Like his predecessors Edward VII and the Duke of Windsor, Prince Charles of Wales arrived in Chicago as a young, single man on Oct. 18, 1977.
It was the first stop on his 10-city tour of the United States — and the first visit to Chicago by a member of the British monarchy since Prince Philip in 1966.
And, just like when British exports The Beatles and the Rolling Stones visited the city for the first time, women showed up en masse and ecstatic when they got a glimpse of the prince.
“There were squeals and sighs and even tears just about everywhere Charles went during his day-long tour of Chicago,” columnist Dorothy Collin reported in the Oct. 20, 1977 Tribune. “It was equally amazing to see the citizens of a country who just celebrated the 200th anniversary of independence from the British crown as if he were a combination of President (Jimmy) Carter and Robert Redford.”
More than 45 years later, as King Charles III is crowned, here’s a look back at his first Chicago visit.
Oct. 18, 1977
4:23 p.m.: O’Hare International Airport
A British Airways 747 touches down in Chicago and allows its most stately passenger to deplane on the military side of the airport before proceeding to its gate. Prince Charles steps off the jumbo jet to a rousing rendition of “Scotland the Brave” by the 24-member, kilt-wearing Medinah Highlanders bagpipe and drum group.
Dignitaries — including British Ambassador Peter Jay, Illinois Gov. Jim Thompson and Chicago Mayor Michael Bilandic — greet the prince on his arrival.
About 5 p.m.: The Drake Hotel
The prince’s motorcade dashes down the Kennedy Expressway, arriving at the hotel just 18 minutes after leaving the airport. About 200 people gather outside its entrance, which is decorated with a large Union Jack flag.
John Heath, the British consul-general in Chicago, hosts a private dinner for the prince.
Oct. 19, 1977
10:15 a.m.: Daley Plaza
The prince’s day begins with a morning review of an honor guard followed by a wreath-laying with Bilandic at the plaza’s eternal flame.
“I believe the then-Mayor Daley suggested that the Queen should come back one day and ‘bring the kids,’ as he described them, with her. Well, the Queen’s not here, she’s in Canada. But I’ve come back as a rather elderly kid,” Prince Charles tells the crowd.
The mayor and the prince walk on LaSalle Street toward the Chicago Board of Trade Building. The prince, who is wearing a red carnation in his lapel, leaves his police guard to chat with people who have lined up along the route.
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“I touched him, I touched him. I’m never going to wash my hand,” the Tribune reported some women saying after interacting with Prince Charles.
Noon: The Art Institute of Chicago
The prince visits the same facility his parents toured 18 years earlier.
12:45 p.m.: University of Chicago
Some protestors stood nearby when the prince arrived on campus.
“We want to make sure people know what’s been going on in Northern Ireland,” Roger Horoqitz of New York said, explaining why he and several other students held up signs protesting the British role in Ulster. “But we didn’t want to make a big protest. We didn’t want to disrupt anything.”
The prince answered a question about “pomp and circumstance,” which he called “fun” and told anecdotes about almost running into his mother’s carriage during her Silver Jubilee ride and then almost falling off his horse. Needless to say, a prince telling such stories brought down the house, the Tribune reported.
He also talked about money, his education, Britain’s race problems, and Northern Ireland and Rhodesia. He didn’t say anything earth-shaking but, as one student said later, “he was quite impressive.”
Perhaps more than anything, the Tribune reported, he showed Chicagoans that he has been superbly trained for his job as prince, goodwill ambassador and symbol of Britain. He also showed them that princes can be human.
4 p.m.: Museum of Science and Industry
Prince Charles viewed the famed hatching-chicks exhibit, the U-505 German submarine, and a giant washing machine. He stopped at an exhibit of nutritional foods called “Food for Life.”
Observing a display of waxed fruit, he told a museum guide, “That’s the biggest pear I’ve ever seen.”
7 p.m.: Palmer House
Bilandic’s wife, Heather, served as the official host for the gathering.
He departed for Cleveland the next morning.
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