Queen Camilla on the other hand, doesn’t enjoy skiing, with her son, Tom Parker Bowles, writing in The Times: “My mother hated skiing, so she’d send us up the mountain with a guide while she sat and read her book. She’d come up in the ski lift to meet us for lunch.”

At least the Queen has someone to join her for slopeside lunches now her husband has hung up his ski poles.

Core memories

For over 45 years, King Charles’ primary skiing destination was the Swiss resort of Klosters. He was such a regular that the town eventually named two chairlifts after him.

In 1988, Charles was caught in an avalanche on a dangerous off-piste run. While he escaped unhurt, the accident killed his close friend, Major Hugh Lindsay. Despite the event, Charles continued visiting the resort for decades.

Skiing also doubled as a creative trip for Charles. He often took a second trip alone in March to paint watercolour landscapes. Because of the sub-zero temperatures, he famously mixed vodka into his paints to prevent them from freezing.

During the 1980s and 1990s, royal ski trips became major media events, especially when Princess Diana joined. Frustrated by the heavy press coverage, Charles famously tried to ski incognito during a 1980 trip by wearing a disguise of a fake nose, mustache, and glasses. The look failed to hide his identity and ended up attracting even more attention.

Radio station apologizes after accidentally announcing death of King Charles

A UK radio station has apologized to Britain’s King Charles III and its listeners after accidentally and incorrectly announcing the death of the monarch.

“Due to a computer error at our main studio the Death of a Monarch procedure, which all UK stations hold in readiness while hoping not to require, was accidentally activated on Tuesday afternoon (19 May), mistakenly announcing that HM the King had passed away,” the station manager for Radio Caroline, Peter Moore, said in a statement shared on social media Wednesday.

“Radio Caroline then fell silent as would be required, which alerted us to restore programming and issue an on-air apology,” he continued.

“Caroline has been pleased to broadcast Her Majesty the Queen’s, and now the King’s, Christmas Message and we hope to do so for many years to come,” Moore added.

“We apologise to HM the King and to our listeners for any distress caused,” the statement concluded.

Established in 1964, Radio Caroline broadcasts in multiple countries, including Belgium and the Netherlands, and is available online worldwide.

On the day of the erroneous announcement, King Charles and Queen Camilla were in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

The 77-year-old and his wife joined a cultural celebration at Thompson Dock, the dry ground where the Titanic stood before its maiden voyage, Buckingham Palace said in a statement Tuesday.

There, they met performers and organizers preparing for the globally recognized traditional Irish music festival Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, taking place in August.

The royals also visited Titanic distillers and learned about whiskey making, before the King visited a local charity providing and promoting wider access to skills for digital careers, according to the palace.

The King and Queen later met with the first minister and deputy first minister of Northern Ireland at Hillsborough Castle, a royal residence near Belfast.

King Charles, who revealed in February 2024 that he had been diagnosed with cancer, shared in a video message in December that his cancer treatment would be reduced this year, as he had been responding well to treatment.

In the past month, he has visited New York and Washington, DC, where he addressed Congress, to mark the 250th anniversary of US independence. The King also addressed the UK Parliament last week.

King Charles Makes a Surprising Decision and Declares This “Behind” Him

The monarch has had to reevaluate some parts of his life as he approaches his 80th birthday.

• King Charles, who learned to ski at 14 years old and was an avid skier ever since, admitted that his days on the slopes are “behind me.”
• As he nears 80 years old, the king has had to give up most of his athletic hobbies.
• Charles’s sons Prince William and Prince Harry often go skiing with their families, including as recently as April.

King Charles has long held skiing as a passion—but admitted that he doesn’t participate in the sport any longer as he nears 80 years old.

Charles, 77, told a well-wisher he met at a royal engagement last February, “I think my skiing days are behind me,” according to Hello!. Charles began skiing at 14 years old, and it remained a passion throughout his life up until recently.

Charles’s wife Queen Camilla has never enjoyed skiing, according to her son Tom Parker Bowles. He previously said, “My mother hated skiing, so she’d send us up the mountain with a guide while she sat and read her book. She’d come up in the ski lift to meet us for lunch.”

Not so for Charles, who loved skiing so much—and visited the Swiss resort of Klosters so frequently—that the town eventually named two chairlifts after him, per Hello!. Skiing also brought about tragedy in one instance, though—in 1988, the then-future king was caught in an avalanche and, while he escaped unharmed, the event killed his close friend, Major Hugh Lindsay.

“I’ve never forgotten the sound of it,” Charles later recalled (per Town & Country). “The whole mountain apparently exploding outwards…vast clouds of snow. I thought to myself, ‘My God, the horror.’”

Skiing isn’t the only athletic hobby the monarch has given up. In October 2024, during a visit to the Australian National Botanic Gardens, a young fan asked the royal his favorite sport. “I can’t do much now,” the king admitted. “Too many injuries.”

According to Charles’s younger son Prince Harry, the monarch reportedly struggles with “constant pain in his neck and back.” The Duke of Sussex wrote in his 2023 memoir Spare that his father’s aches and pains are because of “old polo injuries.”

For her part, Camilla said in 2023 that the then-Prince of Wales “is probably the fittest man of his age I know.” She added on BBC Radio 5’s “The Emma Barnett Show,” “He’ll walk and walk and walk. He’s like a mountain goat. He leaves everybody miles behind.”

“Whether he’s hedge-laying in the pouring rain, striding—like a mountain goat—up impossibly steep Highland hills, planting trees in the arboretum or pruning at Highgrove [his country home], this is where he finds true peace,” she continued. Charles himself has also said he exercises twice daily, doing squats and “the pull-up bar,” per Hello!.

Skiing is an activity that Charles once enjoyed with Harry and Prince William—and that both men now enjoy with their children. In April, Meghan Markle shared a video of Harry skiing with their son, Prince Archie, dubbing the then-6-year-old a “quick learner” at the slopes.

William, Kate Middleton, and their three children also often take ski holidays, even heading to the slopes over the Easter holiday.