Accompanied by Mayor Michael Bilandic, Prince Charles greets Chicagoans as he walks down LaSalle Street from the Daley Center to the Board of Trade on Oct. 19, 1977. (Ovie Carter / Chicago Tribune)

Photos: Prince Charles visits Chicago in 1977 and 1986

Published: May 04, 2023 at 12:09 pm

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, nine-day visit to the United States — and the first visit to Chicago by a member of the British monarchy in more than 50 years. “There were squeals and sighs and even tears just about everywhere Charles went during his daylong tour of Chicago,” columnist Dorothy Collin reported in the Oct. 20, 1977, Tribune. And then in 1986, an invitation to play in a polo match brought Prince Charles back to Illinois. The prince had been invited by Michael Butler, manager of Oak Brook Polo Club, and his sister, Jorie, for a match against a local team. “How else could a prince end a daylong stay in Chicago but with a rousing game of polo?” the Tribune asked.

Prince Charles is led to a receiving line of dignitaries by British Ambassador Peter Jay, center, after the prince arrived on a regularly scheduled flight from London on Oct. 18, 1977, at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. Chicago is the first stop on the prince's 10-city, nine-day visit to the United States.

A British Airways 747 took a detour for its most stately passenger on Oct. 18, 1977, letting Britain’s Prince Charles deplane on the military side of O’Hare International Airport before proceeding to its scheduled gate. After a quick trip down a blocked-off Kennedy Expressway, the heir to the British throne began an evening of social events, one of them being dinner at the home of the British consul general. (Hardy Wieting / Chicago Tribune)

Prince Charles from Great Britain arrives at O’Hare International Airport for his visit to Chicago on Oct. 18, 1977.

Prince Charles arrives at the home of the British consul general at 1260 N. Astor St. for dinner on Oct. 18, 1977, in Chicago.

Arriving at the Drake Hotel, Prince Charles of Britain is given an enthusiastic welcome by people who crowded the entrance to catch a glimpse of the royal visitor on Oct. 18, 1977.

Accompanied by Mayor Michael Bilandic, right, Prince Charles greets Chicagoans as he walks down LaSalle Street from the Daley Center to the Board of Trade on Oct. 19, 1977.

After laying a wreath at the eternal flame in Daley Center Plaza, Prince Charles and Mayor Michael Bilandic walk along Washington Street to LaSalle Street with office workers on LaSalle watching from their windows on Oct. 19, 1977.

Mayor Michael Bilandic, left, and Prince Charles lay a wreath at the eternal flame at Daley Plaza on Oct. 19, 1977, in Chicago.

Wearing a red carnation in his lapel, Prince Charles leaves his police guard behind to talk with crowds along LaSalle Street on his way to the Board of Trade in Chicago on Oct. 19, 1977.

Prince Charles talks with students as he walks through the University of Chicago campus on Oct. 19, 1977.

Prince Charles, background on right, talks with students and faculty at the University of Chicago on Oct. 19, 1977, in Chicago.

Prince Charles stopped several times to chat with students as he walked through the University of Chicago campus on Oct. 19, 1977.

Prince Charles, at top, waves to the crowd as he enters Ida Noyes Hall at the University of Chicago on Oct. 19, 1977, in Chicago.

Prince Charles talks to students on the University of Chicago campus on Oct. 19, 1977.

During Prince Charles’ lunch in Ida Noyes Hall on the University of Chicago campus, curious admirers climb on the windowsill to see the English visitor on Oct. 19, 1977, in Chicago.

Prince Charles is flanked by Mayor Michael Bilandic, left, and Art Institute of Chicago President James Alsdorf during a tour of the museum on Oct. 19, 1977, in Chicago.

Prince Charles, center, is greeted by Daniel MacMaster, president of the Museum of Science and Industry, and took a half-hour tour of the museum on Oct. 19, 1977, in Chicago.

Prince Charles follows Daniel MacMaster, right, president of the Museum of Science and Industry, as they tour the museum on Oct. 19, 1977, in Chicago.

Heather Bilandic, the wife of Mayor Michael Bilandic, talks with Prince Charles during dinner at the Palmer House on Oct. 19, 1977, in Chicago.

Prince Charles waves as he leaves the Drake Hotel for a formal dinner at Marshall Field’s on Sept. 4, 1986.

Philip B. Miller, chair of Marshall Field & Co. and Maureen Smith, chair of the Oak Brook Polo Club Ball, accompany Prince Charles at Field’s State Street store on Sept. 4, 1986, in Chicago.

Prince Charles chats with Jorie Butler, far right, during the the Oak Brook Polo Club dinner at Marshall Field’s & Co.’s State Street store on Sept. 4, 1986.

Prince Charles shakes hands with the crowd that waited for him outside the Marshall Field’s store on State Street after he visited the store on Sept. 5, 1986.

Prince Charles visits teacher Jay Lee and his eighth-grade social studies class at Whitney M. Young Magnet High School on Sept. 5, 1986, in Chicago. (Val Mazzenga / Chicago Tribune)

Prince Charles plays polo in Oak Brook on Sept. 5, 1986.

Prince Charles shakes hands with people in the crowd that waited for him as he left Marshall Field & Co. on Sept. 5, 1986, where he inaugurated the store's British promotion, “Eagle & the Crown.”

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Photos: Prince Charles visits Chicago in 1977 and 1986

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