A King Who Actually Likes the Arts

With these varied interests, Charles is the most culturally attuned monarch for well over a century. If Queen Elizabeth II, who died last year, was more interested in horse racing than the thousands of performances she sat through during her reign, Charles’s fascination with the arts and entertainment echoes the concerns of several much earlier holders of the throne.

In the 17th century, Charles I, a patron of painters including Rubens and Van Dyck, built one of Europe’s most important art collections. His son, Charles II, reopened Britain’s theaters after puritan insurgents forced their lengthy closure, and laid the groundwork for what is today’s West End. In the 18th century, George III built a superlative collection of 65,000 books that formed the heart of the British Library.

But where previous monarchs were known for their passions, Charles has often been defined by the things he doesn’t like. Starting in the 1980s when he was Prince of Wales, Charles used speeches, books and television programs to repeatedly attack modern architecture and promote alternatives based on classical forms. On several occasions, he intervened directly seeking to halt glass-and-steel building projects. In the process, he’s courted the ire of British architects, some of whom have labeled his meddling unconstitutional.

On Saturday, the king’s love of music will be on full display. He has commissioned 12 works for the coronation ceremony, including an “Agnus Dei” for choir by the London-born American composer Tarik O’Regan. In a phone interview, O’Regan said that once you “delved into Charles’s likes and dislikes,” a picture emerged of a man whose interests were “obviously nuanced.”

“He’s someone who is clearly very affected by music and other arts,” O’Regan said.

Charles has repeatedly said that his love of culture was stirred by his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, who took him to the Royal Opera House in London to see his first ballet at age 7. “I remember being so completely transfixed by the magic of it,” Charles said during a 2018 radio interview.