After resigning from his royal duties, Prince Harry recently spoke about his relationship with King Charles III and Prince William, describing it as “distant”.
Although the Duke of Sussex is still estranged from his father and brother, an ex-employee of the royal family recalls how close they used to be and the dangerous pastime that the monarch introduced to his sons, which brought them closer together.
In this article, we delve into the story behind this dangerous hobby, along with another one that the Prince of Wales enjoys, but his wife hopes their children will not adopt.
Grant Harrold, who served as King Charles’ butler from 2004 to 2011, recently revealed some little-known hobbies of his former boss that can be considered “dangerous”.
In an interview with Spin Genie, he disclosed that the king loves hedgelaying, which involves laying a hedge and turning it into a beautiful fence. This old skill can be quite dangerous as it requires hacking the branches of a hedge and weaving them together. According to Harrold, the king even judges or gets involved in the national hedgelaying competition, which is not widely known.
The king’s other dangerous hobby is polo, which both his sons adopted at a young age. Prince William and Prince Harry share their father’s passion for this high-risk sport. Harrold recalls seeing the princes playing polo with friends and enjoying a drink at local pubs after the game.
As they were well-known, nobody bothered them, and their hobbies mainly revolved around spending time with friends and playing polo. Both William and Harry still play the sport today, with William participating in charity polo events during the season and Harry playing for the Los Padres club in the US.
Apart from polo, Prince William is also an avid rider, and he once owned a Ducati 1199, an Italian-manufactured sports bike with a top speed of 177 mph. However, the Princess of Wales, formerly known as Kate Middleton, is not a fan of this hobby and admits that she is “filled with horror” every time William gets on the bike.
She hopes their children will never start following their father’s footsteps. In an interview with Hello! after the birth of their first son George, the princess said, “It always fills me with horror when [William] goes out on it! I’m terrified. Hopefully, I’m going to keep George off it.”
