Short answers, pulled from the story.
King's College London received its royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. This founding occurred as a direct response to the theological controversy surrounding the establishment of University College London which opened in 1826 as a secular institution.
King's College London was founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington to reaffirm the educational values of the established order during a period of significant social change following the Napoleonic Wars. The college was designed to counter the secular nature of University College London and address restrictions imposed by the Test Acts that limited Oxford and Cambridge to Anglicans only.
Prime Minister Arthur Wellesley fought a duel against the Earl of Winchilsea on the 21st of March 1829 at Battersea Fields over conflicts regarding Catholic emancipation and the vision for an inclusive King's College. Every year since then Duel Day is commemorated on the first Thursday following March 21 with reenactments across campus.
The original Strand Campus features the Grade I listed King's Building constructed in 1831 by architect Sir Robert Smirke adjacent to Somerset House along the River Thames. Additional locations include the Waterloo Campus across Waterloo Bridge Guy's Campus next to The Shard St Thomas' Campus facing the Houses of Parliament and Denmark Hill Campus situated in Camberwell.
Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin together with Raymond Gosling Alex Stokes Herbert Wilson and other associates at the Randall Division of Cell and Molecular Biophysics made crucial contributions to the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA in 1953. Joseph Lister was appointed professor of clinical surgery in 1877 greatly benefiting the medical school through his antiseptic surgical methods which gained the hospital an international reputation.
In the fiscal year ending the 31st of July 2024 King's had total income of £1.271 billion with expenditure of £944 million. Key sources included £630.5 million from tuition fees and education contracts £144.9 million from funding body grants and £256.9 million from research grants and contracts.