Charles was born in the early 1800s in Northern France to a minor noble family. They were able to weather the French Revolution by escaping to Spain.
With few other prospects, he was forced to sell his martial ability abroad and ended up in America. There, he met his sire and switched from being in the military to buying, selling, and speculating on land.
The switch was rather easy as Charles' natural inclination was Intelligence vs Brute strength (despite his apparent size).
He rarely attends Elysium, though he never misses a Board Meeting with other Ventrue.
He has consistently made the clan, and his family, a great deal of money. He foresaw the end of the land boom in Miami and the start of the Great Depression, using both instances to VASTLY increase land ownership of the clan.