A prince with a green thumb. A monarch with a stamp collection like no other. And a duchess
who keeps a beehive? Keep watching for more hidden hobbies of the British royal family.
While Queen Elizabeth may be better known for breeding racehorses and her love of Corgis,
she also shares a hobby loved by her grandfather, King George V. Indeed,
the longest reigning British monarch is also the owner of some of the rarest stamps in the world.
Royal expert Phil Dampier told Fabulous Digital that the queen is rather proud of her collection
and enjoys showing it off to Buckingham Palace guests. Dampier also shared that
stamp collecting brings her happiness and joy for a number of reasons, one of which being
that she is carrying on a family tradition, making both her father and grandfather proud.
On May 1st, 1840, the first adhesive stamped Penny Blacks were issued in
the United Kingdom. The Queen once owned 10 of these one-cent stamps dated from the first day
they came into circulation, which was five days after the issuance, but she auctioned
them off in 2001 for a whopping £250,000. One of the most precious stamps currently
found in the Queen's priceless collection is a Mauritian stamp valued at £2 million,
or nearly $2.5 million. Her entire collection is estimated to be worth over £100 million.
Prince Charles' first and foremost passion is gardening. He manages the gardens at his
private residence, Highgrove House, and is also known for his work with the environment.
"My old Aston Martin, which I've had for 51 years,
that runs on — can you believe this — surplus English white wine."
It seems that his affection for horticulture began at a young age.
On a British radio show, the prince recently talked about his time as a child spent in
the garden with his sister, Princess Anne. He shared that the two of them had a small
vegetable garden and had a great time growing all different kinds of vegetables. Prince
Charles also acknowledged the value of eating the food you grow and said that he believes:
"It is so important to find ways of encouraging children to grow vegetables and things at school."
During the interview, which took place at Charles' Welsh home, Llwynywermod,
he explained that he had acquired the land in Wales back in 2008,
and that he likes to spend weekends bringing the grounds back to life by pruning trees and
planting flowers. Charles further revealed that he wished he was more hands-on when
gardening at the property; unfortunately, due to a lack of time and a bad back,
it just doesn't seem to be possible. Nevertheless, he referred to gardening as a "labor of love."
Many royal fans may think of Prince William's brother Harry as the adventurous one,
but it appears that William has that same streak in him. In fact, William's love of
motorcycling stems back to his childhood. He used to ride go-karts when he was a child and then,
from there, he started riding quads, which eventually led him to ride motorcycles.
Prince William has owned quite a few bikes over the years, and in 2010
he ordered a top-of-the-range Ducati superbike, a 2011 Ducati 1198 SP, to add to his collection.
In 2008, Princes William and Harry took part in a strenuous 1,000-mile motorcycle rally
with over 80 other riders in South Africa. The Enduro Africa '08 event raised money for UNICEF,
Nelson Mandela's Children's Fund, and an organization that
assists vulnerable youth in Botswana and Lesotho.
According to NBC News, William said he and Harry decided to participate
because of the "mixture of adventure and charity."
"The pain of spending a week with my brother is well worth it,"
Even today, William still rides motorcycles, but not as often as he once did. In 2018,
William told World Superbike champion Jonathan
Rea that he had put his beloved hobby "on the back-burner," due to his growing family.
In 2021, Kate Middleton visited a group of local school children
at London's Natural History Museum to learn about its Urban Nature Project.
While meeting the kids, she revealed that one of her favorite hobbies is making honey.
The Duchess of Cambridge even shared a jar of her homemade blend that she had made at Anmer Hall,
where she often resides with her children and Prince William. She reportedly told the kids:
"This came specially from my beehive."
Beekeeping certainly seems to be a Middleton family hobby, as she shares her love for homemade
honey with her younger brother, James Middleton, who's also an avid beekeeper. Back in 2020,
James shared an Instagram video of himself with his bees. He wrote:
"I've been a passionate advocate of these ingenious, industrious little creatures
since I became a beekeeper myself nearly a decade ago, having fallen for them as
a child. I now have almost half a million bees in eight hives in a meadow at our family home."
During a 2022 trip to a thrift shop in Ashton-under-Lyne, the Duchess of Cornwall
confessed that she collects royal memorabilia. As she perused the shop, the royal remarked:
"I see you've got a nice jubilee mug.
I am going to buy that. I have a whole collection, believe it or not."
Camilla then bought the bargain mug, which celebrated the Queen's 1977 Jubilee, for £1.50.
The Duchess of Cornwall was attending an annual luncheon at the shop before the Platinum Jubilee.
As she continued touring around the store and rummaging through shelves, she spotted a few
other bargains while chatting with patrons. After spotting a teapot, she was reportedly
heard telling patrons that there was a nice one for the taking for anyone who collected them.
The Duchess of Cornwall also remarked that she wished she had more time to spend in the shop.
In 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle appeared on the "Teenager
Therapy" podcast to mark World Mental Health Day and, during their chat,
revealed that meditation had become a big part of their life. Harry shared that he never thought he
would be a person who meditates, but claimed it has become an essential part of his everyday life.
Most of the influence is from his wife, who has been a devoted Yogi throughout her adult life.
The former senior royal disclosed that he utilizes meditation to deal with negativity in the press
and social media abuse, and explained that meditating had given him a lot of clarity.
While speaking about his hobby, Prince Harry added:
"The importance of creating a moment and taking that time in your day to
just take a breath [...] that builds up a certain amount of resilience."
Long before Meghan Markle married Prince Harry and became the Duchess of Sussex, she was known
to be a skilled calligrapher. While chatting with Esquire back in 2013, the actress told
the outlet that she had picked up the hobby while attending a handwriting class in Catholic school.
Markle didn't wait tables as many struggling actors do before getting their big break,
as her handy hobby actually paid the bills during the early stages of her acting career.
"Oh, look at that." "Look at that."
"Oh, look at that." "Do tell."
She even had some high-profile clients, including Dolce & Gabbana and Robin Thicke and Paula Patton.
In an exclusive interview with Entertainment Tonight, Patton recalled Markle's calligraphy
skills, remembering that she had beautiful writing. Winnie Park, the CEO of crafts
retailer Paper Source, also told People magazine that Markle had been a part-time employee of the
Beverly Hills stores from 2004 to 2005. Park stated Markle taught calligraphy to customers
during a two-hour class. And Markle still shows off her calligraphy skills every now and again:
in 2021, she sent handwritten personal notes to women in the U.K. who were
trying to return to the workplace, wishing all of them good luck on their job hunting.
During a 2020 trip to Galway, in Ireland, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge spoke about her
children's hobbies. While the pair were touring the city, a local band performed for the couple.
After their performance Kate Middleton chatted with the group and shared that
her eldest son had started taking guitar lessons.
Also in Ireland, the Duke and Duchess watched a number of gymnasts perform. Afterwards,
Kate told the gymnasts that Charlotte had been taking gymnastics, saying:
"She's doing cartwheels, handstands, everything.
It's so good for their basic skills of balance and coordination."
Additionally, Charlotte and George share a love of tennis. According
to a 2019 article published by Hello Magazine,
the siblings were taking lessons at the Hurlingham Club, a private members-only club in London.
Growing up, Princess Diana had many hobbies, including ballet, skiing, playing the piano,
tennis, and swimming. One of her childhood hobbies turned into a daily hobby when she married Prince
Charles. Diana always had a jam-packed schedule with all eyes on her as part of the royal family;
however, she always managed to carve out some time to decompress.
Every morning, Princess Diana would swim to relieve her stress.
Royal expert Stewart Pearce told Us Weekly in 2021 that Diana "was always in water."
Pearce also said that Princess Diana would get up early and spend her mornings swimming
at least 20 laps at Buckingham Palace. Swimming in the mornings was a habitual routine for Princess
Diana — so much so that she would also put in time at the pool when she vacationed.
When Princess Diana and Prince Charles divorced, she stopped swimming at Buckingham Palace,
and it was hard for her to find anywhere to swim privately. Because of the endless paparazzi,
she also didn't like going to her gym to swim, either.
This was unfortunate because, as a close friend reportedly told Yahoo!:
"Swimming gave her the elusive peace she was always searching
for — even if it was only for a few minutes a day."