This series explores winter sport-loving royals from around the world. Part two turns to the British Royal Family, whose relationship with skiing has stretched across generations and made a small Swiss village almost synonymous with royal ski holidays.
The British Royal Family’s skiing tradition began with King Charles III, who took his first ski lessons at age 14 while staying with his father’s cousin Prince Ludwig of Hesse at Tarasp in Switzerland in January 1963. Tarasp castle lies above the ski area of Scuol in the lower Engadin valley in the Swiss canton Graubünden. Charles continued skiing through his youth, taking trips to Liechtenstein in 1965 and the Davos area in 1966. Eventually, skiing became an annual family tradition, with Charles taking his sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, to the Alps, most famously to Klosters, Switzerland.
Klosters would become the family’s unofficial winter headquarters. The understated Swiss mountain village in the canton of Graubünden has hosted British royals for decades, becoming so closely associated with the family that one of its mountain gondolas was named the “Prince of Wales” after Charles. The resort itself describes the British Royal Family as some of its most famous longtime guests.
Klosters is part of the larger Davos Klosters ski region, which offers approximately 300 kilometers (186 miles) of marked ski runs across six separate ski areas and is served by 57 lifts and transport systems. The terrain ranges from the family-friendly Madrisa and Rinerhorn areas to the freeride-focused Pischa and the extensive Parsenn ski area.
But the appeal of Klosters for the royals was never simply the skiing. The village has long been known for its discreet, authentic style and its ability to attract wealthy and famous visitors without becoming as conspicuous as some of the Alps’ more glamorous destinations. Klosters itself describes its formula as “discreet luxury,” while its chalet-style center has retained much of its traditional character despite decades of celebrity attention.
Charles and Princess Diana continued the tradition after their marriage, taking William and Harry skiing in the Alps while the boys were growing up. The family became regular visitors to Klosters, where the young princes learned to ski and where photographers were occasionally permitted to capture carefully managed images of the family on the slopes.
One of the family’s most memorable ski destinations, however, was Lech, Austria. Diana regularly took William and Harry to the Arlberg village for ski holidays during the early 1990s. Photographs from April 1991 show Diana skiing with both boys at Lech, and the family stayed at the Hotel Arlberg during their visits.
Lech is part of Ski Arlberg, one of the largest interconnected ski areas in Austria. Today, the region has approximately 300 kilometers (186 miles) of marked ski runs and 85 lifts and cable cars, with another 200 kilometers (124 miles) of designated deep-snow routes. The area combines extensive groomed terrain with some of the Alps’ most famous freeride and ski-touring terrain.
For Diana, however, Lech offered something that went beyond its skiing. Away from the intense attention surrounding the Royal Family in Britain, the Austrian village gave William and Harry an opportunity to experience something approaching a normal childhood. Hotel staff have recalled Diana as a warm and involved mother who valued the privacy the resort provided for her sons.
Skiing also became one of the few places where the public could regularly see the young princes behaving like ordinary children. Photographs of William and Harry in ski jackets and helmets, riding chairlifts with their mother and learning to ski, became some of the most recognizable images of the family during the early 1990s.
Despite all the joy that comes with skiing, it is important to mention that the Royal Family’s connection to skiing also has a dark chapter. On March 10, 1988, Charles was skiing off-piste near Klosters when an avalanche struck his group. The slide killed his close friend and former equerry, Major Hugh Lindsay, and seriously injured another member of the group, Patti Palmer-Tomkinson. Charles and others survived and helped search for the victims. Charles has rarely spoken publicly about the incident, but just recently, in August 2026, he described it as “a close thing” while meeting members of the Assynt Mountain Rescue Team in Scotland. The avalanche remains one of the most serious events associated with the Royal Family’s long history of skiing in the Alps.
Despite the tragedy, Charles continued to ski for decades afterward, including annual trips with William and Harry. The family continued to return to Klosters, maintaining a relationship with the resort that became one of the longest-running royal associations in European skiing.
As William and Harry grew older, the brothers developed their own relationships with skiing. Klosters remained an important family destination, but the next generation of royals began appearing at other Alpine resorts as well.
Prince William has continued skiing into adulthood, including trips to Switzerland and the French Alps. His relationship with skiing has occasionally generated headlines independent of the Royal Family, including a 2017 trip to Verbier with friends. More recently, William and Catherine, Princess of Wales, have continued the family tradition by taking their own children skiing in the Alps.
But of all the resorts associated with the British Royal Family, Klosters remains the most important. Few ski destinations have such a direct and enduring connection to a royal family, and the relationship has become part of the resort’s identity.
The mountain even bears physical reminders of the connection. The Gotschnabahn gondola cabins are named after famous guests and figures associated with Klosters, including the “Prince of Wales” designation that references Charles. The resort has long promoted its royal history while maintaining the discretion that originally attracted the family.
The British Royal Family’s relationship with skiing is more than just a collection of celebrity ski trips — it is a tradition that has lasted more than six decades and has been passed to three generations. Long may it continue!
