Sophie Wessex, Princess Diana and Sarah Ferguson have all been injured while skiing
From Princess Beatrice and the Duchess of York to Prince William and Princess Kate, the royal family are known for being great skiers. But anyone who has taken to the slopes knows that being competent on skis doesn't mean you're immune from injury.
In fact, many of the royal family, including Princess Diana, Lady Louise Windsor and the Countess of Wessex have all found themselves injured when skiing.
WATCH: Prince Harry and King Charles take to the slopes in sweet father-son moment
Read on to find out about the scary accidents which saw the royals bruised and bandaged following skiing mishaps.
Sophie Wessex's skiing injury
The Countess of Wessex is unfortunate enough to have suffered two injuries on the slopes. She first took a tumble back in 2000, when she was 35 years old.
Though an accomplished skier, Sophie Wessex has suffered a couple of snow injuries
At the time she was working at the public relations firm she founded, and was photographed returning to work on crutches following a nasty fall.
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In 2004, the then 39-year-old returned to the UK on crutches once more after pulling a muscle in her right leg while skiing.
The Countess of Wessex used crutches to support her following a skiing accident
The exact details of Sophie's accident are not known, but it was reported that visibility was poor when she got hurt. The mother-of-two declined the offer of a stretcher, insisting that she could make her own way to a doctor.
READ: Sophie Wessex's nasty accident almost made her miss crucial royal event
"The Countess pulled a calf muscle but it is not serious," revealed her spokeswoman. "She was checked out by a doctor and discharged after 20 minutes. Fortunately, nothing was broken."
Lady Louise's fractured leg
Like mother, like daughter, and Sophie Wessex's daughter Lady Louise Windsor's fun was cut short after she suffered a nasty accident while skiing in Switzerland in 2018.
Lady Louise Windsor was injured skiing when she was 14
Lady Louise, who was 14 at the time, was on holiday in St Moritz with her parents Prince Edward and the Countess of Wessex, and her younger brother James, Viscount Severn, and was pictured walking on crutches.
According to the , the young royal took a tumble and is believed to have fractured her left leg.
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Louise, who was enjoying the start of her half-term break in the upmarket Swiss town, was seen being assisted by resort staff as she navigated the icy paths.
King Charles' near miss
Perhaps the most terrifying skiing accident, King Charles narrowly escaped an avalanche on 10 March 1988 and was airlifted off the slope.
While he was unscathed, his friend and former equerry to the Queen, Major Hugh Lindsay, was killed.
King Charles had a near miss during a ski holiday in Switzerland
Another of Charles's friends, Patricia Palmer-Tomkinson, was also injured by the sudden snow slide.
Neither the late Princess of Wales nor the Duchess of York, who were also on the skiing holiday, were on the mountain when the avalanche occurred. They were both in the royal party's chalet in Davos.
Sarah Ferguson's chipped bone
Ten years on from the tragic ski accident, 1998 saw the Duchess of York chip a bone while skiing in Verbier with her daughter, Princess Eugenie, who was seven at the time.
Sarah Ferguson was left bruised following a ski accident
A spokeswoman for the Duchess said she was in considerable pain, with the injured right shoulder "very badly bruised" as well as chipped.
"There's no great cause for alarm - the Duchess is very tough and expects to stay in Verbier with her children," the spokeswoman added, before sharing that ever the trooper, the Duchess "picked herself up and skied on down," after an awkward fall.
READ: Sarah Ferguson's complicated surgery following childhood injury – all the details
Sarah saw a doctor and went to hospital for an X-ray after the accident, but the injury was not serious enough to force her to cut short the holiday.
DID YOU KNOW? Sarah Ferguson and Sophie Wessex's surprising shared sporting passion
Princess Diana's torn tendons
It was reported that when she was 18, Princess Diana went skiing in the French Alps and fell badly on the ski slopes, tearing all the tendons in her left ankle.
Painful though the injury was, it was the fact that the mishap put an end to Diana's hopes to become a dance teacher.
Princess Diana's ski injury changed her life plan
"For three months she was in and out of plaster as the tendons slowly healed. It marked the end of her aspirations as a dance teacher," Andrew Morton wrote of the injury in Diana: Her True Story - In Her Own Words.
Thankfully Princes William and Harry, who have been skiing since childhood, have escaped the slopes unscathed. Princess Kate is a keen skier too, recently taking Prince George and Louis and Princess Charlotte on ski holidays.
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