Titular King of Navarre, Count of Evreux. Born in 1332, he reigned from 7 October 1349 until 1387, the year of his death.
He was the son of Joan II, Queen of Navarre, and Philip, Count of Evreux. With him the House of Evreux was inaugurated in Navarre. He succeeded his mother at the age of 17. He came to Navarre in May 1350, although his royal provisions were earlier, such as that by which, while in Conflans, he named John of Conflans, Marshal of Champagne, governor of Navarre (7 October 1349). He inaugurated his reign with the episode of the Miluze criminals, an exemplary punishment (1351) for those who had conspired during his mother's reign and his absence: "the juntas and brotherhoods of Navarre rose up in evil; and justice was exacted from some," says the Prince of Viana laconically.
The adolescent Charles was crowned in the Cathedral of Santa Maria in Pamplona on 27 June 1350. One of his first decisions was to ratify the treaty of alliance and mutual aid (5 June 1350) arranged by his mother with Peter IV the Ceremonious of Aragon. However, he did not want to alienate the Ceremonious' worst enemy, Peter I of Castile, with whom he made peace in Burgos (1351). In August 1351 he left for his trans-Pyrenean possessions, leaving García Diáriz as governor. Thus he began his policy on a European scale that would lead him to become one of the most important statesmen of pre-Renaissance Europe and a direct protagonist of the Hundred Years' War.