They soldier on! As Tim Laurence showed this week, an outdoorsy life means we often see the royals patched up with slings and bandages…

For a family dedicated to military service, sport in general and horses in particular – not to mention the rumbustious art of polo – it’s a surprise the Windsors aren’t injured more frequently. 

 Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, husband of Princess Anne, was the latest – seen at a thanksgiving service for 200 years of the RNLI with a black eye. It was apparently sustained while gardening

Prince Charles’s morning routine of stretches and standing on his head is said to counteract the long-lasting effects of a nasty polo fall.

While the frost-bite suffered by Prince Harry on an expedition to the Arctic is thoroughly documented in his memoir, Spare.

Fortunately there are  no pictures.

But whenever we do see a royal injury or two, there is no shortage of interest and speculation…

Commander Tim Laurence

Princess Sofia of Spain

Princess Sofia of Spain battled through  a painful leg injury in 2020 after suffering a fall at Marivent Palace, the Spanish royals’ summer residence in Majorca. 

She was treated at home with five stitches, bandaged-up and given a crutch to help her support herself for a rapid recovery.

Prince William 

The Prince of Wales was spotted wearing a sling on his left arm in 1999 while attending the christening of his godson, Prince Constantine Alexios of Greece, in London.

The 16-year-old Prince William was recovering from surgery on a broken finger but was in high spirits as he chatted with his fellow guests.

King Charles 

In 1986, Prince Charles was left wearing a sling after gruesomely injuring his index finger in a gardening accident. ‘It was a damn great hammer,’ he explained.

‘I missed the stake but my finger came down on it.

 ‘The end of the finger came off — that was the trouble. It did not completely drop off, but was hanging by a bit.’

The royal showcased his bandaged-up hand during a Vienna with his late wife, Princess Diana of Wales.

The worst in a lengthy catalogue of spills took place in 1990 when King Charles broke his right arm after falling from his horse during a match at Cirencester.

The accident, during the second chukka, was described by a spokesman as a ‘nasty break above the right elbow’.

Charles, then 41, was galloping to cut off an opponent when his pony swerved to the right as he leaned over to take a backhand shot. He lost his balance and tumbled between the two animals, one of which kicked him in the arm.

The Prince spent three nights in hospital, dismissing his injury as a ‘silly thing to do’.

But the wound failed to heal properly and after three months of pain — and a warning that, untreated, it could leave him so badly crippled he would be unable to salute — he had an operation to fix it.

A bone was taken from his hip and packed around the break and a metal plate was secured with screws. He was discharged from hospital a week later and was back on the field within the year.

There were some curious stares in November 2001 when Charles reported for royal duties sporting a rather alarming bandage over his left eye.

It transpired the Prince had been sawing a branch off a tree at Highgrove, his Gloucestershire estate when he managed to get sawdust in his eye.

The dust scratched his cornea and temporarily affected his vision. After treatment from a local doctor, he was transferred to a specialist and prescribed a day’s rest.

A Palace spokesman said his eye was ‘still sore’ several days later, when Charles proudly displayed his patch at a meeting of business leaders. ‘It’s really a result of talking to trees once too often,’ he joked.

During a fox hunt in Derbyshire in January 2001, Charles’s horse took an ‘unexpected jump’ and flung him to the ground. He fell awkwardly and it was thought he had dislocated his shoulder.

Royal protection officers, who were riding with the Prince in the Meynell Hunt, drove him to a nearby hospital — where an X-ray revealed he had, in fact, broken his acromion, a small bone on the edge of the shoulder blade.

‘He’s fine,’ his spokesman insisted. ‘It was a minor injury and it’s just inconvenient, that’s all. He’s not in any pain.’ 

Charles had to wear a sling for several days while the fracture healed.

King Felipe of Spain

Just two weeks ago, King Felipe of Spain was spotted with a bandage on his left wrist while attending the opening concert of the Princess of Asturias awards in Oviedo, Spain.

Thankfully, the Palacio de la Zarzuela confirmed that the Monarch was only suffering from tendonitis in his left wrist and the bandage was only a precautionary measure.

Over the years, royals have showcased a range of injuries, and here are just a few… 

Queen Camilla 

After breaking her left leg during a walking accident in 2010, Queen Camilla, then the Duchess of Cornwall, had to use a wheelchair to get around. 

Camilla broke her leg after catching her foot in a rabbit hole while walking near Birkhall, King Charles’ Scottish home. 

She limped back to her car believing it was nothing more than a  sprain but an x-ray the following day revealed that she had suffered a fracture of the fibula, caused by the leg twisting awkwardly underneath her.

However, the royal didn’t let her injury stop her from attending her royal engagements as Charles pushed her around in her chair.

The Princess of Wales 

Kate, now recuperating from abdominal surgery, but she’s shown us in previous times occasions that she’s made of tough stuff.

The Princess of Wales has been pictured with bandaged fingers on a few occasions, including a SportsAid mental fitness workshop in Marlow.

Not that her poorly hand stopped her playing wheelchair rugby in Yorkshire or netball and a range of other games  at Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre in Marlow, Buckinghamshire.

The cause of her injury? A bout of trampolining with her children, Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, eight, and Prince Louis, five, at home.

Princess Anne 

Princess Anne was seen pairing her colourful knitted waistcoat with a makeshift sling to support her sprained wrist after falling off her horse during a three-day event for the European Championships in Kiev in 1973.

Queen Elizabeth II

Known for her love for bright colours and impeccable sense of style, Her Majesty even extended her approach to her choice of sling when she suffered a fractured wrist in a riding accident.

She supported her injured wrist with a stylish blue silk scarf that perfectly matched her coat and hat.

An adept horsewoman, The Queen has only had one notable injury while out riding on the Sandringham Estate in 1994.

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden 

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden sprained her ankle in the Italian Alpine resort of Cervinia in December 2013 where she was holidaying with family.

She was taken by private helicopter to a hospital in Geneva, Switzerland, where doctors X-rayed her foot to assess the damage.