Buckingham Palace has announced that several charities founded by King Charles III when he was Prince of Wales will be renamed following his accession.
The three charities are The Prince’s Trust, which will become The King’s Trust; The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund, which will become King Charles III Charitable Fund; and The Prince’s Foundation, which will become The King’s Foundation.
A ‘royal source’ spoke with The Telegraph, admitting that the change is due in part to confusion over the Prince of Wales title now held by Prince William, with the source quoted as saying, “Prince William has his own foundation and so the name change makes it clear that these are organisations affiliated with the King.”
The King’s Trust was founded in 1976 with then-Prince Charles’s Royal Navy severance pay of £7,400 to fund community projects. In its nearly 50-year history, the Trust has helped more than 1 million young people in the United Kingdom, and has expanded with branches in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and throughout the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East with the International arm.
The King Charles III Charitable Fund was created in 1979 to support communities and people involved in areas related to The King’s interests, including the environment, health and wellness, education and heritage projects.
The King’s Foundation was created in 1986 and works to “educate, inspire and demonstrate how practical knowledge from the past can create sustainable community prosperity in the present” and has bases all throughout the United Kingdom at boltholes close to the King’s heart, including Dumfries House, Highgrove, and the Castle of Mey.
The news comes ahead of the King’s 75th birthday, during which time he and Queen Camilla will launch the Coronation Food Project.