In the fall of 1977, Rodney Mims Cook Jr. was studying in his dorm at Washington and Lee University when he got an urgent call to come home.
“The Prince of Wales was coming to Atlanta,” Cook said. “And I was going to meet him.”
Three years earlier, at the age of 14, Cook, the son of politician Rodney Mims Cook and Urban Design Commission member Bettijo Trawick, organized a group called “Youth for the Fox” in a successful effort to save the old Atlanta theater.
As part of a trip to Georgia, which also included attending a University of Georgia football game, Prince Charles — who has an affinity for architecture — wanted to visit the Fox Theatre. And meet the young man who helped save it.
Credit: University of Georgia
Credit: University of Georgia
This week, nearly half a century later, Cook is traveling to England for the coronation of Charles, the newly crowned King of the United Kingdom.
Cook will not attend the actual coronation Saturday at Westminster Abbey — only 2,000 invitations have been issued, compared to the 8,000 Elizabeth II sent out in 1953 — but he says he has been invited to several other official events and black tie dinners to celebrate King Charles III.
Credit: Rodney Mims Cook Jr.
Credit: Rodney Mims Cook Jr.
Since their first meeting, Charles and Cook have worked on projects in Europe and Atlanta together. Cook says he has even spent time at the king’s summer palace in Scotland.
“I would say that we are friends. Are were ‘mates?” That is a strong term,” Cook said. “But is he someone I admire? Yes. Is there a picture of him on my desk? Yes.”
Both men have long shared a passion for classical architecture. Cook founded the Atlanta-based National Monuments Foundation and has steered several projects around the city.
Credit: Rodney Mims Cook Jr.
Credit: Rodney Mims Cook Jr.
In 1987, Cook designed the Newington-Cropsey Foundation Gallery of Art in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, which again sparked the attention of Charles.
The prince made Cook a founding trustee of the Prince of Wales’ Foundation for Architecture, an educational charity established in 1986 to teach, demonstrate and practice principles of traditional urban design and architecture to put people and communities at the center of the design process.
Credit: bgray@ajc.com
Credit: bgray@ajc.com
In 1996, Charles helped fund a massive statue at the intersection of Peachtree Street and West Peachtree at Pershing Point to honor the Centennial Olympic Games. The Prince of Wales’s Institute of Architecture held an international competition for the design of the monument, which is carved in limestone and topped with five bronze Atlas figures — representing the five continents — holding a globe.
“I asked the Prince of Wales to sponsor a monumental gift to our city and nation to commemorate the Centennial Olympic Games in 1996,” Cook said. “He gave our people a 55-foot tall monument, the only thing he has built outside of Europe. And he doesn’t claim any credit for it. He is a gracious and humble person who helps people all of the time. He has no idea how many people he truly helped.”
Originally the “World Athletes Monument,” the Atlanta City Council changed the name to the “Prince of Wales Monument.”
In 1997, after Prince Diana was killed in a Paris automobile accident, an estimated 20,000 people were drawn to the monument. In 2004, mourners gathered there to honor the passing of President Ronald Reagan.
“It has been extremely well received,” Cook said.
Upon the death of Queen Elizabeth II last September, Cook’s Arc de Triomphe-inspired Millennium Gate Museum in Atlantic Station was draped with a Union Jack to honor her.
Credit: Rodney Mims Cook Jr.
Credit: Rodney Mims Cook Jr.
Cook isn’t sure when or where he will actually see the king in England during the coronation period. But he is already making plans for Atlanta.
Cook has placed three statues — of John Lewis, Andrew Young and Martin Luther King Jr. — in Vine City’s newest feature, the 16-acre Rodney Cook Sr. Park.
At least 16 more statues are scheduled to be placed in the park, which Cook said still hasn’t “officially” opened.
“King Charles has said that he wants to be here for that. I am anxious that he wants to be able to cut the ribbon,” Cook said. “And it would be wonderful if he could come here and cut it.”
HOW TO WATCH
In Britain, the BBC and other broadcasters will provide live coverage. U.S. news networks are planning extensive programming, too.
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
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