1. One skiing holiday turned into a nightmare for Prince Charles and his guests at this continental destination.
In 1988, Prince Charles' annual visit to Klosters turned tragic during a day of off-piste skiing. His then-wife, Diana, and sister-in-law, the Duchess of York, were back at the chalet when the prince and his friends heard an avalanche rumbling down the mountain. All were able to escape except Patricia Palmer-Tomkinson, who spent four months in a Swiss hospital, and Major Hugh Lindsay who was killed. Maj. Lindsay was one of the Queen's equerries and his wife was pregnant at the time.
2. Which royal family helped Princess Diana escape the dreary Scottish summer with a little Mediterranean sunshine in the mid-1980s?
In August 1987, the Spanish royal family invited the Prince and Princess of Wales to join them at Marivent Palace on the island of Majorca. While the Windsors traditionally spend the summer holiday wearing tweed in the Scottish Highlands at Balmoral, the Borbons can be found sailing and soaking up the sun in the Mediterranean. Click here to see footage of the joint photocall during this holiday. (Most of you will love seeing the baby Princes William and Harry, but be sure to notice the teenaged Prince Felipe, too!)
3. Most people want to escape the family during their honeymoon, but Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip spent theirs nestled at which relative's home?
In 1947, the royal newlyweds spent the first part of their honeymoon in Hampshire at Broadlands, home of Philip's uncle Earl Mountbatten. During their stay, they were swarmed by hundreds of well-wishers when they attended church services at Romsey Abbey. (See the video.) From there, they decamped to Birkhall, now the Scottish home of the Prince of Wales. Definitely a chilly location for a November honeymoon!
Okay, Crown Princess Mette-Marit was not on vacation when she acquired her sunburn in 2002 (but a sunburn is a common holiday injury). She was actually filming a piece with a news crew in an anticipation of an official visit to Berlin, when the natural blonde endured from the effects of the spring sun and the bright light reflectors of the television crew. Not only did the princess have painful damage to her skin, but she also suffered injuries to her corneas, similar to snow blindness. Her doctors advised her to say home, and her husband went to Germany alone.
Queen Elizabeth II's sister, Princess Margaret, ran with a "fast" set and is said to have many lovers among the nobility, actors, artists and musicians. However, the revelation of her affair with Roddy Llewellyn, a gardner 17 years her junior, seems to have put the nail into the coffin of her marriage to the Earl of Snowdon. In 1976, Roddy and the Princess were photographed together at her holiday home in the West Indies. Soon after the photos appeared in the papers, the Snowdons divorced. The relationship with Roddy seems fairly serious; the couple stayed together for eight years. However, some members of Parliament actually called her a "floosie" because of it.
6. What was the Duchess of York photographed doing on vacation that led to her divorce?
Unfortunately, Princess Margaret's niece-by-marriage, Sarah Ferguson learned nothing from her about taking vacations with men who aren't your husband. With Prince Andrew often away on naval duty, Sarah found companionship with at least two different men. When photos of her poolside with Steve Bryan were published in 1992, it led immediately to a royal separation. Unlike Margaret and Roddy, who were just seen on the beach in their bathing suits, Sarah was not only topless in some of the pics, Steve was sucking her toes. Perhaps worst of all, her two young daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, were playing nearby.
7. Which royal lady was inspired by holiday snaps to take up marathon running?
Like her mother before her, Princess Beatrice of York, inherited bright red hair and a tendency toward shapeliness that is not well-tolerated in today's media-crazy world. In 2007, bikini photos of the princess in the Caribbean led some of the media to attack the 19-year-old, size-10 princess for being too heavy. Beatrice responded by adopting a sensible eating and physical fitness plan. She took up running and became the first royal to complete the London Marathon in 2010. Through it all, her family and her boyfriend, Dave Clark, have been at her side, encouraging and supporting her.
When the rest of his family made their annual Easter trip to Palma de Mallorca, King Juan Carlos of Spain announced that he was staying home to prepare for an official visit from the Emir of Qatar. However, speculation was rife that he was in ill health, a rumor that seemed to be confirmed when he had knee surgery a few weeks later. A few months after that, he had surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon. Rumors about a possible abdication have been high since at least 2010 when he had a benign tumor removed from his lung. However, the official word is that he will remain king until his death.
9. Which royal lady had her summer sojourn spoiled this year when her estranged husband became ill?
Princess Caroline was photographed on holiday with her daughters, Charlotte Casiraghi and Princess Alexandra, in Capri in late July, while her estranged third husband, Prince Ernst of Hanover, was being rushed to the hospital in Ibiza, where he was on a separate vacation. He stayed in intensive care for several days suffering with pancreatitis, but he was soon seen back out boating with a 23-year-old female companion. It is not believed that his wife or his daughter visited him during his hospitalization. Caroline and Ernst appear to have been separated for a couple of years, during which time, he has not been seen at official events in her native Monaco, including this summer's princely wedding.
In early 1914, Crown Princess Marie of Romania visited her cousins Tsar Nicholas and Empress Alexandra of Russia at Tsarskoe Selo to discuss a possible marriage between her oldest son, Prince Carol, and their oldest daughter, Grand Duchess Olga. During the visit, the two mothers agreed to create "occasions" to throw the young people together. But, with World War I looming, only one such occasion occurred, when the Russian imperial family docked the imperial yacht at the Romanian Black Sea port of Constantza. The two families spent the day together on the yacht while the Russian Foreign Minister and Romanian Prime Minister worked on details of marriage alliance. The young people in question, however, were not in the least attracted to each other and the issue was soon dropped, partly because Olga did not want to leave Russia. Three years later, she was murdered with her entire family at Ipatiev House.
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