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King Charles has been forced to make many lifestyle adjustments since his cancer diagnosis. His health has become a top priority for the royal family, but unfortunately, that means giving up some of his comforts.
Charles recently admitted he had to stop skiing during a visit to the SeAH Wind plant in Teesside, England on Feb. 13, 2025, as reported by The Telegraph. It came as a blow, as he used to plan annual trips to the Swiss Alps. He reportedly confided in Swiss wind turbine engineer Avzi Jusufi, whose colleague David Croft stated, “The King said: ‘I think my skiing days are behind me.’”
Charles would often visit Klosters in February or March, reportedly staying in the lavish Chalet Eugenia frequently, for more than four decades. But Express writes that his 2023 trip was canceled over injury fears ahead of his royal coronation in the U.K. (like how you put your star player on the bench before the championship game), and he was feeling too unwell to ski in 2024.
Exercising caution is reasonable given that skiing accidents can be extremely dangerous; Charles would know, as he narrowly avoided injury or worse in March 1988 when he ended up near the path of an oncoming avalanche. The event sadly resulted in the death of Major Hugh Lindsay, a former aide to Queen Elizabeth II.
Marital issues be damned, Princess Diana and Charles often skied together. She was not on the slopes that day, but Charles was. The snowslide came while Charles was on the slope, the palace confirmed in a 1988 The Guardian article. The heir and his party were on Gotschnagrat Mountain when a torrent of snow began falling down the steep slope.
Lindsay and another member of the group, Patricia Palmer-Tomkinson, were tapped under snow. Charles and the others began digging them out as soon as possible, but Lindsay was pronounced dead on arrival at a nearby hospital. Palmer-Tomkinson, however, escaped with broken legs. A 1988 report by the Los Angeles Times said an investigation placed fault on Charles’ group, who allegedly ignored an avalanche warning issued that day and were on an unmarked slope away from ski runs.
The accident was featured in season 5 of Netflix’s fictional drama, The Crown, against the wishes of Lindsay’s widow, Sarah Horsley. She told The Telegraph, “I was horrified when I was told [the episode] was happening and was very concerned about the impact on my daughter.” Horsley added, “I’m very upset by it and I’m dreading people seeing it. I wrote to them asking them not to do it, not to use the accident. I suppose members of the royal family have to grin and bear it, but for me, it’s a very private tragedy.”
Between bad memories of ski misadventures, his undisclosed cancer diagnosis, and the simple matter of his age, it’s quite unlikely Charles, now 76, will get to ski again. However, a young girl did give him a Valentine’s Day card at the Middlesborough event, writing that he was the “best king ever.” Clearly, you lose some you win some.