‘The sport of kings’: How polo became a family tradition for Prince William and Prince Harry

By Suzanne Wintrob, with files from Zach Harper

Adapted from Hello! Canada, issue 671

If you’re a royal, polo and family go hand in, er, hoof.

With polo season firmly under way, Prince William and Prince Harry both jumped back in the saddle for a charity match at Billingbear Polo Club in Wokingham, Berkshire. It’s a sport the competitive brothers have been tackling since they were boys, whether as teammates or opponents – and with completely different styles.

“Polo is often a reflection of your personality,” international polo champion Malcolm Borwick has said in describing his two friends. “Prince Harry is by nature very optimistic as a person and always pushing boundaries, always challenging people, and that’s how he plays polo. Prince William is a defensive player. He’s very controlled and plays really well in his role in the back.”

Judging by their bright smiles after their Wokingham match, it’s clear that the brothers have inherited their ancestors’ zeal for a game dubbed the “sport of kings.” The men of the British Royal Family live up to polo’s colloquial moniker, with William and Harry the latest in a long line of Mountbatten-Windsors who, from an early age, gravitated to a sport that originated in Persia and reached the British Empire via India in the 19th century.

Click through the gallery to see more photos of royal princes through the ages playing polo, and to learn more about how they learned!

Photo: © Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

The princes both saddled up as children and inherited a passion for polo from their dad, Prince Charles, who learned it from his father, Prince Philip, who watched his father-in-law, King George VI (pictured above, in 1932), play, and so on.

Photo: © Fox Photos/Getty Images

According to Josh Roberts, editor-in-chief of PoloWeekly.com, Prince Philip (pictured, left) took to the sport while stationed in Malta following the Second World War. His uncle, Earl Mountbatten of Burma (right), taught him how to play and even authored one of the game’s earliest books, An Introduction to Polo, under the pun-intended pen name of Marco.

Photo: © Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

“By the end of the war, Philip was set in his ways to bring the sport back to England, where he formed the Windsor Park team and eventually the Guards Polo Club,” says Josh of the now-98-year-old duke. “He continued playing until the age of 50, when arthritis took over and he had to retire from the game. But the love of sport never left his side and from there he took on competitive four-in-hand carriage driving, which he continues to compete in today.”

Photo: © AFP/Getty Images

Here, Charles and his mother, the Queen, watch Philip play polo in 1956.

Photo: © Hulton Archive/Getty Images

There's of course been a long tradition of royal children watching their fathers play polo. Charles (left) and Princess Anne (centre) seemed very enthralled by the match, which took place at Windsor Great Park that year.

Photo: © Jack Esten/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

About a decade later, Charles was playing polo himself! Here, he takes part in the Combermere Cup at Windsor Great Park in 1967.

Photo: © Leonard Burt/Central Press/Getty Images

Charles received his first mallet when he was 15 – from his dad, of course – along with a polo pony named San Quinina, and began competing a few years later.

Photo: © Tim Graham Picture Library via Getty Images

Along with hunting, polo was one of Charles’s favourite pasttimes despite many injuries suffered on the field. His then-wife, Princess Diana, delighted in cheering him on and giving him kisses as she presented his team with their hard-earned trophies.

Photo: © Anwar Hussein/Getty Images

Charles and Diana’s daughter-in-law, Duchess Meghan, did the same last year when Harry’s team won a Sentebale polo match in Windsor.

Photo: © Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Interestingly, it was polo that revived the romance of Charles and Camilla. In 1975, Britain’s most eligible royal heir stumbled upon Camilla Shand, a lively socialite he had dated a few years earlier, at a match in Cirencester Park Polo Club. They were both 23. That chance encounter – to be recreated on the upcoming season of The Crown - initiated an on-off romance that spanned decades. The two finally married in 2005 and now sit side-by-side whenever they take in polo with their children and grandchildren.

Photo: © Serge Lemoine/Getty Images

Despite his many injuries, Charles thought he would go “stark staring mad” if he didn’t play and refused to retire until he was 57.

Photo: © Antony Jones/UK Press via Getty Images

Like Charles, William and Harry learned polo from their father from an early age.

Photo: © Getty Images

Prior to that, they attended matches to watch their dad with their mom, Diana, and their grandmother, the Queen.

Photo: © Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images

Social activists William and Harry used to suit up for polo half a dozen times a year. But lately, they’ve been forced to pull back on the reins as they’ve expanded their families and taken on additional duties on behalf of the Queen.

Photo: © Anwar Hussein Collection/ROTA/Getty Images

William and Harry now play just a few times a year – and only to raise funds for worthy causes. They’ve raised millions through polo (like their father did in his polo heyday), with this year’s goal set at £1 million per match.

Photo: © Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Harry achieved that a few days after baby Archie Harrison was born, taking a quick trip to Rome to compete in the annual Sentebale Polo Cup to raise money for HIV/AIDS-affected children in Africa.

Photo: © Chris Jackson/Getty Images for St Regis Hotel & Resorts

Getting enough practice isn’t always easy given the royals’ busy calendars. As game day approaches, the princes have been known to nip to Cirencester Park, Beaufort Polo Club, Cowdray Park Polo Club and others near their homes to boost their physical strength. William, like his dad, has the disadvantage of being left-handed. The sport’s official rules state that all players must play right-handed for safety reasons, so he had to switch it up when he started competing as a child.

Photo: © UK Press via Getty Images

While William has spoken of trying to get his children into soccer and tennis, it’s too early to know whether his or Harry’s offspring will inherit their dads’ polo prowess. Still, Prince George did receive his first polo mallet at age one (a birthday present from then-U.S. President Barack Obama). And at William’s most recent match, the rambunctious young royal had a blast swinging a mallet around – with his left hand! – while patient Kate tried her best to settle him.

As a future monarch, the “sport of kings” is clearly within George’s reach.

Photo: © Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images