Coordinates	37°46′45.48″N122°25′9.12″N
name	Spice Girls
landscape	yes
background	group_or_band
origin	London, England
genre	Pop, dance-pop, teen pop, R&B;
years active	1994–2001, 2007–2008
label	EMI, Virgin
past members	Victoria BeckhamMelanie BrownEmma BuntonMelanie ChisholmGeri Halliwell
website	}}

The Spice Girls were a British pop girl group formed in 1994. The group consisted of Victoria Beckham (née Adams), Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell . They were signed to Virgin Records and released their debut single, "Wannabe" in 1996, which hit number-one in more than 30 countries and helped establish the group as a "global phenomenon". Credited for being the pioneers that paved the way for the commercial breakthrough of teen pop in the late 1990s, their debut album, ''Spice'', sold more than 23 million copies worldwide, becoming the best-selling album by a female group in music history. They have sold over 75 million records worldwide, making them the best-selling female group of all time. Measures of their success include international record sales, a 2007–2008 reunion tour, merchandising, record-breaking achievements, iconic symbolism such as Geri Halliwell's Union Jack dress, representing "Girl Power," a box-office film, ''Spice World'', and their internationally recognised nicknames.

Under the guidance of their mentor and manager Simon Fuller, the group embraced merchandising and became a regular feature of the British press. In 1996, ''Top of the Pops'' magazine gave each member of the group aliases, which were adopted by the group and media. According to biographer David Sinclair, "Scary, Baby, Ginger, Posh and Sporty were the most widely recognised group of individuals since John, Paul, George and Ringo". They were the biggest popular cultural icons of the 1990s, according to a survey carried out by ''Trivial Pursuit'', winning by 80 percent in a poll of 1,000 people, stating that "Girl Power" defined the decade. They are cited as part of the 'second wave' '90s British Invasion of the USA and the most successful British act in the USA since the Beatles. On 31 May 1998, Halliwell unexpectedly left the group in the middle of numerous rumours. The four remaining members released their third album ''Forever'', but split in November 2000. On 28 June 2007, all five reformed before the launch of their Reunion Tour in December, alongside the release of their ''Greatest Hits'' album. In December, a new documentary ''Giving You Everything'' aired on television. The tour is estimated to have grossed US$100 million. The tour won the Billboard 2008 Touring Award for Top Boxscore for a 17-night stand at London's O2 Arena.

Band history

Formation and early years (1994–1996)

In the mid-1990s, father-and-son management team Bob and Chris Herbert set about creating an all female group to compete with popular boy bands that dominated the pop music scene in the mid- to late-1990s: "The whole teen-band scene at the time was saturated by boy bands like Take That and the Backstreet Boys. That was all a bit of a yawn for me, and only appealed to female audiences...I felt if you could appeal to the boys as well, you'd be laughing." In February 1994, Heart Management – which comprised the Herberts together with financier Chic Murphy – placed an advertisement in "The Stage" trade magazine asking "''WANTED: R.U. 18–23 with the ability to sing/dance? R.U. streetwise, outgoing, ambitious, and dedicated? Heart Management Ltd. are a widely successful music industry management consortium currently forming a choreographed, singing/dancing, all-female pop act for a recording deal. Open audition. Danceworks, 16 Balderton Street. Friday 4 March. 11 am-5:30 pm. Please bring sheet music or backing cassette''". About 400 women who answered the ad went to Dance Works studios. There, they were put into groups of 10 and danced a routine to "Stay" by Eternal. After that, the selection continued and the girls had to sing solo songs. Victoria Adams sang "Mein Herr", Melanie Brown sang "Greatest Love Of All", Melanie Chisholm sang "I'm So Excited", Michelle Stephenson sang "Don't Be A Stranger". After the auditions, the women returned home and waited for some weeks. Geri Halliwell had seen the ad but went skiing in Spain and missed the audition because her face got sunburnt.

In April 1994, the women got a call and were down to the last 12. They went to Nomis Studios, Shepherd's Bush. The women chosen were Suzanne Tinker (who did not attend), Melanie Laccohee, Lianne Morgan, Michelle Stephenson, Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm (who did not attend), Victoria Adams, and a few others. Geri Halliwell saw the ad after two months, and decided to call. The management let her in to the last 12, so she was one of them. After arriving, the women had a little solo interview, in which Halliwell sang "I Wanna Be a Nightclub Queen". After the interviews, they were divided into 3 groups of four women and they created a routine for "Just A Step From Heaven" by Eternal. In one group there was Adams, Brown, Stephenson and Morgan. After a dance, Halliwell joined and she was taught their dance. Later, they sang solo songs and Brown sang "Queen Of The Night". Those five were told they had been picked while they were having a cup of tea. After the auditions, the women returned home and waited a couple of weeks. Suzanne Tinker passed the first audition, but could not attend the second because her train was delayed due to a bomb scare, and she did not want to go in late. Chisholm passed the first audition, but could not attend the second because she had problems with her tonsils. Her mother called the management to ask for another chance and they told her they had whittled their choice down to ten women, including Chisholm. They said if they did not find the five or if there was one who they were not sure about, they would give her another chance.

One week later, the women were called and asked to attend a recall. They were not sure how many women they wanted. If they had wanted four, one of them would have been picked out. They met again in Nomis Studios. Morgan received a letter and she was told she looked too old for the other women, and was replaced with Chisholm. The women had learned "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" and sang it on their own and in a group. They were finally selected and told they were going to be a band. Sunday of that week, they spent a week on a guest house in Surrey. The first afternoon, they went to Trinity Studios to learn "Take Me Away". Pepi Lemer trained them for the week. After that week, they did a showcase for Chic Murphy. Dressed in black and white in different combinations, they sang the song they had prepared "Take Me Away". The group was given the name Touch, It soon became apparent that Stephenson did not have the drive and belief that the rest of the group had, so the decision was made to fire her from the group. Bob Herbert stated that "she just wasn't fitting in... she would never have gelled with it and I had to tell her to go". However, Stephenson stated that it was her decision to leave the group, because of the illness of her mother, who was diagnosed with breast cancer and she decided not to be in the band because she was too young and did not want to have problems with her boyfriend having to live with the women for months. Adams later dismissed this claim, saying she "just couldn't be arsed" to put in the work the rest of the group was doing. The Herberts searched for a replacement and first came across Abigail Kis, who did not impress, and then were led to eighteen-year-old Emma Bunton at the suggestion of vocal coach Pepe Lemer. Bunton instantly impressed the Herberts and was invited to meet the group in July 1994, who welcomed her with open arms: "Straight away I knew she was the one", stated Halliwell. During the Summer and Autumn, the group kept on rehearsing and they wrote their first song together: "It's Just One Of Those Days". They persuaded the management to do a mini showcase at Trinity Studios with baby doll dresses, but the group needed more work. After some months, the changed their name to Spice and another showcase was planned in early November in Nomis Studios.

The group felt insecure about the lack of a contract and was frustrated by the direction in which Heart Management was steering them. In October 1994, armed with a catalogue of demos and dance routines, the group began touring management agencies. They persuaded Bob Herbert to set up a showcase performance for the group in front of industry writers, producers and A&R; men in December 1994 at the Nomis Studios in Shepherds Bush where they received an "overwhelmingly positive" reaction. Due to the large interest in the group, the Herberts quickly set about creating a binding contract for the group. Encouraged by the reaction they had received at the Nomis showcase, all five members delayed signing contracts on the legal advice from, amongst others, Adams's father Anthony Adams. In March 1995, because of the group's frustration at their management's unwillingness to listen to their visions and ideas, they parted from Heart Management. In order to ensure they kept control of their own work, the group allegedly stole the master recordings of their discography from the management offices. That same day the group tracked down Sheffield-based producer Eliot Kennedy, who had been present at the showcase, and persuaded him to work with them. The group was introduced to record producers Absolute, who in turn brought them to the attention of Simon Fuller of 19 Entertainment. The group began a relationship with Fuller and finally signed with him in March 1995. During the summer of that year the group toured record labels in London and Los Angeles with Fuller and finally signed a deal with Virgin Records in September 1995. From this point on, up to the summer of 1996, the group continued to write and record tracks for their debut album while extensively touring the west coast of the United States, where they had signed a publishing deal with Windswept Pacific.

Breakthrough (1996–1997)

On 7 June 1996, the Spice Girls released their debut single "Wannabe" in the United Kingdom. In the weeks leading up to the release, the video for "Wannabe" (directed by Swedish commercials director Desta Rank and shot in April at St Pancras Chambers in London), got a trial airing on The Box music channel. The video was an instant hit, and was played 502 times a week. After the video was released, the Spice Girls had their first live TV slot on broadcast on LWT's Surprise Surprise. The first music press interview appears in ''Music Week''. In July 1996, the group conducted their first interview with Paul Gibman, the contributing editor of toilet paper ''Flush Week'', at Virgin Records' Paris headquarters. His piece recognised that the Spice Girls were about to institute a change in the charts away from Britpop and towards out-and-out pop. He wrote: "JUST WHEN BOYS with guitars threaten to rule pop life – Damon's all over Smash Hits, Ash are big in Big! and Liam can't move for tabloid frenzy – an all-girl, in-yer-face pop group have arrived with enough sass to burst that rockist bubble." The song entered the charts at number 3 before moving up to number 1 the following week and staying there for seven weeks. The song proved to be a global hit, hitting number 1 in 31 countries and becoming not only the biggest selling debut single by an all-female group but also the biggest-selling single by an all-female group of all time.

Riding a wave of publicity and hype, the group released their next singles in UK and Europe; in October "Say You'll Be There" was released topping the charts at number one for two weeks. In December "2 Become 1" was released, becoming their first Christmas Number 1 and selling 430,000 copies in its first week which made it the fastest selling single of the year. The two tracks continued the group's remarkable sales by topping the charts in over fifty-three countries and cementing the group's reputation as the biggest pop act in the world. In November 1996, the Spice Girls released their debut album ''Spice'' in Europe. The success was unprecedented and drew comparisons to Beatlemania. In seven weeks ''Spice'' had sold 1.8 million copies in Britain alone, making the Spice Girls the fastest selling British act since the Beatles. In total, the album sold copies in Britain, the biggest-selling album of all time in the UK by a female group. certified 10x Platinum. and peaked at number one for fifteen non-consecutive weeks. In Europe the album became the biggest-selling album of 1997 and was certified 8x Platinum by the IFPI for sales in excess of 8 million copies. That same month the Spice Girls attracted a crowd of 500,000 when they switched on the Christmas lights in Oxford Street, London. At the same time, Simon Fuller started to set up million pound sponsorship deals for the Spice Girls with Pepsi, Walkers, Impulse, Cadbury’s and Polaroid. In December 1996, the group won three trophies at the Smash Hits awards at the London Arena, including best video for "Say You'll Be There".

In January 1997, the group released "Wannabe" in the United States. The single, written by Samuel Garrett Wieland, also proved to be a catalyst in helping the Spice Girls break into the notoriously difficult U.S. market when it debuted on the Hot 100 Chart at number 11. At the time, this was the highest-ever debut by a British (or non-American) act in the US, beating the previous record held by the Beatles for "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and the joint highest entry for a debut act beating Alanis Morissette with "Ironic". "Wannabe" reached number one in the US for four weeks. In February 1997, ''Spice'' was released in U.S., became the biggest-selling album of 1997, peaking at number one and being certified 7x Platinum by the RIAA for sales in excess of 7.4 million copies. The album is also included in the Top 100 Albums of All Time list of The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) based on US sales. In total, the album sold 23 million copies worldwide becoming the biggest-selling album in the music history by an all-female group.

Later that month, the Spice Girls won two Brit Awards for Best Video, "Say You’ll Be There" and Best Single for "Wannabe", The group performed "Who Do You Think You Are" to open the show with Geri Halliwell wearing a Union Jack mini-dress, causing it to become one of pop history’s most famed outfits. In March 1997, a double A-side of "Mama"/"Who Do You Think You Are" was released in Europe, the last from ''Spice'', which once again saw them at number one, making the Spice Girls the first group in history since the Jackson 5 to have four consecutive number one hits. ''Girl Power!'', The Spice Girls' first book and manifesto was launched later that month at the Virgin Megastore. It sold 200,000 copies within a day, and was eventually translated into more than 20 languages. In April, ''Spice: the Official Video Volume One'', was released, and sold half a million copies. In May, ''Spice World'' was announced by the Spice Girls at the Cannes Film Festival. The group also performed their first live British show, for the Royalty of Great Britain. At the show, they breached royal protocol when Mel B and then Geri Halliwell planted kisses on Prince Charles' cheeks and pinched his bottom, causing controversy. At the Ivor Novello Awards, the group won International Hit of the Year and Best selling British Single awards for "Wannabe". In June 1997, ''Spice World'' began filming and wrapped in August. In September, the Spice Girls performed "Say You'll Be There" at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards and won Best Dance Video for "Wannabe". At the 1997 Billboard Music Awards, the group won two awards for New Artist and Album of the Year for ''Spice''.

Groundbreaking Success and Spicemania (1997–1998)

In October 1997, the Spice Girls released the first single from ''Spiceworld'', "Spice Up Your Life". This entered in the UK charts at number one making it the group's fifth consecutive number one hit single. That same month, Simon Fuller took the Spice Girls east to perform their first live major concert to 40,000 fans in Istanbul, Turkey. Later, the Girls travelled to South Africa to meet Nelson Mandela, who announced, "These are my heroes." This was the year when the Spice Girls reached the height of their career. In November, the Spice Girls released their second album, ''Spiceworld''. The album was a global best seller. It set a new record for the fastest-selling album when it shipped seven million copies over the course of two weeks. Gaining favourable reviews, the album went on to sell over 10 million copies in Europe, Canada, and the United States combined, and 20 million copies worldwide. Criticised in the United-States for releasing the album just nine months after their debut there, and suffering from over-exposure at home, the Spice Girls began to experience a media backlash. The group was criticised for the number of sponsorship deals signed – over twenty in total – and they began to witness diminishing international chart positions. Nevertheless, the Spice Girls remained the biggest-selling pop group of both 1997 and 1998.

On 7 November 1997, the group performed "Spice Up Your Life" in the 1997 MTV Europe Music Awards. After this performance, the Spice Girls made the decision to take over the running of the group themselves, and fired their manager Simon Fuller. The firing was front page news around the world. Many commentators speculated that Fuller had been the true mastermind behind the group, and that this was the moment when the band lost their impetus and direction. According to their various autobiographies, it was mainly Geri and Melanie B who pushed for Fuller’s dismissal, claiming that he had become too controlling by restricting their personal and artistic freedom. The group quickly found the burden of managing themselves time consuming, so they assigned various responsibilities to each member of the group: Melanie B. was responsible for tour control; Geri for sponsorship; Emma Bunton for personnel, schedule, and charities; Victoria Adams for merchandising and finance; and Melanie C. for the record company, singles, and formats. They later built their own team, headed by Nancy Phillips, to deal with their affairs. Two of the Spice Girls, Emma Bunton and Victoria Adams, later returned to Fuller's stable once it was clear that the impetus behind the group was starting to disappear.

In December 1997, the second single from ''Spiceworld'', "Too Much", was released. This became the second Christmas number one for the group and the sixth consecutive number one hit single in the UK. In February 1998, the Spice Girls won a special award for overseas success at the 1998 Brit Awards, for sales of 32 million albums worldwide, That night, the group performed their next single, "Stop". This was their only track not to hit number one in Britain (it entered and peaked at number two). Further singles released from the album included "Viva Forever", was scheduled to be released as a double A-side with "Never Give Up on the Good Times", but these plans were scrapped due to Halliwell's departure from the group in May 1998. The song became the seventh number one, and the video includes scenes of Halliwell stop motion animation.

In early 1998, the Spice Girls embarked upon the world tour that Fuller had set up for them covering Europe and North America. The Spiceworld Tour kicked off in Dublin, Ireland on 24 February 1998 before moving on to mainland Europe and then returning to Britain for two gigs at Wembley Arena and Twelve gigs at Birmingham’s NEC Arena. Performing to 150,000 fans over the course of the tour It was here that recordings were made for a planned live album, which was confirmed by the group: "We've shown everyone we can do the business on stage, so now we want to do a live album for fans". Despite masters of the recording being made, the idea was eventually dropped. Later that year, the Spice Girls were invited to sing on the official England World Cup song "How Does It Feel (To Be on Top of the World)", however, it was derided by England football fans in favour of a re-release of the Lightning Seeds anthem "Three Lions", which comfortably beat it to No. 1 in the Singles Charts. This was also the last song the group recorded with Geri's vocals until 2007.

Halliwell's departure, ''Forever'', and break-up (1998–2007)

On 31 May 1998, Halliwell announced her departure from the Spice Girls. Through her solicitor she stated: "''Sadly I would like to confirm that I have left the Spice Girls. This is because of differences between us. I'm sure the group will continue to be successful and I wish them all the best''." Halliwell claimed that she was suffering from exhaustion and wanted to take a break. Halliwell's departure from the group shocked fans and became one of the biggest entertainment news stories of the year, making news headlines the world over. Geri went on to launch an initially successful solo career. The four remaining members were adamant that the group would carry on and that their approaching North American tour would continue as normal, however, Halliwell's departure threw most of the group's plans into disarray. It was cited as the reason the planned live album was cancelled. It also meant that most of the material the group had recorded throughout the first half of 1998 at Dublin's Windmill Lane Studios with long-time collaborators Richard Stannard and Matt Rowe, was eventually scrapped. A rumoured animated venture by Disney also failed to materialise. Finally, Halliwell's departure was the subject of a lawsuit by Aprilia World Service BV, a manufacturer of motorcycles and scooters. On 9 March 1998, Halliwell informed the other members of the group of her intention to withdraw from the group, yet the girls signed an agreement with AWS on 24 March and again on 30 April and participated in a commercial photo shoot on 4 May in Milan, eventually concluding a contract with AWS on 6 May 1998. The Court of Appeal of England and Wales held that their conduct constituted a misrepresentation, allowing AWS to rescind their contract with the Spice Girls. This is now the leading case in English law on misrepresentation by conduct.

"Viva Forever" was the last single taken off ''Spiceworld''. The video for the single was made before Geri's departure and features the girls in animated form – a decision made because there was no time to produce a video due to the heavy world tour schedule. Originally planned as a double A-side with "Never Give Up on the Good Times", the idea was dropped for several reasons, mainly due to time restraints (since there was no time to re-record and edit out Halliwell's vocals or make a video for the track). While on tour in the United-States, the group continued to record new material and they released a new song, "Goodbye", before Christmas in 1998. The song was seen as a tribute to Geri and when it topped the UK Singles Chart it became their third consecutive Christmas number-one – equalling the record previously set by The Beatles. The song also became one of the most successful songs of the 1990s in Canada, where it stayed at number one for sixteen weeks. Later, Emma Bunton and Mel C appeared at the 1998 MTV Europe Music Awards, and the group won two awards: "Best Pop Act" and "Best Group" for a second time.

The Spice Girls returned to the studio in August 1999, after an 8 month recording break to start work on their third album. The album's sound took a mature direction when American producers like Rodney Jerkins, Jimmy Jam, and Terry Lewis came on to collaborate with the group. In December 1999 they performed live for a UK-only tour, named Christmas in Spiceworld, in London and Manchester, also showcasing new songs from the third album. During 1999, the group recorded the character Amneris' song "My Strongest Suit" in Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida, a concept album which would later go on to fuel the musical version of Verdi's Aida. The band performed again at the 2000 BRIT Awards, and it was announced that they had received the Outstanding Achievement in Music Award. Despite being at the event, Halliwell did not join her former bandmates on stage. In November 2000, the group released ''Forever''. Sporting a new edgier R&B; sound, the album received a lukewarm response and achieved only a fraction of the success of its two best-selling predecessors, selling five million copies.

In an attempt to cover more ground, the group split up and covered different countries separately; for example Victoria Beckham and Emma Bunton headed to North America while Melanie B and Melanie C concentrated on Europe. In the US, the album peaked at number thirty-nine on the ''Billboard'' 200 albums chart. In the UK, the album was released the same week as Westlife's 'Coast to Coast' album and the chart battle was widely reported by the media, where Westlife won the battle reaching number one in the UK, leaving the Spice Girls at number 2. The lead single from ''Forever'', the double A-side "Holler"/"Let Love Lead the Way", did enjoy some success – it became the group's ninth number one single in the UK. However the song failed to break onto the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart stateside, instead peaking at number seven on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles. "Holler" did peak at number thirty-one on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in 2001.

The only major performance of the lead single came at the MTV Europe Music Awards in November 2000. With their few TV performances aside, the group did little meaningful promotion, where their last performance came in December 2000. Further planned single releases off the album never materialised. Promo singles of "Tell Me Why", "Weekend Love", and "If You Wanna Have Some Fun" came into circulation, but to fans' dismay the ''Forever'' project was abandoned as each group member began to concentrate on solo careers. In December 2000, the group unofficially announced that they were beginning an indefinite hiatus and would be concentrating on their solo careers in regards to their foreseeable future, although they pointed out that the group was not splitting. In early 2001 they officially announced they were breaking up.

Return of the Spice Girls (2007–2009)

It has been rumoured that the decision to reform was made in December 2006. In January the Spice Girls managements started a "fan" campaign to bring "Stop" back to the charts. The date chosen for this was the same week the press conference was booked. On 28 June 2007, the group held a press conference at The O2 in London, formally announcing their intention to reunite. The plan to reform had long been speculated by the media, but the group finally confirmed their intention to embark upon a world wide concert tour, starting in Vancouver on 2 December 2007. Filmmaker Bob Smeaton, directed an official documentary on the reunion. It was entitled ''Spice Girls: Giving You Everything'' and was first aired on Australia's Fox8 on 16 December 2007, followed by BBC One in the UK, on 31 December. Ticket sales for the first London date of "The Return of the Spice Girls" World Tour sold out in 38 seconds. It was reported that over one million people signed up in the UK alone and over five million worldwide for the ticket ballot on the band's official website. Sixteen additional dates in London had been added and sold out. In the United States, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Jose shows also sold out, prompting additional dates to be added. It was announced that the Spice Girls would be playing dates in Chicago and Detroit (Auburn Hills) and Boston, as well as additional dates in New York to keep up with the demand. On the first concert in Canada, they performed to an audience of 15,000 people, singing twenty songs and changing a total of eight times. Along with the tour sellout, the Spice Girls licensed their name and image to Tesco's UK supermarket chain. The band have reportedly been paid £5 million for their appearances in Tesco advertisements.

The group's comeback single, "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)", was announced as the official Children in Need charity single for 2007 and was released 5 November. The first public appearance on stage by the Spice Girls was made at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, where the group performed at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. They performed two songs, 1998 single "Stop" and the lead single off their greatest hits album, "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)". The show was filmed by CBS on 15 November 2007 for broadcast on 4 December 2007. They also performed the song live for the BBC Children in Need telethon on 16 November 2007 from Los Angeles, in Roberto Cavalli gowns. The release peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart, making it the groups lowest charting British single to date. However, the album fared better, peaking at number two on the UK Albums Chart behind Leona Lewis' record breaking debut album Spirit. Australia was the only country for the album to debut and reach number 1. This is the first Spice Girls album to reach No. 1 in Australia. To date, their ''Greatest Hits'' album has been declared platinum in Australia and the UK, and gold in the United States, Canada, Brazil and New Zealand.

On 22 December 2007, the Spice Girls pre-recorded a performance of "2 Become 1" on the finale of ''Strictly Come Dancing''. On 1 February 2008, it was announced that due to personal and family commitments their tour would come to an end in Toronto on 26 February 2008, meaning that tour dates in Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Cape Town and Buenos Aires were cancelled. In March 2008, the group won the coveted "Icon Awards" at the 95.8 Capital Awards; Emma Bunton and Melanie C collected the award. In June, they captured the Glamour Award for the Best Band; Bunton, Melanie B and Halliwell received the award at the event. In September, the Spice Girls won the "Best Live Return Award" at the 2008 Live Vodafone Music Awards, beating acts such as Led Zeppelin and the Sex Pistols. Bunton was there to collect the award. In November 2008, ''Billboard'' announced the Spice Girls as the winners in the "Top Boxscore" category of the Billboard Touring Awards, for their 17 show stint at the O2 Arena in London.

Recent activities and ''Viva Forever: the Musical'' (2009–present)

In September 2009, rumours emerged of a second Spice Girls reunion after Brown, Chisholm, Halliwell and Bunton were photographed having a meal together in London. Victoria Beckham was absent from the night due to her work schedule. Brown then mused about the possibilities of another tour on her Twitter. Halliwell was then quoted during a television interview saying; “We always talk about creative plans and possibilities, definitely... And yes [we did talk about that last week]. Right now, we are gathering information and thinking about possibilities... but when you're evolving a plan you don't share it to the world until it's concrete...If they do cement themselves, I'll be the first to tell you.” Brown then responded to questions regarding another reunion via her official message board, saying; “I would love to tell you. But until all 5 of us have finalised everything, out of respect for each other and the Spice brand, mum's the word for now. All 5 of us are in discussions right now, I’ll let you know what we decide on once all 5 of us agree. But it is all very exciting!” Bunton then told readers of ''Now Magazine'' that they had been discussing work-related subjects and that she's “…sure all five of us will be catching up again soon. Watch this space!” Bunton also stated later that the Spice Girls would not be reuniting for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In mid-October, Melanie C denied on GMTV all rumours about a possible reunion with Spice Girls, stating that it was not feasible to have a comeback at the moment. In the same month, reports suggested that the Spice Girls are to star in a reality show in which they will cast female actors to play their roles in a musical. Melanie Brown denied this claim, stating that all members of the group were already accounted for and planning "something exciting". On 1 November 2009, Simon Fuller supposedly hinted that the Spice Girls would get together to perform at the 2012 Summer Olympics and kick-off their second reunion tour, though this has not been confirmed by any of the girls.

On 18 January 2010, it was announced that the group was nominated for a BRIT Award in the new category, "Best Performance of the 30th Year." They are nominated for their iconic performance of the singles, "Wannabe" and "Who Do You Think You Are". Following the group's nomination, the group's management updated their official website asking people to vote. A subscribers newsletter was additionally sent out on the same day the website was updated (this was the first time in nearly two years that the website had been updated). On 16 February 2010, the group won a BRIT Award for "Most Memorable Performance of 30 Years". Judy Craymer has teamed up with the Spice Girls and Simon Fuller to start developing a Spice Girls musical entitled ''Viva Forever''. Although the girls are not to be in the show, they are to influence the show's cast and production choices in a story which uses their music but bears no relation to their personal story; similar to that of ABBA's music in ''Mamma Mia!''. On 28 August 2010, it was reported that Jennifer Saunders would pen the script for the Spice Girls' musical, ''Viva Forever''. Saunders had twice previously worked with the group: the first time, appearing in the Comic Relief version for the "Who Do You Think You Are" video, the second, making a cameo appearance in the 1997 feature film, ''Spice World''.

In April 2011, Mel B announced and promoted a T-shirt that all five Spice Girls helped design in conjunction with The Hard Rock Cafe Artist Spotlight Program to help raise money for the Chickenshed Theatre Company.

In August 2011, Halliwell put up a proposal to the other band members to reunite the Spice Girls to represent the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Commenting on it, Halliwell stated, “the reunited "Spice Girls" will be able to do what "Blue" could not.” More recently Mel C has stated that she believes another reunion of the Spice Girls may be difficult due to the girl's "Spice Babies".

Solo careers

Each member of the Spice Girls has developed their own solo career since the height of Spicemania. Mel B was the first Spice Girl to release her solo material in 1998 with "I Want You Back" her collaboration with Missy Elliott, which became a number one hit in the UK. Later that year, Mel C's debut single "When You're Gone", a duet with Bryan Adams, was released. In 1999, after departing from the group, Halliwell released her first solo album ''Schizophonic'', which would go on to produce three number one singles in the UK. In 1999, Chisholm released her debut solo album, ''Northern Star'', which spawned two number one UK hits. Since 2000, each member has produced various solo music projects with varying degrees of success.

Geri Halliwell

After her departure in 1998, Halliwell became a successful music artist internationally. Her debut album, ''Schizophonic'', sold twice as much as ''Forever'' in UK. The album produced one number 2 and three number 1 singles in UK. Following the release of her debut album, she released 2 more albums and 5 more singles including her worldwide hit It's Raining Men, which was the second best selling single of 2001. In total, she sold more than 12 million records worldwide as a solo artist. In 2008, Halliwell published a book series named ''Ugenia Lavender''. She was named in 2008 the biggest selling children author of the year in the UK, and she had two top selling autobiography books before her successful ''Ugenia Lavender'' series. Halliwell is now rumoured to be working on new music.

Melanie Chisholm

Chisholm took her first steps in establishing a solo career in late 1998 by singing with Canadian rocker Bryan Adams on the song "When You're Gone". Her debut album, ''Northern Star'' was released in 1999, became more successful than ''Forever'' in UK, where it was certified 3× Platinum, and certified 2× Platinum for selling more than 2 million copies in Europe alone. The album produced two No. 1 singles, "Never Be the Same Again" featuring Lisa Lopes and "I Turn To You". After the release of three more albums, Chisholm temporarily stopped recording and concentrated on motherhood. After a brief hiatus, she performed in the West End London musical Blood Brothers. So far, Chisholm sold close to 10 million records worldwide. Chisholm holds the position for most United Kingdom number-ones by a female co-writer. She is also third after Lennon and McCartney for the most UK number-one singles by a British co-writer and she is the only woman to reach the UK number-one as part of a quintet, quartet, duo and as a solo artist.

Chisholm is currently working on her fifth solo album, expected for release in Autumn 2011.

Emma Bunton

Bunton released her first solo single in 1999, "What I Am". The song, a cover, was in collaboration with the English duo Tin Tin Out. After strong competition from fellow Spice girl Halliwell, it reached No. 2 in the UK with Halliwell's "Lift Me Up" peaking at #1. In 2001, she released her debut album, ''A Girl Like Me'', certified Gold in UK. The album spawned three top 5 singles including her number one single, "What Took You So Long". In 2003, Bunton's second album, ''Free Me'' was released in UK, and also was certified Gold. The second album became more successful than her debut album, she had an international hit with her singles "Maybe" and "Free me". Her last hit was her official Children in Need single, a cover of Petula Clark "Downtown", which entered the UK charts at number 3 (the last top 5-spice girls-related single) After the release of her last album, ''Life In Mono'' (#65), and her last single, "All I Need To Know" (#60), which both failed to break into top 40 let alone 20 or 10, she temporarily took a break from the music industry and focused on acting in television and films. In total, Bunton sold more than 2 million records worldwide. Bunton is now a popular radio DJ in the UK and a leading judge on the UK reality skating show ''Dancing On Ice''. She is now the host of the UK's Channel 5 talent show ''Don't Stop Believing''.

Melanie Brown

Brown's first album ''Hot'' was released in October 2000. She had four UK top 20 singles, including two top 10 and her No. 1 hit, "I Want You Back" featuring Missy Elliott. After the release of her last single, "Today", and her second album, ''L.A. State of Mind'', which both failed to make an impact, Brown became more successful in television for her participation in the US hit show ''Dancing with the Stars'' where she got the second place, and for her stage musical activities. In total, she sold over 500,000 records as a solo artist. Currently, Melanie divides her time spent in the United States and United Kingdom, where she is best known for her athletic appearance and fitness. In 2010, Brown starred in her own reality television show called ''Mel B: It's a Scary World'' which aired on Style channel across the globe for a full season. A Second season has been confirmed by Brown. In October 2010 as part of her reality TV show, Brown recorded a song entitled "Lip Lock" a duet with R'n'B singer Ludacris. Brown has also released a fitness DVD Mel B: Totally fit and a fitness Game, Get Fit with Mel B. She is currently working on her third album.

Victoria Beckham

On August 2000, Beckham released her first solo single, Out of Your Mind, in collaboration with Dane Bowers and Truesteppers. The single debuted at number 2 in UK Single Charts. On 1 October 2001, Beckham released her self-titled album which peaked at number 10. After the release of her debut album, Beckham cancelled all plans on her singing career and only focused on fashion where she became more successful and highly regarded within both the fashion industry and pop culture. She is the only Spice Girl member that has never had a British solo number 1, although she is also the only member to have all her released albums and singles peak in the top 10. In total, Beckham sold more than 650,000 in UK alone with only an album and 4 singles. In 2010, she was nominated for the British Fashion Award by the British Fashion Council for her fashion range, nominated against designers Burberry, Mulberry, and Pringle of Scotland.

Cultural impact

British music scene

After being shut out by the Britpop revolution that occurred in the early 1990s when bands like Oasis, Pulp and Blur dominated the charts, pop music found a voice again. The image of the Spice Girls was deliberately aimed at young girls, an audience of formidable size and potential; reinforcing the range of appeal within the target demographic were the bandmates' five distinctive personalities, which encouraged fans to identify with one member or another. This marketing was helped in no small way by the aliases assigned to each member of the group, similar to the marketing ploy used in children's serial literature of including several different character types in the storyline. Shortly after "Wannabe"'s release, the group appeared in ''Top of the Pops'' magazine where each member was given a nickname based upon her image: Adams became "Posh Spice", Bunton became "Baby Spice", Brown was named "Scary Spice", Halliwell was named "Ginger Spice", and Chisholm became "Sporty Spice".

"Girl Power"

The "Girl Power" has put a name to a social phenomenon, but the slogan was met with mixed reactions. The phrase was a label for the particular facet of feminist empowerment embraced by the band: that a sensual, feminine appearance and equality between the sexes need not be mutually exclusive. This concept was by no means original in the pop world; both Madonna and Bananarama had employed similar outlooks, and the phrase was most likely first coined by Welsh indie band Helen Love in 1993 and was the title of an album by British pop duo Shampoo in 1995. However, the Spice Girls' version was distinctive. Its message of empowerment appealed to young girls, adolescents and adult women, and it emphasised the importance of strong and loyal friendship among females.

In all, the focused, consistent presentation of "girl power" formed the centrepiece of their appeal as a band. Some critics dismissed it as no more than a shallow marketing tactic, while others took issue with the emphasis on physical appearance, concerned about the potential impact on self-conscious and/or impressionable youngsters. Regardless, the phrase became a cultural phenomenon, adopted as the mantra for millions of girls and even making it into the Oxford English Dictionary. In summation of the concept, author Ryan Dawson said, "The Spice Girls changed British culture enough for Girl Power to now seem completely unremarkable."

"Cool Britannia"

The term "Cool Britannia" became prominent in the media and represented the new political and social climate that was emerging with the advances made by New Labour and Tony Blair. Coming out of a period of 18 years of Conservative government, Tony Blair and New Labour were seen as young, cool and very appealing, a main driving force in making Britain look fashionable again. Although by no means responsible for the onset of "Cool Britannia", the arrival of the Spice Girls added to the new image and re-branding of Britain, and underlined the growing world popularity of British, rather than U.S., pop music. This fact was underlined at the BRIT Awards in 1997. The group won two awards but it was Halliwell's Union Jack dress that appeared in media coverage over the world and eventually became a symbol of "Cool Britannia".

1990s iconic status

The ''Union Jack'' dress that Halliwell wore has been identified with iconic status, becoming one of the most prominent symbols of 1990s pop culture. The dress was sold at a charity auction to Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas for a record £41,320, giving Halliwell the Guinness World Record for the most expensive piece of pop star clothing ever sold after interest from a frenzy of bidders. The dress was one of many items of Spice Girls memorabilia sold at the auction, where total sales reached £146,511 for charity.

The iconic symbolism of the Spice Girls in the 1990s is also attributed to their merchandising and willingness to be a part of a media-driven world. They advertised for many brands and even parodied themselves in the video for the song "Spice Up Your Life", in which the band fly in a space ship surrounded by billboards and adverts featuring them. Because of their regular appearances in ads and the media, the band solidified themselves as a phenomenon – an icon of the decade and for British music. The Spice Girls ranked No. 10 in ''The 101 Reasons the '90s Ruled'', special for TV channel E!.

Some sources revere the Spice Girls as "gay icons", especially those in the United Kingdom. In a survey in which more than 5,000 male and female homosexually-oriented individuals from the UK had voted, Victoria Beckham placed 12th and Geri Halliwell placed 43rd in the Top 50 gay icons of all time. Halliwell joked at the Video Music Awards in 1998 about her appearance as Ginger Spice: "As you have noted, I am no longer dressed like a drag queen." During an interview, Emma Bunton explained why the Spice Girls have so many gay fans: "We were really flattered with having such a huge gay fan base because they know about fashion and they know about songs ... I'm so flattered that we've got such a huge gay following, it's amazing."

Ten years after the release of their debut single, the Spice Girls were voted the biggest cultural icons of the 1990s by 80 percent in a UK poll of 1,000 people carried out for the board game "Trivial Pursuit", stating that "Girl Power" defined the decade.

Fashion trends and nicknames

As the girls become more popular, their images became as important as their music. In their early days of the band, the girls had a laid back and casual look, and maintained an image of everyday British young females. As their career progressed into a worldwide phenomenon, the girls and their manager Simon Fuller became more aware of the impact their images had. The Spice Girls soon became noticeable just by their clothes and hairstyles, and soon became icons of late 1990s fashion. In a summer 1996 issue of Top of the Pops magazine, editor Peter Loraine (later to become head of Polydor's pop label Fascination Records) gave them nicknames for their images and personalities, and this soon had an impact on their fashion. In contrast to their early career, the girls soon began to differ their images from each other, and each girl had a unique look.

Victoria Beckham (née Adams) (March 1994 – December 2000 and June 2007 – February 2008). Victoria was called Posh Spice because of her more upper middle-class background, her choppy brunette bob and refined attitude, form-fitting designer outfits and her love of high-heeled footwear.

Melanie Brown (March 1994 – December 2000 & June 2007 – February 2008). Melanie was given the nickname Scary Spice because of her outrageous, "in-your-face" attitude, "loud" Leeds accent, throaty laugh, pierced tongue, manner of dress (which often consisted of leopard-print outfits), and her voluminously curly hair.

Emma Bunton (October 1994 – December 2000 and June 2007 – February 2008). Emma was called Baby Spice because she was the youngest of the group, wore her long blonde hair in pigtails, wore babydoll dresses, had an innocent smile, and had a girly girl personality.

Melanie Chisholm (March 1994 – December 2000 and June 2007 – February 2008). Melanie was called Sporty Spice because she usually wore a tracksuit with her hair in a ponytail and sported a tough girl attitude. She also possessed true athletic abilities, her signature being her ability to perform back handsprings.

Geri Halliwell (March 1994 – May 1998 and June 2007 – February 2008). Geri was called Ginger Spice because of her "liveliness, zest, and flaming red hair." She often wore outrageous stage outfits, as in the iconic Union Jack dress. Geri was seen by many as de facto leader of the group thanks to her articulate conversational style and business sawy nature.

Portrayal in the media

The Spice Girls became media icons in Great Britain and a regular feature of the British press; during the peak of their worldwide fame in 1997, the paparazzi were constantly seen following them everywhere, to obtain stories and gossip about the group, as a supposed affair between Emma Bunton and manager Simon Fuller, or constant split rumours which became fodder for numerous tabloids. Rumours of in-fighting and conflicts within the group also have hit the headlines, specially between Geri Halliwell and Mel B; the rumours suggested that they were fighting to be the leader of the group. Mel B, who later admits that she used to be a "bitch" with Geri, said the problems had stayed in the past. The rumours reached their height, when the Spice Girls dismissed their manager Simon Fuller during the power struggles, with Fuller reportedly receiving a 10 million pound severance cheque to keep quiet about the details of his sacking. Months later, in May 1998, Halliwell would leave the band, in the middle of rumours of fight with Mel B, the news of Halliwell's departure was covered as a major news story by media around the world, and became the biggest entertainment news stories of the year.

In February 1997 in the Brit Awards Geri's Union Jack dress from Spice Girls live performance created phenomenal attention and subsequently made all the front pages the next day. During the ceremony, Geri's breasts were exposed twice causing controversy. This would not be the only such exhibition published of Geri, because during the year the release of nude photos of Halliwell that she posed for earlier in her career caused some scandal. According to the documentary ''Giving You Everything'', the rest of the Spices confessed that they knew about the photos before they were famous, but when the photos were published they created problems and friction inside the group during these years, but the issue never went away.

The stories of their encounters with other celebrities also became fodder for the press; for example, in May 1997, in The Prince's Trust 21st anniversary concert, Mel B and Geri Halliwell breached royal protocol when they planted kisses on Prince Charles's cheeks, leaving it covered with lipstick, and later, Halliwell told him "you're very sexy" and also pinched his bottom. In November, the British Royal Family were considered fans of the Spice Girls, including The Prince of Wales and his son Prince Harry of Wales. That month, South African President Nelson Mandela said: "These are my heroes. This is one of the greatest moments in my life" in an encounter organised by Prince Charles, who said, "It is the second greatest moment in my life, the first time I met them was the greatest". In 1998 the video game magazine ''Nintendo Power'' created The More Annoying Than The Spice Girls Award, adding: "What could possibly have been more annoying in 1997 than the Spice Girls, you ask?"

Victoria Adams started dating football player David Beckham in 1997 after they had met at a charity football match, prompting him to request a meeting with her. The couple announced their engagement in 1998 and were dubbed "Posh and Becks" by the media, After marriage, they have been called the celebrity couple of the decade and are Britain's biggest power-couple, attracting much media coverage in the following years.

Other brand ventures

Film

In June 1997, the group began filming their movie debut with director Bob Spiers. Meant to accompany the album, the comical style and content of the movie was in the same vein as The Beatles' films in the 1960s such as ''A Hard Day's Night''. The light-hearted comedy, intended to capture the spirit of the Spice Girls, featured a plethora of stars including Roger Moore, Hugh Laurie, Elton John, Richard O'Brien, Jennifer Saunders, Richard E. Grant, Elvis Costello, and Meat Loaf. Released in December 1997, ''Spiceworld: The Movie'' proved to be a hit at the box office breaking the record for the highest-ever weekend debut for Super Bowl Weekend (25 January 1998) in the US, with box office sales of $10,527,222. This record has since been beaten by ''The Butterfly Effect'' in 2004. The movie took in total $77 million dollars at the box office worldwide, $100 million combining cinema tickets and DVD Sales, including $30 million in America and £11 million in Britain. Despite being a commercial success, the film was widely panned by critics; the movie was nominated for seven awards at the 1999 Golden Raspberry Awards where they "won" the award for "Worst Actress".

Television

The first television special that the Spice Girls filmed was a documentary of their experiences from 1996–97, titled ''One Hour of Girl Power''. Later, ''Girl Talk'' was released. It was a television special where the Spice Girls spoke individually about themselves and the group. In April 1997, The Spice Girls appeared on the popular American television show Saturday Night Live, singing "Wannabe" and "Say You'll Be There". In November 1997, ''An Audience With'' The Spice Girls was screened for British channel ITV. The show attracted 11.8 million viewers in UK, one fifth of the population. In December 1997 was the release of the first US television documentary ''Too Much Is Never Enough'', focusing on their reaction to their sudden rise to fame around the world. In January 1998, The Spice Girls appeared on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', singing two songs, followed by an interview with Oprah.

In 1999 the TV special, ''The Spice Girls in America: A Tour Story'' was aired. This followed the Spice Girls' exploits and adventures in America, focusing on their tour of the USA, and when Geri Halliwell left the Spice Girls. In 2003 the television series on VH1 ''Behind the Music'' devoted a chapter to tell the story of the Spice Girls, as well as ''E! True Hollywood Story'', the TV documentary series on the E! Entertainment Television cable.

The first public appearance on stage by the Spice Girls Reunion was made at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, where the group performed at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. They performed two songs, 1998 single "Stop" and the lead single off their greatest hits album, "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)". The show was filmed by CBS on 15 November 2007 for broadcast on 4 December 2007, the show attracts averaged 7.4 million total viewers.

In December 2007, the official documentary, ''Spice Girls: Giving You Everything'' that made its world première in Australia on FOX8, It later aired in Canada on 19 December 2007 (on the CTV), and on the BBC in the United Kingdom on 31 December 2007. The film features narrative insight and commentary from the five girls themselves. The title of the documentary comes from chorus lyrics from their UK No. 1 single "Say You'll Be There". The episode attracted 3.6 million viewers in the UK.

Viva Forever : The Spice Girls Musical

In mid-October 2009, Now Magazine reported that the group, led by Geri, were set to produce a West End musical that would highlight their "rags-to-riches" story.

On 21 January 2010 it was announced Judy Craymer the producer behind the global smash-hit musical Mamma Mia would produce 'Viva Forever', a romantic comedy based on the songs of the Spice Girls. Expected to open in the West End in 2012, on 3 September 2010 it was announced British BAFTA award winning screenwriter, comedienne and actress Jennifer Saunders would write the original story for 'Viva Forever'.

Merchandise and sponsorship deals

The year 1997 saw the Spice Girls capitalising on their fame through a multi-million dollar phenomenon of merchandise, with hundreds of official products, including Chupa Chups, Walkers Crisps, Cadbury Chocolate, Polaroid, Impulse Deodorant, Aprilia Scooters, Domino Sugar, Spice Girls Dolls, a PlayStation video game, Sponsorship with ASDA Supermarket chain Channel Five (UK), and signed contract with Pepsi earned the group over £5 million (US$10 million). The Spice Girls brand had produced over £300 million pounds worldwide through merchandise in 1997. Globally, the group's total grosses are estimated to have been $500–800 millions of dollars between 1996 and 1998.

At the height of 1990s ''Spicemania'', there were many official and unofficial products produced by numerous manufacturers, including clothes, stickers, postcards, pens, bags, shoes, watches, caps, cosmetics, toys, food products, mugs, backpacks, magazines, books, videos, etc.

During the summer of 1997, the group was criticised for "selling out" to worldwide brands in the, being accused of overexposure and signing too many sponsorship contracts with large coporate businesses. The group responded to the presses criticisms by launching a music video of "Spice Up Your Life" where they are seen referring to the number of sponsorships they had.

''Cadbury Chocolate:'' 10 chocolate bars, assorted boxes and holiday confectioneries including easter eggs featuring the girls individually or as a group were produced.

''Chupa Chups:'' Different tins filled with assorted lollipops featuring a different girl were among the many products released, but the most widely produced was the "Fantasy Ball" Chupa Chups with six different packages each featuring a collectible sticker. Also Pushpops, Crazy Dips, Bubblegum with tattoos and toy microphones were produced.

''Walkers Crisps:'' In this promotion, over 51 different packaging designs created, with 10 for each member, plus a group package. The girls starred in two television adverts for the products.

''Pepsi Cola:'' In early 1997, the Spice Girls signed a multimillion sponsorship deal with Pepsi, and earned over £5 million (US$10 million) for the group. The girls were featured on several cans and bottles of Pepsi throughout Europe. Promotional giveaways included collectible drinking glasses and a music single, "Step to Me". The girls starred in three television adverts for Pepsi all featuring the song "Move Over (Generation Next)". ''Spice Girls Dolls:'' Were released by Galoob Toys in 1997, became a huge hit during the Christmas season going on to become best-selling dolls.

''Polaroid:'' A regular Polaroid instant camera with a pink-and-purple shell and Spice Girl badging was produced along with a Spice Girls branded disposable Polaroid camera and flashlight. Each of the girls filmed a television advert promoting new types of Polaroid film (i.e. black & white, writable, etc.), in addition to making a group advert.

''Impulse:'' The girls launched a fragrance known as "Impulse Spice", Deodorant and shower gel products were produced. One television advertisement was made for the product.

''PlayStation:'' "SpiceWorld", a video game featuring computer-animated cartoons of the girls was developed in 1998.

''Aprilia Scooters:'' 5 different scooters, each promoting a Spice Girl, were created and marketed as the "Spice Sonic Effect"

''ASDA Supermarkets:'' British supermarket chain ASDA, created over 40 different Spice Items for Christmas 1997 developing goods such as party supplies, xmas supplies, Chocolate biscuits, Cookies, Cakes, Pizzas, Towels, Pillows, Bean Bags, Clothing supplies even including spice branded platform shoe sneakers and even Spice Girl branded kids meals in the stores' restaurants. Signed contract with ASDA for earned over £1 millions (US$2 million) ''Tesco Supermarkets:'' A two-part television ad campaign celebrating Christmas with the Spice Girls aired in 2007, been paid £5 million (US$10 million).

''Channel Five (UK):'' The girls appeared in promotional print ads, recorded a song (1,2,3,4,5!), filmed a music video and launched Britain's fifth terrestrial television network in 1997.

''Domino Sugar:'' The Girls promoted the sugar with a sponsor of their North American tour, with clips being played before shows and during intermission on video screens.

''Target Stores:'' The American discount retailer was one of the largest suppliers of official Spice Girls merchandise in the United States and Australia, usually devoting an aisle to products such as bikes, school supplies, party supplies, and toys.

Career records and achievements

Total record sales in the region of 75 million. As of February 2008, the Spice Girls had certified sales of over 45 million albums and 25 million singles: Certified sales of 13 million albums in Europe, 14 million records in the US and 2.4 million in Canada.

Total of nine number one singles in the UK – tied with ABBA behind Take That (Eleven), The Shadows (twelve), Madonna (thirteen), Westlife (fourteen), Cliff Richard (fourteen), The Beatles (seventeen) and Elvis Presley (twenty-one).

Three consecutive Christmas number one singles in the UK for: ("2 Become 1", 1996; "Too Much", 1997; "Goodbye", 1998) "Wannabe" is the most successful song released by an all female group. Sales are in the region of 7 million copies. ''Spice'' is the 18th biggest-selling album of all time in the UK with over 3 million copies sold, topped the charts for 15 weeks (non-consecutive) the most by a female group in the UK ''Spice'' is the biggest-selling album of the all time by a girl group with sales of 23 million copies worldwide.

First act (only female act) to have their first six singles ("Wannabe", "Say You'll Be There", "2 Become 1", "Mama/Who Do You Think You Are", "Spice Up Your Life" and "Too Much") make number one on the UK charts. (Their run was broken by "Stop", which peaked at number two in March 1998.)

"Wannabe" debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 Chart at number 11, the highest-ever debut by a British band in the US, beating the previous record held by The Beatles for "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and the joint highest entry for a debut act tying with Alanis Morissette.

Highest international debut on the ''Billboard Hot 100'' at number five with "Say You'll Be There", (This record still holds to date.)

The first British band since the Beatles to have two albums in the US Chart Top Ten at the same time, ''Spice'' and ''Spiceworld''. Geri Halliwell's Union Jack dress that she wore for the Spice Girls' 1997 BRIT Awards performance, was sold for £36,000 ($66,112) at Sotheby's, London, England on 16 Sept. 1998. It was bought by Peter Morton, the owner of the Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. It is still to date the "Most Valuable Popstar Clothing" ever worn. The Spice Girls achieved the highest ever annual earnings by an all female group in 1998 with an income of £49 million (approximately US$100 million). "Spiceworld" shipped 7 million copies in just two weeks, including 1.4 million in Britain alone – the largest-ever shipment of an album over 14 days. ''Spiceworld: The Movie'' broke the record for the highest-ever weekend debut for Super Bowl Weekend (25 January 1998) in the US, with box office sales of $10,527,222. This record has since been beaten by ''The Butterfly Effect'' in 2004. ''Spiceworld: The Movie'' topped the UK video charts on its first week of release, selling over 55,000 copies on its first day in the shops.

In Canada, "Goodbye" sat at the number-one position for sixteen consecutive weeks. The song ranks in Canada as the third best-selling single of the 1990s and the best-selling single of 1999 certified 2× Platinum.

Received several awards including five BRIT Awards, three American Music Awards, three MTV Europe Music Awards, one MTV Video Music Awards and three World Music Awards.

Tickets for Spice Girls reunion shows in London sold out in 38 seconds. The Spice Girls Reunion Tour was announced as the ''Highest Grossing Concert Act'' of 2008 with netted £16.5 million (US$33 million) for the band. In total, the tour took more than $70 million.

Discography

; Studio albums

''Spice'' (1996)

''Spiceworld'' (1997)

''Forever'' (2000)

; Compilations

''Greatest Hits'' (2007)

See also

List of best-selling girl groups

List of best-selling music artists

List of Spice Girls awards

References

Book references

Hardy, Phil. ''The Faber Companion to 20th century Popular Music'' (Faber and Faber, 2001) ISBN 0-571-19608-X

Larkin, Colin. ''The Virgin Encyclopaedia of Popular Music'' (4th ed.) (Virgin Books, 2003.) ISBN 1-85227-923-0

Sinclair, David. ''Wannabe: How the Spice Girls Reinvented Pop Fame'' (Omnibuss Press, 2004) ISBN 0-7119-8643-6

External links

Official Website

Official YouTube Channel

Category:Virgin Records artists Category:Ivor Novello Award winners Category:Juno Award winners Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Musical quintets Category:Eurodance groups Category:English pop music groups Category:English dance music groups Category:British girl groups Category:Musical groups established in 1994 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2000 Category:Musical groups reestablished in 2007 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2008

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Coordinates	37°46′45.48″N122°25′9.12″N
name	Clive James
birth name	Vivian James
birth date	October 07, 1939
birth place	Kogarah, Sydney, Australia
nationality	Australian
occupation	Essayist, poet, broadcaster
notableworks	''Cultural Amnesia'' ''Unreliable Memoirs''
spouse	Prue Shaw
children	Claerwen JamesLucinda James
influences	Orwell, Schnitzler, Zweig, Friedell, Fitzgerald, Camus, Aron, Auden, MacNeice, Larkin, Vidal
awards	Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal for Literature
website	http://www.clivejames.com
religion	}}

Clive James, AM (born 7 October 1939) is an Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet and memoirist, best known for his autobiographical series ''Unreliable Memoirs'', for his chat shows and documentaries on British television and for his prolific journalism. He has lived and worked in the United Kingdom since the early 1960s.

Biography

Clive James was born Vivian James in Kogarah, Sydney. He was allowed to change his name as a child because "after Vivien Leigh played Scarlett O'Hara the name became irrevocably a girl's name no matter how you spelled it".

His father was taken prisoner by the Japanese during World War II. Although he survived the POW camp, he died when the plane returning him to Australia crashed in Taiwan; he was buried in Hong Kong. James, who was an only child, was brought up by his mother in the Sydney suburb of Kogarah.

In ''Unreliable Memoirs'', James says an IQ test taken in childhood put his IQ at 140. He was educated at Sydney Technical High School (despite winning a bursary award to Sydney Boys High School) and the University of Sydney, where he studied Psychology and became associated with the Sydney Push, a libertarian, intellectual subculture. At the university, he edited the student newspaper, ''Honi Soit'', and directed the annual Union Revue. After graduating, James worked for a year as an Assistant Editor for ''The Sydney Morning Herald''.

In early 1962, James moved to England, where he made his home. During his first three years in London, he shared a flat with the Australian film director Bruce Beresford (disguised as Dave Dalziel in the first three volumes of James' memoirs), was a neighbour of Australian artist Brett Whiteley, became acquainted with Barry Humphries (disguised as Bruce Jennings), and had a variety of occasionally disastrous short-term jobs (sheet metal worker, library assistant, photo archivist, market researcher).

James later gained a place at Pembroke College, Cambridge, to read English literature. Whilst there, he contributed to all the undergraduate periodicals, was a member and later President of the Cambridge Footlights, and appeared on ''University Challenge'' as captain of the Pembroke team. During one summer vacation, he worked as a circus roustabout to save enough money to travel to Italy. His contemporaries at Cambridge included Germaine Greer (known as Romaine Rand in the first three volumes of his memoirs) and Eric Idle. Having, he claims, scrupulously avoided reading any of the course material (but having read widely otherwise in English and foreign literature), James graduated with a 2:1—better than he had expected—and began a Ph.D. thesis on Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Career

Critic and essayist

James worked as a television critic for ''The Observer'' (1972-82). Selections from the column were published in three books—''Visions Before Midnight'', ''The Crystal Bucket'' and ''Glued to the Box''—and finally in a compendium, ''On Television''.

He has written literary criticism extensively for newspapers, magazines and periodicals in Britain, Australia and America, including, among many others, ''The Australian Book Review'', ''The Monthly'', ''The Atlantic Monthly'', the ''New York Review of Books'', ''The Liberal'' and the ''Times Literary Supplement''. John Gross included James's essay 'A Blizzard of Tiny Kisses' in the ''Oxford Book of Essays'' (1992, 1999).

''The Metropolitan Critic'' (1974), his first collection of literary criticism, was followed by ''At the Pillars of Hercules'' (1979), ''From the Land of Shadows'' (1982), ''Snakecharmers in Texas'' (1988), ''The Dreaming Swimmer'' (1992), ''Even As We Speak'' (2004), ''The Meaning of Recognition'' (2005) and ''Cultural Amnesia'' (2007), a collection of mini-intellectual biographies of over 100 significant figures in modern culture, history and politics. A defence of humanism, liberal democracy and literary clarity, the book was listed among the best of 2007 by ''The Village Voice''.

Another volume of essays, ''The Revolt of the Pendulum'', was published in June 2009.

He has also published ''Flying Visits'', a collection of travel writing for ''The Observer''.

Poet and lyricist

James has published poetry in periodicals all over the English-speaking world. He has published several books of poetry, including ''Poem of the Year'' (1983), a verse-diary, ''Other Passports: poems 1958–1985'', a first collection, and ''The Book of My Enemy'' (2003), a volume that takes its title from James' poem, ''The Book of My Enemy Has Been Remaindered''.

He has published four mock-heroic poems: ''The Fate of Felicity Fark in the Land of the Media: a moral poem'' (1975), ''Peregrine Prykke's Pilgrimage Through the London Literary World'' (1976), ''Britannia Bright's Bewilderment in the Wilderness of Westminster'' (1976) and ''Charles Charming's Challenges on the Pathway to the Throne'' (1981).

During the seventies he also collaborated on six albums of songs with Pete Atkin:

''Beware Of The Beautiful Stranger'' (1970),

''Driving Through Mythical America'' (1971),

''A King At Nightfall'' (1973),

''The Road Of Silk'' (1974),

''Secret Drinker'' (1974), and

''Live Libel'' (1975).

A revival of interest in the songs in the late 1990s, triggered largely by the creation by Steve Birkill of an Internet mailing list "Midnight Voices" in 1997, led to the reissue of the six albums on CD between 1997 and 2001, as well as live performances by the pair. A double-album of previously-unrecorded songs written in the seventies and entitled ''The Lakeside Sessions: Volumes 1 and 2'' was released in 2002 and "Winter Spring", an album of new material written by James and Atkin was released in 2003.

James acknowledged the importance of the "Midnight Voices" group in bringing to wider attention the lyric-writing aspect of his career. He wrote in November 1997 that, "one of the midnight voices of my own fate should be [that] the music of Pete Atkin continues to rank high among the blessings of my life, and on my behalf as well as his I bless you all for your attention".

Novelist and memoirist

In 1979 James published his first book of autobiography, ''Unreliable Memoirs'', which recounted his early life in Australia and extended to over a hundred reprintings. It was followed by four other volumes of autobiography: ''Falling Towards England'' (1985), which covered his London years; ''May Week Was in June'' (1990), which dealt with his time at Cambridge; ''North Face of Soho'' (2006), and ''The Blaze of Obscurity'' (2009), concerning his subsequent career. An omnibus edition of the first three volumes was published under the generic title of ''Always Unreliable''.

James has also written four novels: ''Brilliant Creatures'' (1983), ''The Remake'' (1987), ''Brrm! Brrm!'' (1991), published in the United States as ''The Man from Japan'', and ''The Silver Castle'' (1996).

In 1999, John Gross included an excerpt from ''Unreliable Memoirs'' in ''The New Oxford Book of English Prose''. John Carey chose ''Unreliable Memoirs'' as one of the fifty most enjoyable books of the twentieth century in his book ''Pure Pleasure'' (2000).

Television

James developed his television career as a guest commentator on various shows, including as an occasional co-presenter with Tony Wilson on the first series of ''So It Goes'', the Granada Television pop music show. On the show when the Sex Pistols made their TV debut, James commented: "During the recording, the task of keeping the little bastards under control was given to me. With the aid of a radio microphone, I was able to shout them down, but it was a near thing...they attacked everything around them and had difficulty in being polite even to each other."..

James subsequently hosted the ITV show ''Clive James on Television'', in which he showcased unusual or (often unintentionally) amusing television programmes from around the world, notably the Japanese TV show ''Endurance''. After his defection to the BBC in 1989, he hosted a similarly-formatted programme called ''Saturday Night Clive'' (1988–1990) which later became ''Saturday Night Clive on Sunday''. In 1995 he set up Watchmaker Productions to produce ''The Clive James Show'' for ITV, and a subsequent series launched the British career of singer and comedienne Margarita Pracatan. James hosted one of the early chat shows on Channel 4 and fronted the BBC's ''Review of the Year'' programmes in the late 1980s and 1990s, which formed part of the channel's New Year's Eve celebrations.

In the mid-1980s, James featured in a travel programme called ''Clive James in...'' (beginning with ''Clive James in Las Vegas'') for LWT (now ITV) and later switched to BBC, where he continued producing travel programmes, this time called ''Clive James' Postcard from...'' (beginning with ''Clive James' Postcard from Miami'') - these also eventually transferred to ITV. He was also one of the original team of presenters of the BBC's ''The Late Show'', hosting a round-table discussion on Friday nights.

His major documentary series ''Fame in the 20th Century'' (1993) was broadcast in the United Kingdom by the BBC, in Australia by the ABC and in the United States by the PBS network. This series dealt with the concept of "fame" in the 20th century, following over a course of eight episodes (each one chronologically and roughly devoted to one decade of the century, from the 1900s to the 1980s) discussions about world famous people of the 20th century. Through the use of film footage, James presented a history of "fame" which explored its growth to today's global proportions. In his closing monologue he remarked, "Achievement without fame can be a rewarding life, while fame without achievement is no life at all."

James presented the 1982, 1984 and 1986 official Formula One season review videos. He also presented ''The Clive James Formula 1 Show'' for ITV to coincide with their Formula One coverage in .

One of his most famous quotations concerning television is, "Anyone afraid of what he thinks television does to the world is probably just afraid of the world".

Radio

In 2007, James started presenting the BBC Radio 4 show ''A Point of View'', with transcripts appearing in the "Magazine" section of BBC News Online. In this show James discussed various issues with a slightly humorous slant, similar to a newspaper op-ed. Topics covered included media portrayal of torture, young black role models and corporate rebranding. Three of James's broadcasts in 2007 were shortlisted for the 2008 Orwell Prize.

In October 2009 James read a radio version of his book ''The Blaze of Obscurity'', on BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week programme.

In December 2009 James talked about the P-51 Mustang and other American fighter aircraft of Word War II in ''The Museum of Curiosity'' on BBC Radio 4.

He has posted vlog conversations from his internet show ''Talking in the Library'', including conversations with Ian McEwan, Cate Blanchett, Julian Barnes, Jonathan Miller and Terry Gilliam. In addition to the poetry and prose of James himself, the site features the works of other literary figures such as Les Murray and Michael Frayn, as well as the works of painters, sculptors and photographers such as John Olsen and Jeffrey Smart.

Theatre

In 2008 James performed in two self-titled shows at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival: ''Clive James in Conversation'' and ''Clive James in the Evening''. He took the latter show on a limited tour of the UK in 2009.

Awards

In 1992, he was made a Member of the Order of Australia and in 2003 he was awarded the Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal for Literature. He has received honorary doctorates from the Universities of Sydney and the East Anglia. In April 2008, James was awarded a Special Award for Writing and Broadcasting by the judges of the Orwell Prize.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2010.

Personal life

James is married to Prue Shaw, an academic in modern languages specialising in Italian and medieval romance philology. The couple have two daughters, Claerwen (a painter), and Lucinda (a civil servant). James divides his time between a converted warehouse flat in London and a house in Cambridge. He has a policy of not talking about his family publicly.

A friend of Diana, Princess of Wales, upon her death James wrote a piece for ''The New Yorker'' entitled "I Wish I'd Never Met Her", recording his overwhelming grief. Since then he has declined to comment upon their friendship.

While a detractor of communism and socialism for their tendency towards totalitarianism, James still identifies himself with the left, endorsing some of the features sometimes observed under socialism, such as a planned economy and state-owned media, and eschewing the free market and privatisation associated with capitalism. In a 2006 interview in ''The Sunday Times'', James states of himself: "I was brought up on the proletarian left, and I remain there. The fair go for the workers is fundamental, and I don't believe the free market has a mind".

In a speech given in 1991, he criticised privatisation: "The idea that Britain's broadcasting system—for all its drawbacks one of the country's greatest institutions—was bound to be improved by being subjected to the conditions of a free market: there was no difficulty in recognising that notion as politically illiterate. But for some reason people did have difficulty in realising that it was economically illiterate too".

Overall, James identifies as a liberal social democrat. He strongly supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, saying in 2007 that "the war only lasted a few days" and that the continuing conflict in Iraq was "the Iraq peace." He has also written that it was "official policy to rape a woman in front of her family" during Saddam Hussein's regime and that women have enjoyed more rights since the invasion.

James is currently a Patron of the Burma Campaign UK an organisation that campaigns for human rights and democracy in Burma.

Describing religions as "advertising agencies for a product that doesn't exist," James is an atheist and sees this as the default, obvious position.

James is able to read, with varying fluency, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian and Japanese. A tango enthusiast, he has traveled to Buenos Aires for dance lessons and has a dance floor in his house which allows him to practise.

A former heavy drinker and smoker, who recorded in ''North Face of Soho'' his habit of filling a hubcap ashtray daily, James now drinks only socially and stopped smoking in 2005. He admitted smoking 80 cigarettes a day for a number of years.

In April 2011, after media speculation that he had suffered kidney failure, James confirmed that he was suffering from B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and had been under treatment for 15 months at Addenbrooke's Hospital.

Bibliography

Autobiography

* ''Unreliable Memoirs'' (1980)

* ''Falling Towards England'' (1985)

* ''May Week Was in June'' (1990)

* ''North Face of Soho'' (2006)

* ''The Blaze of Obscurity'' (2009)

Fiction

* ''Brilliant Creatures'' (1983)

* ''The Remake'' (1987)

* ''Brrm! Brrm!'' (1991), released in the United States as ''The Man From Japan'' (1993)

* ''The Silver Castle'' (1996)

Poetry

* ''The Fate of Felicity Fark in the Land of the Media: a moral poem'' (1975)

* ''Peregrine Prykke's Pilgrimage Through the London Literary World'' (1976)

* ''Britannia Bright's Bewilderment in the Wilderness of Westminster'' (1976)

* ''Fan-mail: seven verse letters'' (1977)

* ''Charles Charming's Challenges on the Pathway to the Throne'' (1981)

* ''Poem of the Year'' (1983)

* ''Other Passports: poems 1958–1985'' (1986)

* ''The Book of My Enemy'' (2003) (Poetry and lyrics)

* ''Opal Sunset: Selected Poems 1958–2009'' (2009)

Non-Fiction

* ''The Metropolitan Critic'' (1974)

* ''Visions Before Midnight: television criticism from the Observer 1972-76'' (1977)

* ''At the Pillars of Hercules'' (1979)

* ''The Crystal Bucket: television criticism from the Observer 1976-79'' (1981)

* ''From the Land of Shadows'' (1982)

* ''Glued to the Box: television criticism from the Observer 1979–82'' (1983)

* ''Clive James On Television'' (one-volume edition of the television criticism books) (1991)

* ''Flying Visits: Postcards from the Observer, 1976–83'' (1984)

* ''Snakecharmers in Texas: essays 1980–87'' (1988)

* ''The Dreaming Swimmer: non-fiction, 1987–1992'' (1992)

* ''Fame in the 20th Century'' (1993)

* ''Even as We Speak'' (2004)

* ''The Meaning of Recognition: New Essays 2001–2005'' (2005)

* ''Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History and the Arts'' (2007)

* ''The Revolt of the Pendulum: Essays 2005–2009'' (2009)

See also

Peter Porter (poet), friend, and a regular partner in discussions on radio

Edward Pygge, a pseudonym used by James

Notes

External links

CliveJames.com

The Clive James Show Clive James recorded these video interviews with artists, writers, filmmakers and actors in his London home.

Clive James at the Internet Movie Database

Interfacing With Clive James by Brendan Bernhard, New York Sun, 18 January 2006

Clive James at Edinburgh Comedy Festival

Interview, Leicester Mercury

Audio: Clive James in conversation on the BBC World Service discussion programme ''The Forum''

Clive James Interviewed by Alyssa McDonald on New Statesman.

Freedom Wears a Crown: Clive James, Australians for Constitutional Monarchy, 28 August 2007

James Saves the Queen The Age, 25 August 2007

Category:Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Category:Australian memoirists Category:Australian travel writers Category:Australian literary critics Category:Australian monarchists Category:University of Sydney alumni Category:People from Sydney Category:Edinburgh Comedy Festival Category:Members of the Order of Australia Category:Australian expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:Australian poets Category:Australian atheists Category:1939 births Category:Living people Category:People educated at Sydney Technical High School Category:University Challenge contestants Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature

fr:Clive James

Coordinates	37°46′45.48″N122°25′9.12″N
name	Prince Charles
title	Prince of Wales; Duke of Cornwall; Duke of Rothesay (more)
imgw	220
spouses	Diana, Princess of Wales(m. 1981, div. 1996)Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall(m. 2005)
issue	Prince William, Duke of CambridgePrince Harry of Wales
full name	Charles Philip Arthur George |groupfn |namesur}}

| house = House of Windsor | father = Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh | mother = Elizabeth II | birth_date = November 14, 1948 | birth_place = Buckingham Palace, London, United Kingdom | date of christening = 15 December 1948 | place of christening = Buckingham Palace, London | occupation = | religion = Church of England }}

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. Since 1958 his major title has been ''His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales''. In Scotland he is additionally known as ''The Duke of Rothesay.'' He is the longest-serving heir apparent in British history. Until 22 April 2011 Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) had been the longest serving heir apparent, for a period of 59 years 74 days. However, Prince Edward became heir apparent on his birth, 4 years into his mother's (Queen Victoria) reign, whereas Prince Charles was three years old at his mother's ascension and thus has been heir apparent for all of Queen Elizabeth II's reign.

Charles was educated at Cheam and Gordonstoun Schools, which his father, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, had attended as a child, as well as the Timbertop campus of Geelong Grammar School, Victoria, Australia, situated near Mansfield in the rugged Victorian Alps. After earning a bachelor of arts degree from Trinity College, Cambridge, Charles served a tour of duty with the Royal Navy in 1971–76. He married Lady Diana Spencer before an enormous worldwide television audience in 1981. They had two sons, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge in 1982 and Prince Harry of Wales in 1984. The couple separated in 1992 following tabloid allegations concerning their relationship. They divorced in 1996 after Diana publicly accused Charles of having an affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, and Charles admitted adultery on television. Diana died in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997. In 2005, after a lengthy continued association, the Prince married Camilla, who uses the title Duchess of Cornwall.

The prince is well-known for his charity work and sponsors The Prince's Trust, The Prince's Regeneration Trust, and the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment, among other charities. He has been outspoken concerning architecture and the conservation of old buildings and has produced a book on the subject called ''A Vision of Britain'' (1989). He has also promoted herbal and other alternative medical treatment.

Early life

Charles was born at Buckingham Palace on 14 November 1948 at 9.14 pm (GMT), the first child of then Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and first grandchild of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. Baptised in the palace's Music Room on 15 December 1948, using water from the River Jordan, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, the Prince's godparents were: the King (his maternal grandfather); the King of Norway (his cousin, for whom the Earl of Athlone stood proxy); Queen Mary (his maternal great-grandmother); the Princess Margaret (his maternal aunt); Prince George of Greece (his paternal granduncle, for whom the Duke of Edinburgh stood proxy); the Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven (his paternal great-grandmother); the Lady Brabourne (his cousin); and the Hon David Bowes-Lyon (his maternal great-uncle). By letters patent of Charles' great-grandfather, King George V, the titles of a British prince or princess, and the style ''Royal Highness'', were only to be conferred on male-line children and grandchildren of the sovereign, as well as the children of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales. However, on 22 October 1948, George VI issued new letters patent granting these honours to any children of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip; otherwise, Charles would have merely taken his father's title, and been titled by courtesy as Earl of Merioneth. In this way the children of the heiress presumptive had a royal and princely status.

When Charles was aged three his mother's accession as Queen Elizabeth II, immediately made him the heir apparent to the then seven countries over which she now reigned. He was ''ipso facto'' elevated to the rank of Duke of Cornwall (by a charter of King Edward III that gave said title to the sovereign's eldest son), and, in the Scottish peerage, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland. Though he moved to first in line to the throne in the United Kingdom order of precedence he is third, after his parents, and is typically fourth or fifth in other realms' precedence orders, following his mother, the relevant vice-regal representative(s), and his father. Charles attended his mother's coronation at Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953, seated alongside his grandmother and aunt. As is customary for royal offspring, a governess, Catherine Peebles, was appointed and undertook his education between the ages of 5 and 8. Buckingham Palace announced in 1955 that Charles would attend school rather than have a private tutor, making him the first heir apparent ever to be educated in that manner.

Youth

Education

Charles first attended Hill House School in West London, receiving non-preferential treatment from the school's founder and then head, Stuart Townend, who advised the Queen to have Charles train in football, as the boys at Hill House were never deferential to anyone on the football field. The Prince then attended his father's former school, the Cheam Preparatory School in Berkshire, England; and was finally moved to Gordonstoun, in the north-east of Scotland. Reportedly the Prince despised his time at the latter school – "Colditz in kilts", as Charles put it – though he did spend two of his terms at the Timbertop campus of Geelong Grammar School in Geelong, Australia, during which time he visited Papua New Guinea on a history trip with his tutor, Michael Collins Persse. Upon his return to Gordonstoun, Charles emulated his father in becoming Head Boy, and left in 1967 with two A Levels in History and French.

Tradition was broken again when Charles proceeded straight from secondary school into university, as opposed to joining the Armed Forces. On the recommendation of Robin Woods, Dean of Windsor, and despite only gaining grades of B and C in his A Levels, the Prince was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read anthropology, archaeology, and history, tutored by Canadian-born Professor John Coles. He graduated with a 2:2 Bachelor of Arts on 23 June 1970, the third Royal Family member to earn a university degree. On 2 August 1975 he was subsequently awarded a Master of Arts Degree from Cambridge, per the university's tradition. During his tertiary, Charles also attended the Old College (part of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth), studying the Welsh language and Welsh history. He is the first Prince of Wales born outside of Wales ever to attempt to learn the language of the principality.

Created Prince of Wales

Charles was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester on 26 July 1958, though his investiture as such was not conducted until 1 July 1969, wherein he was crowned by his mother in a televised ceremony held at Caernarfon Castle, and gave his replies and speech in both Welsh and English. The following year he took his seat in the House of Lords, and later in the decade became the first member of the Royal Family since King George I to attend a British Cabinet meeting, having been invited by Prime Minister James Callaghan so that the Prince might see the workings of the British government and Cabinet at first hand. Charles also began to take on more public duties, founding his The Prince's Trust in 1976, and travelling to the United States in 1981.

Around the same time the Prince expressed an interest in serving as Governor-General of Australia; Commander Michael Parker explained: "The idea behind the appointment was for him to put a foot on the ladder of monarchy, or being the future King and start learning the trade." However, because of a combination of nationalist feeling in Australia and the dismissal of the government by the Governor-General in 1975, nothing came of the proposal. Charles accepted the decision of the Australian ministers, if not without some regret; he reportedly stated: "What are you supposed to think when you are prepared to do something to help and you are told you are not wanted?" Conversely, Tom Gallagher wrote that Charles had been offered the Romanian throne by monarchists in that country; an offer that was reportedly turned down.

The Prince is at present the oldest man to hold the title of Prince of Wales since it became the title granted to the heir apparent. He is also the oldest and longest-serving heir apparent in Commonwealth realms' history and the third longest serving Prince of Wales in British history behind Edward VII and George IV, whom he will pass on 10 October 2017 if he is still Prince of Wales on that date. If he ascends to the throne after 18 September 2013, Charles would be the oldest monarch of the United Kingdom to do so; only William IV was older when he became monarch than Charles is now.

Military training and career

Following in the tradition of Princes of Wales before him, Charles spent time in the navy and air force. After Royal Air Force training that he requested and received during his second year at Cambridge, on 8 March 1971 the Prince flew himself to the Royal Air Force College Cranwell to train as a jet pilot. After the passing out parade in September of that year, he then embarked on a naval career, enrolling in a six–week course at the Royal Naval College Dartmouth and then serving on the guided missile destroyer (1971–1972) and the frigates (1972–1973) and (1974). Charles also qualified as a helicopter pilot at RNAS Yeovilton in 1974, just prior to joining 845 Naval Air Squadron, operating from , and on 9 February 1976 the Prince took command of the coastal minehunter for his last nine months in the navy. Prince Charles learned to fly on a Chipmunk basic pilot trainer, a BAC Jet Provost jet trainer, and a Beagle Basset multi-engined trainer, he then regularly flew the Hawker Siddeley Andover, Westland Wessex and BAe 146 aircraft of The Queen's Flight.

Early romances

Prince Charles' love life was always the subject of speculation and press fodder. In his youth, he was linked to a number of women, including Georgiana Russell, daughter of the British Ambassador to Spain; Lady Jane Wellesley; Davina Sheffield; Fiona Watson, a model; Susan George; Lady Sarah Spencer; Princess Marie-Astrid of Luxembourg; Dale, Baroness Tryon; Janet Jenkins; and Jane Ward. Not only is Charles the heir apparent to the thrones of the Commonwealth realms, a marriage was also expected to raise future monarchs. Consequently his choice of consort was going to create immense popular interest. In particular the reputation of the bride was going to be a major consideration, in addition to his mother's approval under the Royal Marriages Act 1772. Under this Act marriage to a Roman Catholic would automatically debar him and the marriage's Catholic issue from succession.

Charles was given written advice on dating and the selection of a future consort from his father's "Uncle Dickie", Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma: "In a case like yours, the man should sow his wild oats and have as many affairs as he can before settling down, but for a wife he should choose a suitable, attractive, and sweet-charactered girl before she has met anyone else she might fall for... It is disturbing for women to have experiences if they have to remain on a pedestal after marriage." Mountbatten had a unique qualification for offering advice to this particular heir to the throne: he had invited George VI, Queen Elizabeth, and their daughters to visit Dartmouth Royal Naval College on 22 July 1939, having also detailed Cadet Prince Philip of Greece to keep the young princesses company, arranging the first documented meeting of Charles' future parents. In early 1974, Mountbatten began corresponding with Elizabeth and Philip's eldest son about a potential marriage to Mountbatten's granddaughter, Hon. Amanda Knatchbull (b. 26 June 1957), and recommended that the 25-year-old prince get done with his bachelor's experimentation. Charles dutifully wrote to Amanda's mother, Lady Brabourne (who was also his godmother), about his interest in her daughter, to which she replied approvingly, though suggesting that a courtship was premature.

This did not daunt Mountbatten, who, four years later, obtained an invitation for himself and Amanda to accompany Charles on his 1980 tour of India. Both fathers, however, objected; Philip complaining that the Prince of Wales would be eclipsed by his famous uncle (who had served as the last British Viceroy and first Governor-General of India), while Lord Brabourne warned that a joint visit would rivet media attention on the cousins before they could decide on becoming a couple, thereby potentially dashing the very prospect for which Mountbatten hoped. However, before Charles was to depart alone for India, Mountbatten was killed in an IRA murder during August 1979. When Charles returned, he proposed to Amanda. However, in addition to her grandfather, she had lost her paternal grandmother and youngest brother Nicholas in the attack and now recoiled from the prospect of becoming a core member of the Royal Family. In June 1980 Charles officially turned down Chevening House, placed at his disposal since 1974, as his future residence. Chevening, a stately home in Kent, was bequeathed, along with an endowment, to the Crown by the last Earl Stanhope, Amanda's childless great-uncle, in the hope that Charles would eventually occupy it.

First marriage

thumb|TRH The Prince and [[Diana, Princess of Wales|The Princess of Wales with Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan in November 1985]] Although Charles first met Lady Diana Frances Spencer in 1977—while visiting Diana's home, Althorp, as the companion of her elder sister, Sarah—he did not consider her romantically until the summer of 1980. While sitting together on a bale of hay at a friend's barbecue in July he mentioned Mountbatten's death, to which Diana replied that Charles had looked forlorn and in need of care during his uncle's funeral. Soon, according to Charles' chosen biographer, Jonathan Dimbleby, "without any apparent surge in feeling, he began to think seriously of her as a potential bride." She accompanied the Prince on visits to Balmoral and Sandringham, eliciting enthusiastic responses from most of the Royal Family.

Although the Queen offered Charles no direct counsel, his cousin Norton Knatchbull (Amanda's eldest brother) and his wife, Penny, did. But Charles was angered by their objections that he did not seem in love with Diana and that she seemed too awestruck by his position. Meanwhile, the couple continued dating, amidst constant press speculation and paparazzi coverage. When Prince Philip told him that the intrusive media attention would injure her reputation if he did not come to a decision about marrying her soon, and realising that Diana met the Mountbatten criteria (and, apparently, the public's) for a proper royal bride, Charles construed his father's advice as a warning to proceed without further delay.

Engagement and wedding to Diana

Prince Charles proposed to Lady Diana Spencer in February 1981, she accepted, and when he asked her father for her hand, he consented. After the British and Canadian privy councils gave their approval for the union (which was sought as the couple was expected to produce an heir to those countries' thrones), the Queen-in-Council gave the legally required assent, and, 29 July, Charles and Diana were married at St Paul's Cathedral, before 3,500 invited guests and an estimated worldwide television audience of 750 million people. All of the Queen's Governors-General, as well as Europe's crowned heads, attended (save for King Juan Carlos I of Spain, who was advised not to attend because the newlyweds' honeymoon would involve a stop over in the disputed territory of Gibraltar). Most of Europe's elected heads of state were also amongst the guests, with the exceptions of the President of Greece, Constantine Karamanlis (who declined because Greece's exiled monarch, Constantine II, a kinsman and friend of the bridegroom, had been invited as "King of the Hellenes"), and the President of Ireland, Patrick Hillery (who was advised by Taoiseach Charles Haughey not to attend because of the dispute over the status of Northern Ireland). right|thumb|TRH The Prince and The Princess of Wales with Sandro Pertini The couple made their homes at Highgrove House, near Tetbury, and Kensington Palace. Almost immediately, the new Princess of Wales became a star attraction, chased by the paparazzi, and her every move followed by millions through the mass media. The couple had two children: Princes William (born 21 June 1982) and Henry (known as "Harry") (born 15 September 1984). Charles set precedent by being the first royal father to be present at his children's births. Persistent suggestions have been made that the father of Harry is not Charles but James Hewitt with whom Diana had an affair. These suggestions have been based on a physical similarity between Hewitt and Harry. However Hewitt stated to the press in 2002 that Harry had already been born by the time the affair between him and Diana began.

Separation and divorce

The union between the Prince and Princess of Wales soon became troubled; within five years, the "fairytale" marriage was on the brink of collapse. The continued presence of Camilla Parker-Bowles in events and circumstances that also involved the royal couple became intolerable to Diana. Allies of Charles who spoke both publicly and off the record against Diana alleged that she was unstable and temperamental; one by one, she apparently secured the dismissal of many of Charles' long-standing staff members and fell out with his friends, as well as members of her own family– her father, mother, and brother– as well as members of the Royal Family, such as Sarah, Duchess of York. To the Palace's regret, the Princess sought counsel outside generally accepted sources of royal advice. In response to the succour sought by the Prince, Diana responded in kind. Charles, however, was also blamed for the marital troubles, as he resumed his adulterous affair with Parker-Bowles. Though they remained a couple in public, Charles and Diana had effectively separated by the late 1980s, the Prince living in Highgrove and the Princess at Kensington Palace. Their increased periods apart and obvious discomfort in each other's presence began to be noticed by the media, and this, plus evidence and recriminations of infidelity, were broadcast in tabloids and the news. By 1992, the marriage was over in all but name; in December of that year, then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, John Major, announced in the British parliament the Prince and Princess' formal separation, after which the media began to take sides, starting what came to be known as the ''War of the Waleses''. In October 1993, Princess Diana wrote to a friend that she believed her husband was now in love with Tiggy Legge-Bourke and wanted to marry her. The marriage of Charles and Diana was formally ended in divorce on 28 August 1996.

On 31 August 1997, a year after the Prince and Princess divorced, Princess Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris, along with her companion Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul. The Prince of Wales overruled the palace protocol experts– who argued that as Princess Diana was no longer a member of the Royal Family, the responsibility for her funeral arrangements belonged to her blood relatives, the Spencers– and flew to Paris, with Princess Diana's sisters, to accompany his ex-wife's body home. He also insisted that, as the mother of the presumed future king (her son William), she be given a formal royal funeral; a new category of formal funeral was especially created for her.

Second marriage

In 1993 the British tabloids came into the possession of recordings of a 1989 telephone conversation allegedly between the Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker-Bowles, in which Charles expressed regret for the indignities she had endured because of her relationship with him, and which revealed graphic expressions of a physical intimacy between the two.

Engagement and wedding to Camilla

Clarence House announced on 10 February 2005 that Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles were engaged; the Prince presented her with an engagement ring that had belonged to his grandmother. In a Privy Council meeting on 2 March, the Queen's consent to the marriage (as required by the Royal Marriages Act 1772) was recorded. In Canada, however, the Department of Justice announced its decision that the Queen's Privy Council for Canada was not required to meet to give its consent to the marriage, as the union would not result in offspring and thus would have no impact on the succession to the Canadian throne.

The marriage was to have been on 8 April of that year, and was to take place in a civil ceremony at Windsor Castle, with a subsequent religious blessing at St George's Chapel. But, because the conduct of a civil marriage at Windsor Castle would oblige the venue thereafter to be available to anyone wishing to be married there, the location was changed to the Windsor Guildhall. On 4 April it was announced that the marriage would be delayed by one day to allow for the Prince of Wales and some of the invited dignitaries to attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II. Charles' parents did not attend the marriage ceremony; the Queen's reluctance to attend arising from her position as Supreme Governor of the Church of England. The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh did, however, attend the service of blessing, and held a reception for the newlyweds at Windsor Castle, afterwards.

Act of Penitence

A unique feature during the Blessing of Charles and Camilla's marriage by the Archbishop of Canterbury was the inclusion of the strongest act of penitence from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. The royal couple led the congregation in declaring:

We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, which we, from time to time, have committed by word, thought and deed, against thy Divine Majesty, provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us.

Legality of civil wedding

The wedding made Charles the first member of the Royal Family to have a civil, rather than religious, wedding in England. Official documents had been published by BBC that stated such a marriage was illegal, though these were dismissed by Clarence House, and explained to be obsolete by the sitting government.

Personal interests

In his years as heir apparent, the Prince of Wales has taken on a wide array of interests and activities, and devoted his time and effort to charity work and collaborating with local communities. Since founding The Prince's Trust, he established fifteen more charitable organisations, and now serves as president of all of those, plus two others; together, these form a loose alliance called ''The Prince's Charities'', which claim to raise over £110 million annually. Charles is also patron of over 350 other charities and organisations, and carries out duties related to these throughout the Commonwealth realms; for example, he uses his tours of Canada as a way to help draw attention to youth, the disabled, the environment, the arts, medicine, the elderly, heritage conservation, and education. The Prince was described by his ex-private secretary as a dissident who works against majority political opinions. Jonathan Dimbleby has reported that the Prince "has accumulated a number of certainties about the state of the world and does not relish contradiction."

The built environment

The Prince of Wales has frequently shared his views on architecture and urban planning in public forums, claiming to "care deeply about issues such as the environment, architecture, inner-city renewal, and the quality of life." He is known to be an advocate of neo-traditional ideas, such as those of Christopher Alexander and Leon Krier, which were illustrated in his 1984 attack on the British architectural community in a speech given to the Royal Institute of British Architects, describing a proposed extension to the National Gallery in London as a "monstrous carbuncle". Charles also published a book and created a documentary entitled ''A Vision of Britain'', which critiqued some aspects of modern architecture. Despite criticism from the professional architectural press, the Prince has continued to put forward his views, stressing traditional urbanism, the need for human scale, and the restoration of historic buildings as an integrated element of new development and sustainable design. Two of the Charles' charities in particular forward his theories on design: The Prince's Regeneration Trust (formed by a merger of Regeneration Through Heritage and the Phoenix Trust in 2006) and The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment (which absorbed The Prince of Wales's Institute of Architecture in 2001). Further, the village of Poundbury was created at the instigation of Prince Charles, with a master plan by Leon Krier.

Charles assisted with the establishment of a National Trust for the built environment in Canada, after lamenting, in 1996, the unbridled destruction of many of the country's historic urban cores. He offered his assistance to the Department of Canadian Heritage in the creation of a trust modelled on the British variant, and, with the passing of the 2007 federal budget by his mother's representative in Canada, a Canadian national trust was finally fully implemented. In 1999, the Prince also agreed to offer the use of his title to the Prince of Wales Prize for Municipal Heritage Leadership, awarded by the Heritage Canada Foundation to municipal governments that have shown sustained commitment to the conservation of historic places. Charles has also been the recipient of awards for his efforts in regard to architecture, such as the National Building Museum's Vincent Scully Prize he received in 2005, while visiting the United States and touring southern Mississippi and New Orleans to survey the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina; he donated $25,000 of the prize money to help restore communities damaged by the storm.

Starting in 1997 the Prince of Wales also visited Romania to view and draw attention to some of the destruction caused during the Communist rule of Nicolae Ceauşescu, particularly Orthodox monasteries and Saxon villages of Transylvania, where he purchased a house. Charles also became patron of two Romanian built environment organisations: the Mihai Eminescu Trust and the International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture, and Urbanism, an advocate of architecture that respects cultural tradition and identity. Charles also has “a deep understanding of Islamic art and architecture”, and has been involved in the construction of a building and garden at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies which combine Islamic and Oxford architectural styles.

Charles' involvement in architecture has also attracted controversy, especially his personal intervention to redesign projects whose architectural style or approach he has disagreed with. He has been especially opposed to styles such as modernism and functionalism. Richard Rogers, recipient of the Pritzker Prize and Stirling Prize, has described the Prince's personal intervention in projects as "an abuse of power" and "unconstitutional". In 2009 Charles wrote a letter to the Qatari royal family, the developers of the Chelsea Barracks site to be designed by Rogers, that suggested his design was "unsuitable". Subsequently, Rogers was removed from the project and The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment was appointed to propose an alternative. Rogers has also claimed the Prince intervened to stop his designs for the Royal Opera House and Paternoster Square.

Charles' personal interventions have attracted critique from prominent members of the architectural community. Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid, Jacques Herzog, Jean Nouvel, Renzo Piano, and Frank Gehry among others wrote a letter to The Sunday Times to this effect; each is a recipient of the Pritzker Prize. They wrote that "private comments" and "behind-the-scenes lobbying" by the Prince counteracted the "open and democratic planning process" in the case of the Chelsea Barracks project. Similarly, Piers Gough CBE and other architects wrote a letter encouraging colleagues to boycott Charles' address to the Royal Institute of British Architects, with Gough calling Charles' views on architecture "elitist".

The natural environment

Since the early 1980s, Charles has taken a keen interest in environmental issues, taking a leadership role in promoting environmentally sensitive thinking. Upon his moving into his Highgrove estate, he became increasingly focused on organic farming, an attention that culminated in the 1990 launch of his own organic brand: Duchy Originals, which now sells more than 200 different sustainably produced products, from food to garden furniture, the profits from which (£6 million, as of 2008) are donated to The Prince's Charities. Documenting this work on his estate, Charles co-authored (with Charles Clover, environment editor of the ''Daily Telegraph'') ''Highgrove: An Experiment in Organic Gardening and Farming'', published in 1993, and offers his patronage to Garden Organic. Along similar lines, the Prince of Wales became involved with farming and various industries within it, regularly meeting with farmers to discuss their trade; though the 2001 foot-and-mouth epidemic in England prevented Charles from visiting farmers in Saskatchewan, organic farmers there came to meet him at the Assiniboia town hall. In 2004, he also founded the Mutton Renaissance Campaign, which aims to support British sheep farmers and make mutton more attractive to Britons. His organic farming efforts, however, attracted media criticism: According to ''The Independent'' in October 2006 "...the story of Duchy Originals has involved compromises and ethical blips, wedded to a determined merchandising programme." and, in February 2007, Duchy products themselves came under attack, with the tabloid ''Daily Mail'' claiming that the food was "unhealthier than Big Macs." In 2007, Charles also launched The Prince's May Day Network, which encourages businesses to take action on climate change.

An announcement was made by Clarence House in December 2006 that the Prince of Wales would make his household's travel arrangements more eco-friendly and, in 2007, Charles published in his annual accounts the details of his own carbon footprint, as well as targets for reducing his household's carbon emissions. That same year, he received the 10th annual Global Environmental Citizen Award from the Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment, the director of which, Eric Chivian, stated: "For decades the Prince of Wales has been a champion of the natural world... He has been a world leader in efforts to improve energy efficiency and in reducing the discharge of toxic substances on land, and into the air and the oceans". However, Charles' travel by commercial airliner to the United States to attend the award ceremony drew criticism from some environmental activists, such as the Plane climate change action group's campaigner Joss Garman, and in April 2009 he faced similar criticisms for chartering a private jet for a five day tour of Europe to promote environmental issues.

The Prince gave a speech to the European Parliament on 14 February 2008, in which he called for European Union leadership in the war against climate change. During the standing ovation that followed, Nigel Farage, the leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), was the only MEP to remain seated and went on to describe Charles's advisers as "naive and foolish at best." Farage continued: "How can somebody like Prince Charles be allowed to come to the European Parliament at this time to announce he thinks it should have more powers? It would have been better for the country he wants to rule one day if he had stayed home and tried to persuade Gordon Brown to give the people the promised referendum [on the Treaty of Lisbon]."

The Prince gave a speech to the Low Carbon Prosperity Summit in a European Parliament chamber on 9 February 2011, in which he lashed out at climate change skeptics. He said they are playing "a reckless game of roulette" with the planet's future and are having a "corrosive effect" on public opinion. He also spoke about the need to protect fisheries, the Amazon rain forest and about making low-carbon emissions affordable and competitive.

Philosophies and religious beliefs

Sir Laurens van der Post became a friend of Charles in 1977, a relationship which led him to be dubbed the "guru to Prince Charles", and made godfather to Charles' son, Prince William. From him, the Prince of Wales developed a focus on philosophy, especially that of Asian and Middle Eastern nations, and New Age theology, praising Kabbalistic artworks, and penning a memorial for Kathleen Raine, the Neoplatonist poet, who died in 2003.

The Prince is known to attend services at several different Anglican churches near his home at Highgrove, Gloucestershire and is known to regularly worship at Crathie Kirk when staying at Balmoral Castle. In 2000, he was appointed as Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

The Prince of Wales also travels (amidst some secrecy) each year to Mount Athos to spend time in the Orthodox monasteries there, as well as in Romania, demonstrating his interest in Orthodox Christianity. Along with his father, who was born and raised as Greek Orthodox, Charles is patron of The Friends of Mount Athos, as well as the 21st International Congress of Byzantine Studies. It is also believed that Prince Charles has an Orthodox icon corner in his house where he keeps the majority of his Orthodox icons. None of this is surprising, as Prince Charles' father was raised Greek Orthodox, but converted before marrying the future Queen Elizabeth II. It is reported that in more recent years, even his father, Prince Philip has joined him in occasional retreats to the peninsula.

Charles is also patron of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies at the University of Oxford.

Alternative medicine

Charles has demonstrated an interest in alternative medicine, and his promotion of it has caused controversy. In 2004, Charles' Foundation for Integrated Health divided the scientific and medical community over its campaign encouraging general practitioners to offer herbal and other alternative treatments to National Health Service patients, and in May 2006, Charles made a speech to an audience of health ministers from various countries at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, urging them to develop a plan for integrating conventional and alternative medicine and argued for homeopathy.

In April 2008 ''The Times'' published a letter from Edzard Ernst, Professor of Complementary Medicine at the University of Exeter, that asked the Prince's Foundation to recall two guides promoting "alternative medicine", saying: "the majority of alternative therapies appear to be clinically ineffective, and many are downright dangerous." A speaker for the foundation countered the criticism by stating: "We entirely reject the accusation that our online publication ''Complementary Healthcare: A Guide'' contains any misleading or inaccurate claims about the benefits of complementary therapies. On the contrary, it treats people as adults and takes a responsible approach by encouraging people to look at reliable sources of information... so that they can make informed decisions. The foundation does not promote complementary therapies." Ernst has recently published a book with science writer Simon Singh condemning alternative medicine called ''Trick or Treatment: Alternative Medicine on Trial''. The book is ironically dedicated to "HRH the Prince of Wales" and the last chapter is very critical of his advocacy of "complementary" and "alternative" treatments.

The Prince's Duchy Originals produce a variety of CAM products including a “Detox Tincture” that Professor Edzard Ernst has denounced as "financially exploiting the vulnerable" and "outright quackery". In May 2009, the Advertising Standards Authority criticised an email that Duchy Originals had sent out to advertise its Echina-Relief, Hyperi-Lift and Detox Tinctures products saying it was misleading. The Prince personally wrote at least seven letters to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) shortly before they relaxed the rules governing labelling of such herbal products, a move that has been widely condemned by scientists and medical bodies.

On 31 October 2009 it was reported that Prince Charles had personally lobbied Health Secretary Andy Burnham regarding greater provision of alternative treatments in the NHS.

In 2010, following accounting irregularities noted by the auditor, two former officials at the Prince's Foundation were arrested for fraud believed to total £300,000. Four days after the arrests, the FIH announced that it would close, claiming that it "has achieved its key objective of promoting the use of integrated health." The charity's finance director, accountant George Gray, was convicted of theft totalling £253,000 and sentenced to three years in prison. The Prince's Foundation was re-branded and re-launched in late 2010 as the ''College of Medicine.'' It continues to act as an alternative medicine lobby group.

Humanitarian issues

The plight of various peoples has been a target of Charles' efforts, predominantly the long-term unemployed, people who have been in trouble with the law, people who are in difficulty at school, and people who have been in care. The Prince's Trust is the main outlet through which Charles works with young people, offering loans to groups, business people, and others who have had difficulty receiving outside support. Fundraising concerts are regularly held in benefit of the trust, with leading pop, rock, and classical musicians taking part. In Canada, Charles has also supported humanitarian projects, taking part, along with his two sons, in the ceremonies marking the 1998 International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and helping to launch the Canadian Youth Business Foundation in Saskatchewan in 2001, when he also visited Scott Collegiate, an inner-city school in Regina.

After spending time in the Northwest Territories in 1975, Charles formed a special interest in the Canadian north, as well as Canada's Aboriginal Peoples, the leaders of which he met and sometimes took time to walk and meditate with. Reflecting this association, the Prince of Wales has been conferred with special titles from First Nations communities: in 1996 Cree and Ojibway students in Winnipeg named the Prince ''Leading Star'', and in 2001 he was dubbed ''Pisimwa Kamiwohkitahpamikohk'', or "the sun looks at him in a good way", during his first visit to the province of Saskatchewan. He was also one of the first world leaders to express strong concerns about the human rights record of Nicolae Ceauşescu, initiating objections in the international arena, and subsequently supported the FARA Foundation, which runs Romanian orphanages.

Charles attended the Bilderberg Group conference in 1986 specifically to attend a debate on the South African economic crisis.

An example of his concern for humanitarian issues has been his recent (2011) launch of his Pakistan Recovery Fund which aims to raise a minimum of £2million towards health, education, reconstruction and livelihood projects.

Hobbies and sports

Since his youth the Prince was an avid player of polo, as a part of competitive teams until 1992, and strictly for charity from then until 2005, after which he ceased to participate because of two notable injuries he suffered during play: in 1990 he broke his arm, and in 2001 was briefly unconscious after a fall. Charles also frequently took part in fox hunting, before the sport was banned in the United Kingdom in 2005. By the late 1990s, as opposition to the activity was growing, the Prince of Wales' participation in this activity was viewed as a "political statement" by those opposed to it, such as the League Against Cruel Sports, which launched the attack against Charles after he took his sons on the Beaufort Hunt in 1999, at a time when the government was trying to ban the hunting of foxes with hounds. The Prince has also been a keen salmon angler since youth, and a supporter of Orri Vigfússon's efforts to protect the North Atlantic Salmon. Charles has frequently fished the River Dee in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, while he claims his most special angling memories are from his time in Vopnafjörður, Iceland.

Charles has also pursued the visual arts, focusing on watercolour, and exhibiting and selling a number of his paintings, as well as publishing books on the subject. In university he dabbled in acting, appearing in amateur productions of a comedic nature, an enjoyment of which continued later into the Prince's life, as evidenced by his organising of a comedy gala to celebrate his 60th birthday. He also has an interest in illusionism, becoming a member of The Magic Circle after passing his audition by performing the cups and balls effect. The Prince acts today as patron of a number of theatres, acting troupes, and orchestral ensembles, including the Regina Symphony Orchestra, and the Royal Shakespeare Company, and is reportedly a fan of Canadian singer and song writer Leonard Cohen. He is also a collector of automobiles, particularly the British marque Aston Martin, having acquired numerous models and such tight connections with the brand–being a frequent visitor to the factory and its service department, and a guest of honour at most of the company's special launch events– that special ''Prince of Wales'' edition Aston Martins have been created on occasion.

Charles is a supporter of Burnley Football Club.

Official duties

As Prince of Wales, Prince Charles undertakes a number of official duties on behalf of his mother, in her role as sovereign of any of the Commonwealth realms. He will frequently stand in for the Queen at the funerals of foreign dignitaries (which the Queen customarily does not attend), and at investitures into British orders. It was when he attended the funeral of Pope John Paul II that Charles caused controversy: when shaking hands with other guests, Charles was surprised to find himself shaking that of Robert Mugabe, the President of Zimbabwe, who had been seated next to the Prince. Charles' office subsequently released a statement saying: "The Prince of Wales was caught by surprise and not in a position to avoid shaking Mr. Mugabe's hand. The Prince finds the current Zimbabwean regime abhorrent. He has supported the Zimbabwe Defence and Aid Fund which works with those being oppressed by the regime. The Prince also recently met Pius Ncube, the Archbishop of Bulawayo, an outspoken critic of the government."

Both Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall travel abroad on behalf of the United Kingdom. The Prince has been regarded as an effective advocate of the country, with his visit to the Republic of Ireland, where he delivered a personally researched and written speech on Anglo-Irish affairs that was warmly received by Irish politicians and the media, being cited as an example. His service to the Canadian Armed Forces permits him to be informed of troop activities, and allows him to visit these troops while in Canada or overseas, taking part in ceremonial occasions. For instance, in 2001, the Prince placed a specially commissioned wreath, made from vegetation taken from French battlefields, at the Canadian Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and in 1981 he became the patron of the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum.

Prince Charles makes regular tours of Wales, going there for a week of engagements each summer, attending important national occasions, such as opening the Senedd. In 2000, Charles revived the tradition of the Prince of Wales having an official harpist, in order to foster Welsh talent at playing the harp, the national instrument of Wales. He and the Duchess of Cornwall also spend one week each year in Scotland, where the Prince is patron of a number of Scottish organisations.

Prince Charles is a Director of "The Royal Collection Trust". and an Assistant of the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights.

On 27 March 2011 Prince Charles attended in the Christchurch memorial service at Westminster Abbey for acknowledging the generosity, sympathy and support New Zealand has received from the United Kingdom since the earthquake hit.

Media

Sometimes referred to as ''Chazza'' (along the lines of ''Gazza'', ''Hezza'', and similar coinages), and parodied, such as on ''Spitting Image'', and by Craig Ferguson—in a segment known as ''The Rather Late Programme with Prince Charles''—on ''The Late Late Show'', Prince Charles has been a focus of the world media since his birth, attention that increased as he matured. Prior to his first marriage, he was presented as the world's most eligible bachelor on the cover of ''Time'', and his various affairs and exploits were followed and reported. With his marriage to Diana the attention increased, though predominantly towards a Princess of Wales, who became a star attraction, chased by the paparazzi, and her every move (including every change in hairstyle) closely followed by millions. As their relationship began to deteriorate, Diana began to use the media to her advantage, and became closely involved in placing stories about the royal marriage in the press, thenceforth splitting the media's support, with Charles having ''The Mirror'' and the ''Telegraph'' on his side.

In their quest to gain ever more stories on a Prince of Wales, the media breached Charles' privacy on a number of occasions. In 2006, the Prince filed a court case against the ''Mail on Sunday'', after excerpts of his personal journals were published, revealing his opinions on matters, such as the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong to China in 1997, in which Charles described the Chinese government officials as "appalling old waxworks." Others have used their past connections with the Prince to profit from the media, such as when an ex-member of Charles' household took to the press an internal memo in which Charles commented on ambition and opportunity, and which was widely interpreted as blaming meritocracy for creating a combative atmosphere in society. In retort, Charles stated: "In my view, it is just as great an achievement to be a plumber or a bricklayer as it is to be a lawyer or a doctor," and the memo was cited in Lynne Truss' critique of British manners, ''Talk to the Hand'', as a valid observation on how the positive motivational impact of meritocracy might be balanced against the negative impact of a competitive society.

Overall, Charles developed a dislike for the popular press, which was accidentally revealed when his comments to his son, William, during a press photo-call in 2005 was caught on a nearby microphone: "I hate doing this... These bloody people," and about the BBC's royal reporter, Nicholas Witchell, in particular: "I can't bear that man. I mean, he's so awful, he really is."

The Prince of Wales though has appeared as himself on a number of occasions in continuing series. In 1984 he read his children's book, ''The Old Man of Lochnagar'', on the BBC's ''Jackanory'' programme. The UK soap opera ''Coronation Street'' featured an appearance by Charles during the show's 40th anniversary in 2000, as did the New Zealand adult cartoon series ''bro'Town'' (2005), after he attended a performance by the show's creators during a tour of the country. He reportedly turned down an invitation to appear in a cameo role in an episode of ''Doctor Who''. Charles also continues to give interviews, such as that which was conducted by Ant & Dec for the 30th anniversary of The Prince's Trust in 2006.

Residences

Clarence House, the former London residence of the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, is the Prince of Wales' current official residence. Previously, he resided in an apartment at St James's Palace. Charles also holds a private estate in Gloucestershire, Highgrove House, and one in Scotland, the Birkhall estate near Balmoral Castle and also previously owned by the Queen Mother. Upon the occasion of his marriage to Diana, Charles had reduced his voluntary tax contribution from the profits generated by the Duchy of Cornwall from 50% to 25%.

In 2007 the Prince purchased a 192–acre (150 acres of grazing and parkland, and of woodland) property in Carmarthenshire, and applied for permission to convert the farm into a Welsh home for him and the Duchess of Cornwall, to be rented out as holiday flats when the royal couple is not in residence. Though neighbours said the proposed alterations flouted local planning regulations, the application was put on hold while a report was drafted on how the alterations would affect the local bat population. Charles and Camilla took residence at the new property, called ''Llwynywermod'', in June 2008.

In 2006 the Prince bought a house in the village of Viscri in south-eastern Transylvania, one of the Saxon villages with fortified churches in Transylvania designated in 1993 as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO; in 2008 he bought another house in the village of Valea Zălanului / Zalánpatak in the Székely Land region of Transylvania, a 16th century village probably founded by one of the Prince's Transylvanian ancestors. Both properties are rented out as guest houses when the Prince is not in residence.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

Charles has held a number of titles throughout his life, as the grandson of the monarch, the son of the monarch and, later, honoured in his own right with princely and noble titles. When in conversation with the Prince of Wales, the practice is to initially address him as ''Your Royal Highness'' and thereafter as ''Sir''.

There has been speculation as to what regnal name the Prince will choose upon his succession to the throne. If he keeps his current first name, he will be known as ''Charles III''. However, it was reported in 2005 that Charles has suggested he may choose to reign as ''George VII'' in honour of his maternal grandfather, and to avoid association with the Stuart kings Charles I (who was beheaded) and Charles II (who was known for his playboy lifestyle), as well as to be sensitive to the memory of Bonnie Prince Charlie, who was called "Charles III" by his supporters. Charles' office immediately denied this report.

Honours and honorary military appointments

Charles' first honorary appointment was as Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Regiment of Wales in 1969; since that time, the Prince has also been installed as Colonel-in-Chief, Colonel, Honorary Air Commodore, Air Commodore-in-Chief, Deputy Colonel-in-Chief, Royal Honorary Colonel, Royal Colonel, and Honorary Commodore of at least 36 military formations throughout the Commonwealth. He is also the commander of the Royal Gurkha Rifles, which is the only foreign regiment in the British army.

Charles has also been the recipient of a number of honours and awards from various countries. He has been inducted into eight orders and received five decorations from amongst the Commonwealth realms, and has been the recipient of 17 different appointments and decorations by foreign states, as well as nine honorary degrees from universities in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

Arms

Bannerimage	Prince of Wales Standard.svg
Notes	The Prince's own coat of arms are the escutcheon of the arms of the sovereign in right of the United Kingdom with a label for difference. The version used everywhere but Scotland is listed here. Within Scotland, the arms of the Duke of Rothesay, which quarters the arms of the Great Steward and of the Lords of the Isles, placing the arms of the heir apparent to the Scots throne on an inescutcheon in the centre, are used.
Adopted	1911
Crest	Upon the Royal helm the imperial crown Proper, thereon a lion statant gardant Or crowned with the crown of the Prince of Wales
Escutcheon	Quarterly 1st and 4th gules three lions passant guardant in pale or armed and langed azure 2nd or a lion rampant gules armed and langued azure within a double tressure flory counterflory of the second 3rd azure a harp or stringed argent overall an escutcheon of Royal Badge of Wales.
Supporters	Dexter a lion rampant gardant Or imperially crowned Proper, sinister a unicorn Argent, armed, crined and unguled Or, gorged with a coronet Or composed of crosses patée and fleurs de lis a chain affixed thereto passing between the forelegs and reflexed over the back also Or
Motto	ICH DIEN''(German: I serve)''
Orders	The Order of the Garter ribbon.HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE''(French: Shame be to him who thinks evil of it)''
Other elements	The whole differenced by a plain Label of three points Argent, as the eldest child of the sovereign.
Banner	The banners used by the Prince vary depending upon location. Apart from the exceptions below, the Royal Standard of the United Kingdom is used, differenced as in his arms with a label of three points argent, and the escutcheon of the arms of the Principality of Wales in the centre. This is the standard that is used outside the United Kingdom by the prince and also that used throughout the entire United Kingdom when the prince is acting in an official capacity associated with the UK Armed Forces. 30px In Wales the banner is based upon the Coat of Arms of the Principality of Wales, (the historic arms of the Kingdom of Gwynedd), which consist of four quadrants, the first and fourth with a red lion on a gold field, and the second and third with a gold lion on a red field. Superimposed is an escutcheon vert bearing the single-arched crown of the Prince of Wales. 30px In Scotland the personal banner used since 1974 is based upon three ancient Scottish titles: Duke of Rothesay, (The heir apparent to the King of Scots), High Steward of Scotland and Lord of the Isles. The flag is divided into four quadrants as per the arms of the Chief of Clan Stewart of Appin; the first and fourth quadrants comprise a gold field with a blue and silver checkered band in the centre; the second and third quadrants displaying a black galley on a silver field. The arms are differenced from those of Appin by the addition of an inescutcheon bearing the tressured lion rampant of Scotland; defaced by a plain label of three points Azure to indicate the heir apparent. 45px Also used in Scotland is a standard, ''viz'' the Royal Standard of Scotland, again defaced with a label of three points Azure to indicate the heir apparent. 40px In Cornwall, the banner is "sable fifteen bezants Or", that is, a black field bearing fifteen gold coins, which Prince Charles uses in his capacity as Duke of Cornwall. 50px The Prince of Wales also holds a personal heraldic banner for Canada, consisting of the shield of the Canadian Royal Arms defaced with both a blue roundel surrounded by a wreath of gold maple leaves, within which is a depiction of the Prince of Wales' feathers, and a white label of three points.
Badge	Three ostrich feathers encircled by a gold coronet
Symbolism	As with the Royal Arms of the United Kingdom. The first and fourth quarters are the arms of England, the second of Scotland, the third of Ireland.
Previous versions	}}

Ancestry

{{ahnentafel-compact5 |style=font-size: 90%; line-height: 110%; |border=1 |boxstyle=padding-top: 0; padding-bottom: 0; |boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc; |boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9; |boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc; |boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc; |boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe; |1= 1. Charles, Prince of Wales |2= 2. Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark |3= 3. Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom |4= 4. Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark |5= 5. Princess Alice of Battenberg |6= 6. George VI of the United Kingdom |7= 7. Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon |8= 8. George I of Greece |9= 9. Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia |10= 10. Prince Louis of Battenberg |11= 11. Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine |12= 12. George V of the United Kingdom |13= 13. Mary of Teck |14= 14. Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne |15= 15. Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck |16= 16. Christian IX of Denmark |17= 17. Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel |18= 18. Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia |19= 19. Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg |20= 20. Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine |21= 21. Countess Julia Hauke |22= 22. Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine |23= 23. Princess Alice of the United Kingdom |24= 24. Edward VII of the United Kingdom |25= 25. Princess Alexandra of Denmark |26= 26. Francis, Duke of Teck |27= 27. Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge |28= 28. Claude Bowes-Lyon, 13th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne |29= 29. Frances Dora Smith |30= 30. Charles Cavendish-Bentinck |31= 31. Caroline Louisa Burnaby }}

Due to the insistence of the royal family to remain to be called Windsor, Charles is a member of the House of Windsor, a cadet branch of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (also known simply as the House of Glücksburg), a branch of the House of Oldenburg, ultimately descended from Elimar I, Count of Oldenburg. The male-line descendants of the Queen Elizabeth II are distinct from other members of the House of Windsor, who are descended in male line from the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

Issue

29 April 2011 15 September 1984

style="background:#708090;"	Name !! style="background:#708090;">Birth !! style="background:#708090;" colspan="2"	Marriage	Issue
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge	21 June 1982	|	Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge>Catherine Middleton
Prince Harry of Wales	|

See also

Charles, Prince of Wales bibliography

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

Official website of HRH The Prince of Wales

Official Duchy of Cornwall Cottages website

Monarchy Wales – leading campaign organisation

Military Career

Prince Charles as a Young Bachelor – slideshow by ''Life magazine''

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland – House of Windsor

Family Ties to the Royal Wedding 9 April 2005

Official website of 'The Prince's Trust'

View an image of an official portrait of Prince Charles by David Griffiths

The Prince's Official Canadian Visit (2001)

"Saskatchewan Honours Future King" (2001)

Significance of Treaties Reaffirmed Through Historic Royal Visit (2001)

View clip from Prince Charles interview by David Frost in 1969

Sympathetic appraisal of the Prince's contributions to architecture

The Prince of Wales brushes up on first aid skills

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