Live Like a Royal: Summer Sports

During the summers, royals are just like us , spending time outdoors playing their favorite sports. The Windsor’s are a very athletic lot, with multiple Olympians, competitive athletes and that emanating feeling like they just got off of a horse or back from a bracing walk at all times. Some the the classic summer pastimes are also royal favorites, as they lean towards preppy, traditional sports that likely require massive grounds or a membership to some private club.

Equestrian

As I have discussed before, the Queen is an avid rider and still rides today, even at the age of 93. She has always raised and bred race horses. Princess Anne (now a member of the International Olympic Committee) competed in the Summer Olympics as an equestrian, and her daughter Zara Philips won a silver medal during the London Olympics for riding.

Prince Philip has also been widely responsible for making polo popular in the UK, bringing the sport back from Malta with him after WWII to England to form the Windsor Park team and eventually Guards Polo Club. Prince Charles starting competing as a teenager, retiring only in 2015 after a series of injuries (our uncle plays polo and it is definitely a dangerous game!). Prince William and Prince Harry now both play and the two of them have raised over $10 million in charity from polo events since 2007, with their wives and families often watching. The polo season runs from May-September.

Tennis

Another classic summer sport, tennis, has many royal fans and players. I only recently learned that the Queen's father, King George VI, competed at Wimbledon in 1926 in the men's doubles tournament, a few months after the birth of the future Queen, and before he became the monarch! It’s no surprise that this love for the sport has made it down the line, with his son Prince Edward serving as the patron of the Tennis & Rackets Association.

Most notably, the Queen was the patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, where Wimbledon is played, for 64 years. When she retired, the Duchess of Cambridge took over. She herself is an avid tennis player, taking lessons and playing on private courts at the various royal residences, including her country home, Anmer Hall. Watching the action in the Royal Box is one the highlights of the summer season, with Kate and her sister Pippa regularly attending (sometimes together), and the rest of the family usually catching a match or two. Kate’s facial expressions are always fun to watch, and it’s said that she has her children also learning the game.

Boating

The Queen has seemed to prefer yachting over sailing, taking many trips on the Royal Brittania,  which was in service from 1954 to 1997 and traveled more than a million nautical miles. The yacht also hosted honeymoons for many royal couples, taking Princess Margaret and Anthony Armstrong-Jones to the Caribbean, Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips on a very stormy Caribbean cruise, Prince Charles and Princess Diana on a Mediterranean cruise and finally taking Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson to the Azores. 

William and Kate both sail (or at least are comfortable on a boat) as they showcased during a charity sailing event last summer called the King’s Cup Regatta, where eight different boats representing eight different non-profits competed. The Cambridge’s each captained a boat, with other notable celebrities leading the others.