased his father, dying a year before him in June 1376. For his son, however, the future RICHARD II, the title had to be created anew, not inherited. The creation in question occurred in November 1376, eight months before RICHARD succeeded his grandfather as King. RICHARD II died childless, so for the time being the question of whether to create his first-born male PRINCE OF WALES did not arise.

HENRY IV's first-born son, the future HENRY V, was made at the age of 12 PRINCE OF WALES. This was in 1399, some two weeks after his father's usurping the throne from RICHARD II. HENRY V died when his own son, the future HENRY VI, was only nine months old, so the failure to create him PRINCE OF WALES is perhaps understandable. On the other hand HENRY VI's son, EDWARD of Westminster, who predeceased his father in 1471, was made PRINCE OF WALES in March 1454, when at the most not even 18 months old. And EDWARD IV's elder son, another EDWARD of Westminster (better known as one of the two Princes in the Tower) was made PRINCE OF WALES when not quite nine months old. Perhaps the uncertainty of dynastic survival during the Wars of the Roses prompted Kings to confer the princely title on their heirs as early as possible. If so, it would seem that in earlier generations the succession appeared too secure for the matter to be seen as urgent. Or perhaps the crisis of the moment had arisen so swiftly that it found earlier Sovereigns as unready as ETHELRED is misunderstood to have been by those who do not know that his sobriquet means ‘lacking in advice'.

In fact 11 out of the 21 recorded royal personages known as or styled PRINCEs OF WALES have not, or not yet, ascended the throne, so that actuarially speaking the title may be said to promise more than it delivers. For instance, RICHARD III's only son, EDWARD of Middleham, was created PRINCE OF WALES in August 1483 but predeceased his father aged ten, dying less than eight months later. HENRY VII's eldest son ARTHUR, also made PRINCE OF WALES, died seven years before his father at the age of 16. JAMES I's eldest son HENRY did likewise aged 18. CHARLES I had a first-born son called CHARLES JAMES who died the day of his birth, 13 May 1629, but was interred under the title of ‘Prince of Wales' even though he was never formally so created. JAMES II's only surviving son JAMES FRANCIS EDWARD, styled ‘Prince of Wales' in an official publication within a month of his birth in June 1688, and the latter's elder son, also styled ‘Prince of Wales' (by his adherents), otherwise known as The Old and Young Pretender respectively, were never acknowledged as having rights to the Crown at all following JAMES II's deemed vacating of it late in 1688 and the former was attainted by the English Parliament in March 1701/2, when all his honours were forfeited. GEORGE II's eldest son FREDERICK is another case of a PRINCE OF WALES predeceasing his father (his son, the future GEORGE III, having to be created PRINCE OF WALES anew a month after FREDERICK's death in spring 1751).

The first holder of an Earldom of Chester was one Gherbod, a native of Flanders who was granted a few years after the Conquest a substantial chunk of the former province of Mercia along with Chester itself, the whole being designated a County Palatine, that is, a county whose Earl had a large measure of devolved power. Earl Gherbod soon went back to the Continent, never to return. The Earldom of Chester was next conferred, in 1071, on Hugh d'Avranches, subsequently Vicomte d'Avranches, in Normandy, but better known as Hugh Lupus (‘Wolf', for his rapacity) and as far as his family background went a grandson of Herleve/Harlotte, mother of WILLIAM I (THE CONQUEROR), to whom he was thus half-nephew. His son, Richard, succeeded him in the Earldom and married a cousin, Maud, granddaughter of WILLIAM I, but was drowned in the wreck of the White Ship in 1120, leaving no legitimate children. The Earldom was next conferred on Hugh Lupus's nephew through his sister Margaret, one Ranulph, Vicomte de Bayeux. The Earldom remained with the latter's descendants till the death without issue in 1232 of his great-grandson Ranulph (also known as Earl of Lincoln; qv, preliminary remarks). Ranulph's sister's son John le Scot, Earl of Huntingdon and on his father's side nephew of WILLIAM THE LION KING OF SCOTS, was the next person to be invested with the Earldom of Chester but died, also without issue, five years later in 1237.

The Earldom of Chester had therefore already been held for over 150 years by family connections, however remote, of the reigning dynasty. From 1254 it has been held always by an eldest or eldest surviving son of the Sovereign, with the single exception of a period of less than eight months between Christmas Eve 1264 and the Battle of Evesham in early August the following year, when it was extorted from HENRY III by Simon de Montfort (see LEICESTER, E, preliminary remarks). The early holders (the future EDWARD I, his first-born son ALPHONSO, his second-born son the future EDWARD II, the future EDWARD III and the Black Prince) were created Earls of Chester independently of the title of Prince of Wales, although in EDWARD II's case the two dignities happened to be conferred the same day. From 1398, by an Act of Parliament which though repealed in the following reign has in practice been observed ever since, the Earldom of Chester has been treated as a principality and conferred with that of Wales.

Cornwall, previous titles under name of: Shadowy dignities which may possibly have involved the name Cornwall or a variation thereof include Earldoms supposedly held by (a) Brient de Bretagne (a Breton, as his name suggests) shortly after the Conquest, (b) Robert de Mortain, a half-brother of WILLIAM I (THE CONQUEROR), and his son and successor William de Mortain between the Conquest and 1106, (c) Alan de Bretagne (another Breton; see also RICHMOND and GORDON, D, preliminary remarks) between 1140 and 1146, (d) Baldwin de Reviers, Earl also of Devon (qv, preliminary remarks), (e) JOHN, fifth son of HENRY II, and (f) Henry, an illegitimate son of the first apparently authentic Earl of Cornwall, Reynold de Dunstanville, so created c 1141 and himself an illegitimate son, but of more august paternity, his father being HENRY I. (A Barony of Corn(e)wall(e) created according to later doctrine by writ of summons in 1433 was held by (Sir?) John Cornewalle till 1443, when on his death without legitimate issue any Barony/-ies he may have held, including the much more substantive ones of Fanhope and Milbroke, which were undoubtedly conferred on him, expired.)

Reynold de Dunstanville's Earldom passed back to the Crown when in 1175 he died without having had any sons. It was revived for RICHARD, KING JOHN's second son (see also GREY, B), in 1227, only to expire with the life of Edmund, its second holder and the grantee's fifth son, in 1300. Only two further creations of an Earldom (as opposed to Dukedom) of Cornwall were made, the first in favour of Piers Gaveston, EDWARD II's favourite, in 1307 and, following the former's murder five years later by a lynch mob of nobles jealous of his influence over the King, in 1328 on EDWARD II's own flesh and blood, namely his second son JOHN of Eltham. The latter died childless in 1336, killed apparently by his elder brother EDWARD III. Thereafter all creations involving the County of Cornwall have been in the shape of Dukedoms and have been held exclusively by the eldest son, eldest surviving son or on one occasion grandson (the future RICHARD II) of the Sovereign. The first such, indeed the first Dukedom created in England ever, was in March 1336/7, conferred on the Black Prince. On his predeceasing his father EDWARD III it reverted to the Crown, being recreated anew five and a half months later for the Black Prince's son, the future RICHARD II. From 1421 (but backdated to 1337) it has been held that the eldest son and heir of a reigning Sovereign becomes Duke of Cornwall at birth. When in 1502 the Heir Apparent ARTHUR, HENRY VII's eldest son, predeceased his parent as Sovereign, having a younger brother but no children, the Dukedom was treated as passing automatically to the next heir (the future HENRY VIII) rather than reverting to the Crown. But when FREDERICK PRINCE OF WALES (and DUKE OF CORNWALL) predeceased his father GEORGE II in March 1750/1 the Dukedom was deemed to have reverted to the Crown (along of course with the title of Prince of Wales). It may be assumed that if an Heir Presumptive who is not a child of the Sovereign ascends the throne, as happened with JAMES I in 1603, his (or her) eldest son and heir (in 1603 this was HENRY, later known as HENRY PRINCE OF WALES) automatically becomes Duke of Cornwall.

Scottish titles (Dukedom of Rothesay, Earldom of Carrick, Barony of Renfrew, Lordship of the Isles and Great Stewardship of Scotland) held by the Heir Apparent: These titles are held under the terms of an Act of the Scottish Parliament of 27 Nov 1469 by the first-born ‘Prince' (interpreted as meaning son, even though the word ‘Prince' then could apply to either sex) of the Kings (to be interpreted as including Queens) of Scots. Since the union of English and Scottish Crowns in 1603 (more precisely the death in 1613 of HENRY PRINCE OF WALES, CHARLES I's elder brother) the limitation of the Scottish titles of the Heir Apparent has been treated as identical to that of the Dukedom of Cornwall. The Dukedom of Rothesay was first conferred in 1398 on DAVID STEWART, first-born son and Heir Apparent of ROBERT III KING OF SCOTS. On DAVID's dying without issue in his father's lifetime the titles reverted to the Crown. His younger brother JAMES was granted in 1404 the entire parcel of territory which went with the post of Steward of Scotland and since this included Rothesay, the lands that appertained to the Earldom of Carrick and the (then presumably territorial) Barony of Renfrew and since at that time such honours were inextricably bound up with the holding of land rather than personal to the title-holder, as is nowadays the case, he is deemed to have become Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick and Baron Renfrew, also Lord of Kyle (though this last honour does not now feature in the recital of the Heir Apparent's dignities). When JAMES succeeded as JAMES I his peerages merged in the Crown.

For the way in which the Earldom of Carrick in the Peerage of Scotland became a royal title see the preliminary remarks to the article CARRICK, E (i.e., the title of that name in the Peerage of Ireland). There is also in existence a Life Peerage of Renfrew of Kaimsthorn (qv), whose holder was between 1986 and 1997 Master of Jesus College Cambridge, PRINCE EDWARD's alma mater. For the way the Lordship of the Isles came to be vested in the Royal House of Scotland see BOSVILLE MACDONALD, Bt. For the early evolution of the post of Great Steward of Scotland see MORAY, E.

Seat: Highgrove House, Doughton, Glos. Highgrove was originally the property of a family of Huguenot extraction called Paul. They were cousins of a family of Baronets of the same name (see 1970 edn PAUL, Bt, of Rodborough) who had a marriage connection with the Earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne (qv), hence remotely with the present owner, the PRINCE OF WALES, himself, and back in the 17th century with a member of OLIVER CROMWELL's Council of State.

Highgrove was built by an unknown architect in the late 1790s. The estate itself came to the family through the marriage in 1771 of Josiah Paul TIPPETTS later PAUL (his mother's family name, which he adopted under the terms of the will of his uncle, her brother) with Mary Clark, whose father Robert was the local squire. They sold it on in 1860 to Lt-Col Edward John STRACEY later STRACEY-CLITHEROW (see STRACEY, Bt), who in turn sold it some four years later to a barrister called William Hamilton Yatman.

Yatman seems to have insufficiently insured his property and a fire in 1893 forced him to part with it since he apparently could not afford the repairs. The new owner was Arthur Charles Mitchell (see SAINT ALDWYN, E), who carried out restoration work to the designs of John Hart, of Bristol. It was probably then that the bow windows on the garden front were added. Mitchell's second wife continued living as a widow at Highgrove till the close of World War II, following which the estate was acquired by Lt-Col Gwyn Morgan-Jones, son-in-law of the 1st and last Baron Buckland (see HARTWELL, B). In 1965 the Colonel and his wife sold Highgrove to Maurice Macmillan, son of the former Prime Minister (see STOCKTON, E), for allegedly £89,000 (not much under £800,000 in late-1990s terms). The Macmillans demolished a wing the next year (since restored by the PRINCE OF WALES in Cotswold vernacular style, though on a slightly smaller scale) but even then the house had four reception rooms, nine bedrooms, six bathrooms, a nursery wing and servants' quarters, or so the particulars boasted when it was put up for sale in 1980. It changed hands for a sum said to have been between three-quarters of a million and a million pounds (close to £4m in late-1990s terms) but has been constantly renovated and improved ever since, representing a substantially greater injection of capital than just the purchase price. The estate (technically owned, along with the house, by the Duchy of Cornwall) amounted to some 350 acres in 1980 but has been virtually trebled in size since.

Highgrove originally consisted of a rectangular layout, the main front having three storeys of five bays each. There was a portico supported by columns at ground-floor level and above it the type of window called Venetian, that is, curvilinear as to the top (whereas the rest of the windows were, and still are, rectilinear). Pilasters ran up outside the top two floors to a cornice underneath a low parapet at roof level. During the PRINCE OF WALES's occupancy the parapet has been replaced by a balustrade in Bath stone which rises considerably higher, the globular finials at the corners by urns, the pilasters by new versions topped off with Ionic capitals and a triangular pediment superimposed with an oculus at its centre. The old Venetian window was at some point lowered and made rectangular, like its fellows, though it sports louvred shutters to emphasise its primacy. The portico is now weather-proof, having been sealed and glazed. The estate has been developed on organic farming lines and modest commercial schemes started which involve the sale of such items as bread made from stone-ground wholemeal flour. The gardens also have been transformed to present a more naturalistic appearance, the absence of chemical pesticides encouraging the reappearance of wild flowers and insects.