Battles royal: how Charles has influenced British architecture

It is the evening of 30 May 1984. The country’s leading architects have assembled at Hampton Court to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the body that represents their interests, the RIBA. It is a sea of black polo necks, masculine chit-chat and clinked glasses. Given that the ‘R’ in RIBA stands for ‘Royal’ – albeit an honour actually awarded by William IV in 1837, three years after the Institute of British Architects’ founding – it is perhaps no surprise that a royal has been drafted in to politely murmur some congratulations over dinner. Yet what happened next was most certainly not expected.

With no warning, the man who was then Prince Charles – now King Charles III – launched into an attack which eviscerated modern architecture. His most famous line – in which he described the competition-winning design for an extension to the National Gallery, by the well-regarded firm of Ahrends, Burton and Koralek, as a ‘monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend’ – sent shockwaves through the profession and led to such a rapid U-turn by the Trafalgar Square institution that Nelson must have been pirouetting on his pillar.