The British royal family has revealed a surprising fact about King Charles III.
On 29 September, the 74-year-old monarch paid an announced visit to the Global Underwater Hub in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. During his trip, King Charles checked out exhibits demonstrating underwater diving technology, underwater 3D image capturing, and eco-friendly artificial reefs.
To commemorate the visit, the royal family shared a unique detail about Charles that some royal fans may not know. Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, the royal family wrote: “Did you know that The King is the first British monarch to be a qualified diver?”
The royal family also posted several throwback photos of Charles diving over the years, wearing a red scuba suit decked out with diving equipment. According to the royal family, the then-Prince Charles undertook a half-hour dive under Arctic ice at Resolute Bay, Canada, in 1975.
“Years later, the King dived underwater onto the Mary Rose, Henry VIII’s warship, nine times before it was raised from the seabed in 1982,” they added, showing another image of young Charles’ diving excursions.
Many royal fans were shocked by the interesting tidbit, as one X user replied: “I didn’t know that, very interesting!”
“Oh wow, I really did not know that,” another person said. “Diving under ice is definitely something I could and would not do.”
“That’s an impressive royal first! Exploring under Arctic ice is definitely a unique dive for a monarch,” a third fan wrote.
Apparently scuba diving runs in the royal family. Charles’ father, the Duke of Edinburgh, served as president of the British Sub-Aqua Club from 1960 to 1963. According to the scuba diving club, Prince Philip “felt strongly about the potential of the underwater world” and the “role that diving could play in advancing science and our understanding of the sea”.
He first swam underwater in 1937 and learned how to dive with lessons taught in the swimming pool at Buckingham Palace. Prince Philip also made sure there were two Navy divers on the Royal Yacht to act as underwater escorts when he was able to go diving.
Much like his father, King Charles passed his affinity for diving on to his own two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry. During their visit to Belize last year, the Prince and Princess of Wales shared footage of a private scuba dive they took at South Water Caye.
The video showed Prince William and Kate Middleton donning scuba gear to go diving at the second-largest barrier reef in the world. The pair were seen swimming alongside each other as they gave the “OK” hand signal and viewed coral and marine life.
Meanwhile, Prince Harry went scuba diving with US Navy veteran Gabriel George in Hawaii in November 2022.
