His royal warmth! Just look at King Charles in his early days – when he was considered one of the ‘sexiest people of his generation’ and had a string of girlfriends swearing at him…
- Charles was called one of the “sexiest people” of his generation
- MailOnline takes a look back at the flashy photos that prove the point…
In February 1992, the front page of Tatler magazine asked this startling question: “Is Charles too sexy for his own good?”
At the time, the Prince of Wales was a 44-year-old father in the throes of a tumultuous marriage to Princess Diana, whom he would divorce later that year.
These days it might be harder to picture the 74-year-old king in the same light, but the fact is that he was once seen as an attractive, athletic – and impeccably competent – young man with multitudes of women huddled over him.
Athletic Charles was often seen stripping naked after polo matches, allowing onlookers to glimpse his washboard torso.
Prince Charles was considered one of “the sexiest people of his generation” in his younger years. Pictured: A 26-year-old Charles undresses after a polo match in Windsor in 1974
In February 1992, Tatler Story magazine called Charles one of the “sexiest people of their generation” and asked if he was “too sexy for his own good?”
Tatler claimed that women, especially those over 40, “can’t get enough of him.” Pictured: Prince Charles trekking through the foothills of the Himalayas in Nepal in 1980
At other times, in his twenties, he was depicted on rough adventures, on the beach and even having a brutal kiss with a model in the sea during a royal tour in Australia.
“The Prince creates sexuality,” Tatler claimed at the time, suggesting that women over 40 “couldn’t get enough of him.”
“These women, trotting around him, admiring the muscles, the boyish neck, and that military bearing, know that you only have to see him on the polo field to realize he has sex appeal.”
As the King awaits his coronation, MailOnline looks back at photos of a younger Charles that have proved so captivating in years past.
Boyish charm: Charles smiles after a polo match in Windsor in June 1979
Prince pensive: Charles was lost in thought at Cowdray Park polo club in Sussex in 1982
Sweating: Charles feels the heat at a polo match in Windsor, 1975
It’s Round: Charles covers up for a tour of Canada’s Northwest Territories in 1975
Evidence: The Prince dressed up at a polo tournament in 1975
The name is Charles – Prince Charles: attending a banquet in Accra, Ghana in March 1997
Making a splash: Charles on Bondi Beach, Sydney, during his tour of Australia in April 1981
Serving the nation: aboard a Royal Navy frigate at Devonport in 1974
What a cheek: The moment waiting photographers caught their eye when model Jane Priest kissed Charles on Cottesloe beach, Perth during his 1979 tour of Australia