​​'[The book that] made headlines around the world' Independent

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'This important book is nothing short of a manual to our King's world-view' GQ

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A fully updated edition of the Sunday Times bestseller by award-winning journalist Catherine Mayer, who for decades has closely covered the intertwined worlds of UK politics and the royals, this paperback includes startling new material, a new preface and two substantial new chapters containing previously unpublished details and insights into the risks to the monarchy, from Harry and Meghan's exit, the cash-for-honours scandal, Prince Andrew, and more.

Charles has lived his whole life in the public eye, yet he remains an enigma. He was born to be king, but he aims much higher. A landmark publication, Charles: The Heart of a King reveals the new King in all his complexity: the passionate views that mean he will never be as remote and impartial as his mother; the compulsion to make a difference and the many and startling ways in which the sovereign of the United Kingdom and fourteen other realms has already made his mark.

This significant study offers fresh and fascinating insights, and reveals a monarchy threatened and a man in sight of happiness yet still driven by anguish and a remarkable belief system, a charitable entrepreneur, activist, agitator and avatar of the Establishment who just as often tilts against it.

Based on multiple interviews with his friends and courtiers, palace insiders and critics, and rare access to Charles himself, this biography explores the King's philanthropy and his compulsive interventionism, his faith, his significant impact on politics and the philosophy that means when he seeks harmony he sometimes creates controversy. Gripping, at times astonishing, often laugh-out-loud, this is a royal biography unlike any other.

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‘A vivid and entertaining account of the extraordinary life of the man born to be King … provides us with a new picture of the {sovereign}’ Daily Express

[On Catherine Mayer] ‘Shrewd [and] respected’ Observer

‘Exhaustive yet entertaining’ Will Self, Guardian

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'Breathtaking' The Times