A King-size list of Charles’ trips
Like his mother, the King is incredibly well-travelled, having visited more than 100 countries and territories on royal or state visits as Duke of Cornwall, Prince of Wales and monarch.
Popular misconception has it that royals do not require British passports but while he was heir to the throne he did hold one, along with all other royals. It is unnecessary for the reigning monarch as passports are issued in his or her name – ‘‘His Britannic Majesty’s Secretary of State requests and requires in the name of His Majesty…’’
Charles’ trips include 45 of the 56 Commonwealth countries with the first overseas visit as a five-year-old in 1954 to Malta (twice) and Libya.
He then stayed in the UK until he was 17 when he travelled to Australia in 1966 for two terms of schooling, also visiting Papua, Mexico, Jamaica, Australia again and Malta twice more.
In the 1970s, as an adult and now Prince of Wales, his travels stepped up with his increased royal duties.
Previously unvisited nations and territories he went to included France, New Zealand, Japan, Canada, the US, Fiji, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bermuda, Kenya, West Germany, Saint Kitts, the Bahamas, India, Nepal, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Monaco, Brazil, Venezuela, Yugoslavia and Belgium.
New decade, new destinations – in the 1980s the Prince of Wales was going ever-more global – frequently accompanied by the Princess of Wales, with debut visits to Switzerland, Zimbabwe, Netherlands, Egypt, Brunei, Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana, Italy, Norway, Austria, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Cyprus, Lisbon, Swaziland, Malawi, Thailand, Saint Lucia, Kuwait, UAE, Turkey and Indonesia.
For the Nineties and Noughties Charles added Nigeria, Cameroon, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Spain, Denmark, South Korea, Russia, Morocco, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, Philippines, South Africa, Lesotho, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Greece, Argentina, Uruguay, Kosovo, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Vatican City, Uganda, Montserrat, Chile and Ecuador.
In the past two decades new places visited were Afghanistan, Sweden, Colombia, Serbia, Montenegro, Malaysia, Antigua and Barbuda, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Vanuatu, the Gambia, Barbados, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Cuba, Cayman Islands, Solomon Islands, Palestine and Rwanda.
PS: possibly the King’s most obscure destination is Gilbert and Ellice Islands in 1970. It’s now part of two South Pacific nations: Tuvalu and Kiribati.