Temperatures are on the up this weekend, with many of us looking for some cool relief by visiting our local swimming pools and lidos. If Queen Camilla and King Charles find themselves in need of a dip while at their London mainstay home, they are in luck.
Clarence House is situated just 0.4 miles from Buckingham Palace, where the royal couple have access to a private swimming pool. The pool has long been a favourite spot for the royal family.
The private pool at Buckingham Palace
© GC ImagesThe palace features a private swimming pool
It was originally commissioned in 1938 by Charles’ grandfather, King George VI, who wanted to ensure the privacy of his daughters, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, who had been having swimming lessons at the Bath Club.
Later, Sophie Winkleman, the wife of Lord Frederick Windsor and former Peep Show actress, confirmed the Buckingham Palace pool was very much still in use in an interview with Tatler. Sophie detailed how the late Queen Elizabeth II insisted she use the pool to recover from a car accident injury.
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After admitting to the late Queen that her physiotherapy wasn’t working, the late monarch replied: “We can’t have that. You have to go in the water.”
© Chris Jackson/Getty ImagesThe Queen told Sophie Winkleman that she could use the pool at Buckingham Palace
Sophie continued: “She told us that when horses had broken backs, they swam, and so she let me use her pool at Buckingham Palace. That’s the reason I got better. It was so typically thoughtful.”
Open to staff
Although the pool is often used by senior royals, including Prince William and Kate, it is also open for use by members of the Staff Sports Club, provided it doesn’t clash with one of the royals’ swims.
© GettyQueen Camilla has access to the private pool at Buckingham Palace
“The rule is that if a staff member is swimming and one of the Royals appears, they have to get out, unless invited to remain, which often happens,” Brian Hoey explained in his book, Not In Front of the Corgis: Secrets Of Life Behind The Royal Curtains.
“If, when the staff member turns up, a Royal is already in the pool, the servant, and this includes senior members such as the Private Secretary or Keeper of the Privy Purse, will not attempt to join them.”
A dip at Highgrove
Meanwhile, Queen Camilla could cool off with a light swim if she and Charles were to go to Highgrove House this bank holiday weekend. King Charles’ private country estate in the Cotswolds also features an outdoor swimming pool surrounded by a wildflower garden.
© GettyPrince Charles and Prince Harry by the swimming pool at Highgrove
An unearthed snap of a young Prince Harry from when he was a toddler shows him and Charles strolling alongside the pool on a summer’s day. At the time, the pool was lined with a white picket fence and a wall of shrubbery.