Royal visit 2016: Keep calm and adventure on
The royal family paddles, hikes, bikes and skiis—sometimes even for work
The Duke and the Duchess of Cambridge wave to the crowds as they take part in a ceremony at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on Thursday, June 30, 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
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Members of the royal family like nothing better than being active outdoors, and often the more extreme the situation, the better. Sometimes the adventures are even work-related.
Princess Anne has trekked to refugee camps in remote, dangerous locales in the 46 years she has served as president of Save the Children. Her sister-in-law, Sophie, just finished a 720-km cycling trip for the Duke of Edinburgh Awards. Prince Harry spent considerable time taking part in the rough-and-tumble work of wildlife conservation in Africa.
The Queen, 90, famously goes for long walks in the rough hilly terrain of her Scottish estate of Balmoral, oblivious to the horizontal rain and buzzing midges. Her 95-year-old husband, Philip, still competes in the sometimes-dangerous sport of carriage racing. Their son, Charles, thinks nothing of clambering up a steep path to paint one of his famous watercolours.
Sometimes it becomes a passion. In 1977, Prince Andrew canoed 800 km down the Coppermine River to the Arctic Ocean while a student here. He has regularly returned for long paddling trips in the territories with his school friends.