King Charles: How Britain's rich craft heritage is the key to our future

Charles has long been a champion of traditional crafts and artisans. In fact, he is the patron of the Heritage Crafts Association, an organization dedicated to promoting and preserving traditional crafts in the UK. He has spoken at length about the importance of preserving these skills and techniques, which are often passed down through generations and represent a rich cultural heritage.

Handout photo dated March 2023 issued by Buckingham Palace of King Charles III taken by Hugo Burnand in the Blue Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace, London, Britain released on April 28, 2023.

He has urged communities not to lose the dwindling skills that shaped the built environment and prevent specialist trades from disappearing “at an alarming rate”. Ahead of his 70th birthday in November, the prince also said he was “deeply concerned” that young people were growing up without a basic understanding of how the world works and our relationship with food. As The Guardian quotes : “Their skill seems too often swept aside in a race for cheaper, faster building techniques that often produce homogenised, mono-cultural buildings that are not in harmony with the natural environment in which they appear and offer little consideration for the people who live in them.”

With that in mind King Charles consolidated four of his charities into one - The Prince’s Foundation, that will have its headquarters in Dumfries House.

Dumfries House, which will serve as the headquarters of The Prince’s Foundation. Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA

He said: “My hope is that by creating a place where we can teach building, design, textile and Stem [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] skills alongside food and farming education programmes, we can begin not only to create the vocational capacity to protect, regenerate and re-use our historic heritage, but also to create our future heritage, and to inspire a new generation to adopt healthier and more sustainable ways of living in their communities.”

Sky Arts is set to spotlight Britain’s rich heritage of traditional crafts with a 7x60 series, The Prince’s Master Crafters: The Next Generation. The series will see a selection of top amateur craftspeople take on a variety of crafting challenges to supercharge their skills before each of them creates a final showcase piece to present to His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales in person.

Drawn from across the country, the six amateur craftspeople will explore the history and importance of six key disciplines. They’re joined by some of the country’s leading experts who each week set them a new task within their crafts. The challenges are focused on disciplines like: Wood Carving, Stained Glass, Weaving, Blacksmithing, Stone Carving, and Parting.