The British royal family has an illustrious history of competing in and supporting the Olympics, here is a rundown of their participation through the decades.
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The Royal Olympic Connection
London holds the record for serving as an Olympic host city: in 1908, 1948, and 2012. In 1956 Prince Phillip opened the games in Melbourne and in 1976 Queen Elizabeth opened the games in Montreal. In 1952 Queen Elizabeth was the patron of the British Olympic Association.
King Edward VII opened the games on April 27, 1908, at White City Stadium in London, and in 1948 King George VI opened the London Games.
Royal Family News: Princess Anne Competed at the 1976 Olympics
In 1976 Princess Anne became the first British royal to participate at the Olympic games. She competed in the three-day equestrian event after winning gold at the 1971 European Championships.
Anne rode the Queen’s horse, Goodwill, prompting royal expert Hugo Vickers to quip: ““[Princess Anne] said it was a unique instance in equestrian history when the Queen had bred not only the horse, but also the rider.”
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Unfortunately, Anne fell off Goodwill and suffered a concussion preventing her from finishing the competition.
At the time she said “I don’t remember anything at all after the fall” which is eerily reminiscent of her recent comment following an equestrian related fall and concussion on the grounds of her estate.
Queen Elizabeth Teamed With Daniel Craig
The opening for the London 2012 Olympic Games saw Queen Elizabeth partner with James Bond actor Daniel Craig.
The two filmed an iconic viral video which “showed the Queen and Craig supposedly entering a helicopter which rode across London and adoring Olympics fans. A stunt double Queen-lookalike then jumped out of the helicopter with Craig to land in the Olympic Stadium.”
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According to Time, minutes later “the real Queen, dressed identically to her stunt double, entered the stadium to officially open the ceremony.” As you can imagine the crowds loved it!
Zara Tindall Competes at the 2012 Olympics
Princess Anne’s daughter Zara Tindall followed in her mom’s footsteps at the 2012 London Olympics. Zara won a silver medal with her team, riding her horse High Kingdom.
Who will attend the Olympics this year? Experts believe that the royals may attend the final games that Team GB are part of. Then again, the royals have been known to make surprise appearances at the Games, as QEII’s hilarious Bond-like skit shows.
Be sure to catch up on everything happening with the royal family. Come back here often for royal family news and updates.
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