King Charles' Foundation Partners with Cartier to Provide Unique Training in the Art of Watchmaking

Helen MurphyWed, April 8, 2026 at 4:52 PM UTC

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King Charles.Credit: Ben STANSALL / AFP via Getty -

The King's Foundation has partnered with Cartier to train students in the art of luxury watchmaking

Accepted students will get to live in The King's Foundation headquarters in Scotland, with additional work completed in Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland

Cartier has a long history with the British royals, with many family members wearing Cartier jewels for special occasions

King Charles' foundation is offering a unique opportunity to learn the fine art of watchmaking.

Cartier and The King's Foundation announced a three-year partnership to train the next generation of watchmakers in the intricate, specialized craftsmanship that goes into creating luxury watches.

The King's Foundation and Cartier Decorative Métiers d’Art in Watchmaking program will include five months of formal training and two months of project work. Accepted students will get to live in The King's Foundation headquarters, Drumfries House in Scotland, with additional work completed at Cartier's Maison des Métiers d'Art in Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland.

"This commitment reaffirms the maison’s long-standing dedication to the shared human adventure of preserving, developing and, of course, celebrating these rare and traditional crafts," Louis Ferla, Chief Executive of Cartier, said in a statement, according to GB News.

Interested applicants can apply beginning April 27 on The King's Foundation website.

King Charles, 77, established The King's Foundation charity in 1990 to create communities where people, places and the planet can harmoniously coexist, with a special emphasis on education.

The organization is headquartered at Dumfries House, a 300-year-old country home on a 2,000-acre estate in Ayrshire, Scotland. The home was saved by Charles in 2007 with the hope of transforming it into a visitor attraction and driving socio-economic, cultural and educational regeneration in the area. In January, the King announced that Dumfries House would undergo a massive expansion project, adding a new wing to open in 2027.

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Dumfries House.Credit: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty

Cartier and the royal family have had a longstanding relationship, with King Edward VII once calling the luxury goods maker "the jeweler of kings and the king of jewelers."

Many royals have worn Cartier jewels for special occasions, including one of Princess Grace of Monaco's engagement rings (featuring an emerald-cut jewel), a tiara worn by Princess Marie Louise for the 1937 coronation of King George VI and — possibly most famously — Kate Middleton's wedding tiara.

On her April 29, 2011, wedding to Prince William, Kate wore the Cartier Halo Tiara, which was loaned to her from the late Queen Elizabeth.

The tiara was made by Cartier in 1936 and given as a gift from the then-Duke of York (who would soon become King George VI) to his wife, Elizabeth (later known as the Queen Mother), that same year. In 1944, when the couple’s eldest daughter, Princess Elizabeth (the future Queen Elizabeth), turned 18, the Queen Mother gave the tiara as a gift to her newly adult daughter. Queen Elizabeth frequently loaned the piece to her younger sister, Princess Margaret, who even wore it to her sister’s coronation in June 1953.

Princess Kate Middleton on her wedding day in 2011.Credit: Indigo/Getty

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Kate’s decision to wear the Cartier Halo Tiara on her wedding day was "a clear signal that she wants her royal role to be patterned after that of the late Queen Mother,” according to the blog The Court Jeweller.

Queen Elizabeth herself was never publicly photographed wearing the Cartier Halo Tiara, but she owned it for the last 78 years of her life.

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