Charles graduated from Hertford College, Oxford, where in 1986 he founded the De Vere Society. In the 1990s he spent six years lecturing on the Shakespeare authorship question in North America, becoming president of the Shakespeare Oxford Society from 1995 to 1997.

He is a co-founder of the Shakespeare Academy, a vice-president of the Royal Stuart Society, Hon. President of the De Vere Society, and was a trustee of the Shakespearean Authorship Trust for 25 years.

His publications include Nell Gwyn (Macmillan, 2005), Shakespeare’s Lost Kingdom (Grove, 2010), Piano Man (Simon & Schuster, 2014), and Take Physic, Pomp!, co-authored with his wife Sarah.

In addition to his various writing projects, Charles currently teaches Latin at a London prep school as well as tutoring online in Classics and Shakespeare studies.