King's College London is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's became one of the two founding colleges of the University of London. It is one of the oldest university-level institutions in England. In the late 20th century, King's grew through a series of mergers, including with Queen Elizabeth College and Chelsea College of Science and Technology, the Institute of Psychiatry, the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals and the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery.
The patron of King's College London, King George IV, shown in a portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence
Somerset House – showing the East Wing, which is a part of the Strand Campus of King's College London.
King's College London in 1831, as engraved by J. C. Carter
William Otter (1831–36), the first Principal of King's College London
A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta of 1215, but since the 14th century have only been used in place of private acts to grant a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organisations such as boroughs, universities and learned societies.
Charter granted by King George IV in 1827, establishing King's College, Toronto, now the University of Toronto
Coloured engraving by H. D. Smith, commemorating the grant of a charter in 1829 to King's College, London
The McGill University Arts Building in Montreal, Quebec
Stauffer Library at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario