Princess Diana loved taking a dip in the sea… and it seems her sons share her passion.
Video footage of Prince Harry showing off his surfing skills in California emerged last month.
And Prince William also enjoyed surfing in the cold waters of St Andrews in Scotland when he was at university.
The late Princess of Wales reflected on her divorce from Charles in 1993 on the sandy beaches of Nevis in the Caribbean.
She took William and Harry, then aged ten and eight, bodyboarding and her friend Catherine Soames joined them.
Princess Diana enjoys the waves at Indian Castle Beach in Nevis with William and Harry in 1993
Prince Harry expertly rides a wave at a California surf ranch. The images appeared last month
Diana, holding a bright pink board in her hand, was seen standing among the crashing waves and trying to ride them.
In another shot, Harry was seen holding the bodyboard as his mother walked through the water towards him.
“When the windsurfing started, Diana, wearing a black one-piece suit, kept falling off her board in the strong wind,” the Daily Mail reported at the time.
‘When the windsurfing started, Diana, in a black swimsuit, kept falling off her board due to the strong wind.’
William and Harry later played cricket on the beach. They ‘used the broken spokes of a parasol as a wicket and took turns batting while their detectives bowled’.
During the same holiday, the Mail described how ‘she splashes about without a care in the thundering surf of the Caribbean’.
The pictures made headlines in Britain and when Diana returned home she said: ‘That was the best holiday I’ve ever had.’
The late Princess of Wales wades through the waves towards Harry, who is holding a board
Diana enjoys the sea foam during her holiday with her two sons in January 1993
The princess tries to catch a wave with her bright pink board in Nevis
Prince Harry
Prince Harry recently followed in his mother’s footsteps and was pictured expertly surfing at Surf Ranch in Lemoore, California last month.
Professional surfer Raimana Van Bastolaer posted a video of Harry surfing the waves.
Van Bastolaer, who is famous among the surfing community for his big wave activities, captioned the post; ‘In Tahiti we still call you Prince Harry. But at Surf Ranch it’s my brother. It was an honor to have you surf with me and Kelly Slater.”
Harry starts by riding alongside Van Bastolaer’s jet ski and pulls back as soon as the wave starts to appear, before expertly jumping onto the surfboard.
The Duke of Sussex finds his balance and, under the guidance of Van Bastolaer, skillfully tackles the growing wave for almost a minute.
Prince Harry catches a wave at a Surf Ranch in Lemoore, California
A video of the royal family was taken and posted on social media by professional surfer Raimana Van Bastolaer
Prince William
Ten years after the surfing holiday with his mother, William hit the waves again… but not on a Caribbean island.
On the much colder shores of St. Andrews, Scotland, the 22-year-old prince surfed with his friends in 2004.
He was in his final year at St Andrews and according to the BBCsaid at the time: ‘It was a bit like putting your head in the freezer when you go underwater, but the wetsuit I have is pretty good.’
‘I couldn’t feel my hands for about half an hour. After a while they become so numb.”
He added: ‘There is no noise. It’s just you breathing. With the fish you are in a different world.’
William’s affinity for water continued over the years and he even went surfing on his stag do in Devon in 2011.
He reportedly stayed at the family home of his friend George Stucley, and other guests included his Eton friend James Meade and Thomas Van Straubenzee, with whom he attended Ludgrove Prep School.
Jordan Clark, a 17-year-old student at the time, saw William surfing and said, “I didn’t know who it was at first, but then George Stucley came up to me and said, ‘Can you watch out for these guys?’ because they don’t really know what they’re doing?”
‘I looked over and realized it was William. They weren’t very good. They were just paddling for a laugh.”
Prince William, 22, walking along the beach in St. Andrews with two friends in 2004
William rides a wave during his final year at university in Scotland
Prince Charles
It is even known that Charles caught the waves, and the first known footage of the monarch surfing was captured in 1973.
They show the young prince in Constantine Bay, walking along the beach in Cornwall, with a surfboard in his hand.
Dressed in a full-length wetsuit, the royal looked like any other surfer and later became a patron of the British Surfing Association.
He also hosted the British surfing team at Buckingham Palace before they competed in the World Championships in South Africa in 1978.