Have you ever thought about how royal deaths hit us so hard? Whether they are taken from us early like Princess Diana or live a full life like Queen Elizabeth, royal deaths can hit like a punch to the gut.
Why is that, though? One explanation is that we associate the Royal Family with a kind of untouchability. With all that wealth, power, and influence, it’s difficult to imagine anything bad ever happening.
With that being said, the Royal Family has gotten into some downright bizarre injuries over time. Just what are these weird injuries, and how did they happen? Keep reading to discover the answer!
Prince William’s freaky head injury
Prince William is the future King of England. And since he is relatively young and healthy, it’s difficult to imagine him facing something as harrowing as a skull fracture.
Nonetheless, that’s exactly what happened when William was younger. According to the Associated Press, William was only eight years old when he was struck in the head by a golf club. He endured a skull fracture but fully recovered, and Princess Diana was by his side the entire time as he mended.
This left the young prince with a permanent scar. Instead of hiding it, though, the adult William sometimes shows it off to youngsters in the hospital to help bond with them. And the Daily Mail reports William jokingly calls this his “Harry Potter scar.”
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Charles, the pirate king?
The sight of a younger Charles sporting an eyepatch may evoke more the image of a pirate than a king. Nonetheless, the story of how Charles ended up with an eyepatch is even stranger than the sight of him wearing one.
Charles, as you may or may not know, is a skilled gardener who likes to tend the garden himself instead of leaving it to professional staff. However, this love of gardening backfired in 2001. That’s when Hello! Magazine reports that a cloud of sawdust landed in Charles’ eye while he was cutting a tree.
Fortunately, Charles not only made a full recovery, but his love of gardening remained fully intact.
Kate Middleton’s mysterious injuries
When it comes to royal injuries, Kate Middleton has seemingly sustained a few of them. Unlike other royals, though, she plays it mysterious what caused her wounds.
Several times in the past, Kate has been seen with adhesive bandages around her fingers. This inspired enough speculation that Buckingham Palace eventually spoke on the matter. As Wales Online reports, the palace simply said “No comment.”
Chances are Kate just burned herself cooking, but she has a history of keeping her injuries under wraps (so to speak). For example, she has a similar scar to William’s on her left temple that she didn’t want to talk about. But after tabloids started claiming this was from a hair extension, E! News reports that Middleton issued a statement via a spokesperson that this was simply an old surgical scar.
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Camilla and the broken toe
We can probably all agree there is never a good time to break your toe. However, Camilla Parker-Bowles discovered that some times are more inconvenient than others. For example, when you suddenly have to become Queen Consort of an entire monarchy!
People reports that Camilla has been dealing with a broken toe. This was apparent when she stumbled as she left a ceremony honoring the deceased Queen Elizabeth. We don’t yet know what caused Camilla’s broken toe, but we have to applaud her for handling such a major life transition while nursing a broken toe.
Prince Philip: from polo injuries to mystery wounds
So far, we have focused on royals who either speak plainly about their injuries or try to keep them secret. The late Prince Philip, complicated as he was, managed to do a bit of both.
According to Sky News, Philip’s love of Polo resulted in several injuries over the years. These were very public injuries that Philip endured while he was an award-winning polo player in the 1960s. However, these injuries eventually led to arthritis, and Philip retired from the sport back in 1971.
Later in life, Philip’s injuries took on a more mysterious nature. As reported by The Daily Mail, Philip in 2015 was seen with black eyes on multiple occasions, as well as butterfly stitches on his ear. This led to speculation that Philip had injured himself falling down, which in turn led to further speculation about his health.
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Queen Elizabeth’s shocking injuries
Queen Elizabeth lived and ruled far longer than most people ever expected she would. Her reign wasn’t without trouble, though. For example, behind the scenes, she had to deal with some very unexpected injuries.
As an example, the Queen’s love of corgis really backfired on her back in 1991. As reported by My London, that was the year Elizabeth personally broke up a fight between her dogs. The result was a wound that needed three stitches to heal.
After that, the Queen left breaking up fights to her dog trainer, but she still got injured in other unexpected ways. For instance, in 1994, the Queen fell off her horse. The Independent reports that the Queen got up and thought that everything was fine at first. It was only after getting a medical examination the next day she discovered that she had a fractured wrist!
Rather than let this slow her down, Elizabeth dubbed the injury nothing more than an inconvenience and turned down a sling to rock a blue scarf instead. The message to the world was clear: it would take more than a broken wrist to slow Elizabeth down!