Many royal family members are athletic—Prince Charles played polo, Prince Harry was on the Eton rugby team, and the Duchess of Cambridge is a skilled field hockey player. However, some royals take their sporting endeavors outside of recreational play, competing both nationally and internationally. A select group of royals have made it to the Olympics, and a handful have even garnered Olympic medals.
In honor of this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, we took a look back at some of the historic royal Olympians from around the world. From Princess Anne to Monaco’s Princess Charlene, find the royals who competed on the international stage.
Princess Anne
The Princess Royal was the first British royal to compete in the Olympics. In the 1976 Montreal Olympics, she rode Goodwill, her mom’s horse, in the three-day equestrian event. Anne is now president of the British Olympic Association and a member of the International Olympic Committee.
Medal Count: 0
Captain Mark Phillips
Princess Anne’s former husband won gold with the British equestrian team in 1972. He placed 35th individually.
Medal Count: 2
Zara Tindall
Queen Anne and Mark Phillip’s daughter followed in her parents’ footsteps and also competed on the British Olympic equestrian team. At the London 2012 Olympics, the granddaughter of the Queen even won a silver medal as a member of the Great Britain equestrian eventing team.
Medal Count: 1
Princess Charlene of Monaco
In 2000, Charlene Wittstock, the future Princess of Monaco, swam for South Africa in the Olympics. She was a member of the country’s women’s 4×100 meter medley team, which ended up finishing fifth. That year, Wittstock also met her future husband, Prince Albert, at the Mare Nostrum swimming meet in Monaco.
Medal Count: 0
Prince Albert II of Monaco
Prince Albert is an Olympian like his wife. The royal competed for Monaco in the bobsleigh event at five consecutive Winter Olympics (from 1988 to 2002), participating in both the two-man and four-man competitions.
Medal Count: 0
King Felipe VI
The Spanish king was a member of the Spanish Olympic sailing team at the 1992 Barcelona Games. That year, he was also the Spanish Olympic team’s flag bearer.
Medal Count: 0
Sheikha Maitha bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
The daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktom, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, competed in martial arts at the 2008 Summer Olympics. She was the first woman to carry the national flag of the UAE at the games.
Medal Count: 0
Princess Haya bint Hussein
The Oxford-educated daughter of King Hussein of Jordan is also an equestrian. She represented the country in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
Medal Count: 0
Iñaki Urdangarin
Urdangarin competed on the Olympic handball team for his native Spain at the 1992, 1996, and 2000 Summer Olympic games. The team won bronze medals in 1996 and 2000. In 1997, he married Infanta Cristina, the younger daughter of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía of Spain, and became the Duke of Palma.
Medal Count: 2
Princess Cristina of Spain
Infanta Christina competed in sailing at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, though she did not win any medals.
Medal Count: 0
Prince Bira of Siam
The Eton-educated Thai prince was on his country’s sailing squad at four Olympic games: Melbourne (1956), Rome (1960), Tokyo (1964), and Munich (1972).
Medal Count: 0
You Might Also Like