At 75, King Charles appears to be in fine fettle. His wife, Queen Camilla, even went so far as to say that her husband is "probably the fittest man of his age I know".
So it came as a surprise on Monday when the monarch said something insinuating he's not as sprightly as we might think.
During a visit to the Australian National Botanic Gardens, a young royal fan asked King Charles his favourite sport, to which the King replied: "I can't do much now, too many injuries," before referencing his love of polo in his younger years, joking: "I used to sit on a horse."
© GettyQuite the understatement, King Charles was a skilled polo player, but he's not lying when he said he found himself injured on several occasions, with one incident leaving him with back pain for life.
The accident, which distressed a young Prince Harry, took place in August 2001. King Charles was knocked unconscious and taken to hospital when his horse threw him off during a polo match.
He was stretchered off and taken by ambulance to hospital as a precautionary measure, and the Duke of Sussex wrote in Spare that his father would hang upside down at home to ease the pain that he was left in.
His 2001 ordeal was not King Charles' first polo run-in, though.
© Getty ImagesIn 1980 he was thrown and kicked by his pony during a polo match at Windsor and needed six stitches. A two-inch crescent scar on his left cheek bore witness to the incident.
1980 transpired to be an unlucky polo year for the then Prince, who collapsed at the end of a game in Florida and had to be put on a saline drip.
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On another occasion he was hit in the throat during the game, causing him to lose his voice for 10 days.
In 1990, the royal broke his right arm in a fall during a polo match, then two years later he had an operation to repair torn cartilage in his left knee following another polo mishap.
© GettyIn 1993 he was hurt once again during a game at Windsor, aggravating an old back injury.
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He sought treatment again in 1998, undergoing laser keyhole surgery on his right knee cartilage due to wear and tear from years of sport and exercise.
He eventually retired from the game in 2005 – and we can see why!
