Action Sports
Action Sports
The Prince of Wales had his first skiing lessons at the age of 14, in January 1963, when he was staying with Prince Ludwig of Hesse at Tarasp in Switzerland.
The young Prince had skiing holidays in Liechtenstein in 1965 and near Davos, Switzerland, in 1966.
In recent years, His Royal Highness has taken regular annual skiing holidays with his sons Prince William and Prince Harry, usually visiting Klosters in Switzerland.
The Prince took up water-skiing and surfing in his teens, and during service in the Royal Navy he was introduced to aqua-lung diving. In 1974 he became President of the British Sub Aqua Club.
In July 1975 The Prince spent 47 minutes under water examining the wreck of the Mary Rose, a Tudor warship sunk off Portsmouth in 1545. The Prince was the first member of the Royal Family to see it since Henry VIII watched the ship sink.
It was the first of a number of dives The Prince made to the wreck, and he became President of the Mary Rose Trust which raised the remains of the ship in 1982 for preservation in a new museum at Portsmouth.
The Prince enjoyed sailing from early childhood, taking part in his first yacht race at Cowes Regatta with his father, The Duke of Edinburgh, at the age of eight.
The Prince windsurfed off the Isle of Wight during another visit to the Cowes Regatta in 1978.
In 1979 The Prince was given a skateboard for Christmas and after practising at Windsor, His Royal Highness was able to give a brief demonstration for a television news programme about a North London community organisation. Viewers saw The Prince ask a startled youngster: "Can I borrow your board?”