They may be among the most photographed families in the world, but even royals need a break from the spotlight. Away from their palaces and official duties, royal dynasties have long embraced the art of escape, from sun-soaked beach retreats and pastoral countryside getaways to snowy ski resorts and theme parks. We've gathered a remarkable collection of candid photographs spanning over a century of royal getaways, offering a rare and intimate look behind the crown.
Click or scroll on to explore unforgettable holiday moments from some of the world's most iconic royal families...
Pictured here in the penultimate year of her reign, Queen Victoria sits on a picnic blanket with four of her great-grandchildren at Osborne House, her holiday home on the Isle of Wight. The stoic monarch, who ruled Britain for 63 years, bought the property in 1845 as a bucolic escape from the pressures of royal life.
After demolishing and rebuilding the estate in the Italianate style, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert holidayed here every year. Its royal guests transformed the Isle of Wight into a popular tourist destination, and the architecture of the monarch's holiday home was replicated across the island.
This photograph captures Prince Juan, Prince Gonzalo and Princess Maria Cristina of Spain on the beach in Santander, the capital of the Spanish region of Cantabria, where they spent their summer holiday in 1922. It would be one of the last few holidays that the young royals would spend in their home nation.
After years of mounting political turmoil, their father, King Alfonso XIII, fled the country with his family in 1931, on the same day the monarchy was replaced with the Second Spanish Republic. When the monarchy was officially reinstated in 1975 following the death of dictator Francisco Franco, Prince Juan's son, Juan Carlos I, ascended the throne.
In September 1928, the Greek and Romanian royal families holidayed together in Mamaia, a beach resort on Romania's Black Sea. Pictured here from left to right are Princess Theodora of Greece and Denmark, King Michael of Romania, who became monarch at the age of five, his mother Princess Helen, Princesses Irene and Margarita of Greece and Denmark and Princes Philip and Paul of Greece and Denmark.
Prince Philip, who was exiled from Greece at just 18 months old following a military coup, would go on to become a key part of the British royal family. In 1947, he was made a naturalised British citizen and renounced his royal title to marry Princess Elizabeth, who would become Queen Elizabeth II in 1952.
Queen Astrid, formerly Sweden’s Crown Princess, became Queen of Belgium in 1934 upon the accession of her husband, King Leopold III. The Queen is shown here in 1935 sledding with her young daughter, Princess Joséphine-Charlotte, in the affluent ski resort of St. Moritz in Switzerland. The country was a favourite holiday destination of the royals, and this was likely one of the first holidays the family took together after King Leopold was crowned.
The royals returned to Switzerland for a summer holiday the same year. During the trip, Queen Astrid tragically lost her life in a motorcar accident near Lake Lucerne.
Surrounded by beautiful alpine vistas, Crown Prince Umberto of Italy and Crown Princess Marie-José are photographed here in 1939 on holiday in the mountainous Italian region of South Tyrol. Bundled up in mittens and a scarf, the Crown Princess holds their son, Prince Vittorio Emanuele, while their daughter, Princess Maria Pia, stands alongside her father.
Seven years later, the Crown Prince would become King Umberto II; however, he ruled for only 34 days. Shortly after he was crowned, a public vote abolished the monarchy and made Italy a republic. Umberto was exiled to Portugal, and male heirs of the royal family were barred from entering Italy. The ban was finally lifted in 2002.
In 1947, British King George VI took his wife, Queen Elizabeth, and their daughters, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, on a three-month royal tour of South Africa. The expansive itinerary encompassed 400 cities and 10,000 miles (16,094km) of travel.
Amid the busy schedule, the royal family took a four-day break from official duties to relax and unwind in private in Natal National Park in the province now known as KwaZulu-Natal. This image of King George and Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret captures their downtime. The royals reportedly stayed in a hostel at the foot of the Drakensberg mountain range and enjoyed a long weekend of walking, climbing and fishing.
By 1960, when this photo was taken, Princess Elizabeth had ascended the throne to become Queen Elizabeth II. The monarch is shown here eight years into her reign, relaxing on a picnic blanket with her husband, Prince Philip, and their children, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Charles, at her Balmoral estate in the Scottish Highlands.
A grand rural home, Balmoral was widely regarded as the late Queen’s favourite royal residence. Each summer, she would retreat there with her family, finding peace in the natural landscapes. She was known to cherish the simple pleasures of the countryside, often spending her days on long Highland walks or horseback rides.
American movie star Grace Kelly left behind the bright lights of Hollywood in 1956 when she married Prince Rainier III of Monaco, the ruler of a small European principality that borders France.
Princess Grace of Monaco is pictured here six years after her marriage to the sovereign on a skiing holiday in Switzerland. Seated in a fur-lined sleigh, the beautiful timber chalets of Gstaad, one of the most prestigious ski resort towns in the Swiss Alps, rise behind her. Princess Grace is said to have loved the great outdoors, and ski trips to Gstaad became a tradition for the royal family.
This candid photo from 1964 captures Prince Albert and Princess Paola of Belgium relaxing on the sand in Forte dei Marmi, a coastal town in the picturesque Italian region of Tuscany, with their children, Princess Astrid and Prince Philippe. Princess Paola was born in Forte dei Marmi to one of the oldest families of the Italian nobility and spent her formative years in Rome. The royal family regularly returned to her beloved homeland for holidays.
King Albert II of Belgium ascended the throne in 1993, before abdicating his title in 2013 due to ill health. His eldest son, Prince Philippe, took his place and has been Belgium's ruling monarch ever since.
Princess Margaret, sister of the late British Queen Elizabeth II, had a well-documented love of travel. In 1949, at the age of 19, she embarked on a solo trip around Europe, taking in the sights of Capri, Naples and Paris. Italy quickly became a favourite destination, and she would visit the country many times throughout her life.
Following her marriage to Lord Snowdon in 1960, Margaret and her new husband travelled extensively and took a private holiday to Italy in the summer of 1968. In this image, Princess Margaret is captured with a camera in hand, taking photographs of the iconic Leaning Tower of Pisa and the ornate Pisa Cathedral, which stands adjacent.
Photographed here in March 1974, the Monaco royal family took a private trip to Rome to take in the Italian capital's historic landmarks. Behind the group stand the ruins of the Roman Forum, once the bustling heart of political and commercial life in ancient Rome, dating back to the 7th century BC.
On the left is Prince Rainier III of Monaco, accompanied by his wife, Princess Grace. Their youngest daughter, Princess Stéphanie, is just visible on the far left, while teenage Princess Caroline and Prince Albert, Monaco's future ruler, stand in the centre. Tragically, just eight years after this photo was taken, Princess Grace died in a car accident.
A year after the Spanish monarchy was reinstated in 1975, the royal family was captured enjoying some downtime at Marivent Palace, their summer residence in Palma, the capital of the Spanish island of Mallorca. Pictured here in coordinating blue outfits are King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía alongside their children, Prince Felipe, Infanta Elena and Infanta Cristina.
While King Juan Carlos abdicated the throne amid corruption allegations in 2014, the 1920s estate is still said to be Emeritus Queen Sofía's favourite, and her children and grandchildren continue to gather there for the summer holidays.
Four years later, the Spanish royal family is pictured here at a port in Mallorca in the summer of 1980. Behind them are rows of sailing boats – spending time on the open water has always been a key part of the royals' holidays. It was here that Prince Felipe, now King Felipe VI, and his sisters learned to sail.
This favourite family pastime has led to athletic success for the royals. In 1972, King Juan Carlos competed in sailing at the Munich Olympic Games. Following in his father's footsteps, Prince Felipe was also a member of the Spanish sailing team at the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992.
A year after they began dating, Britain's Prince Charles – now King Charles III – and Lady Diana Spencer were married in 1981, in a televised ceremony hailed as "the wedding of the century". As the newly titled Prince and Princess of Wales, they embarked on an elaborate honeymoon that included a two-week Mediterranean cruise, ending with a stay at Balmoral, the royal family’s estate in the Scottish Highlands.
Though intended as a private getaway, the honeymoon included several press photocalls. In this image, the couple is seen posing for photographers by the River Dee, which flows through Balmoral. According to royal biographer Andrew Morton, their time in the Highlands was spent taking long walks through the hills surrounding the estate.
In January 1985, Prince Charles and Princess Diana enjoyed a skiing holiday in the quiet mountain village of Malbun near Liechtenstein’s capital, Vaduz. The couple is believed to have previously stayed at the small resort, where Diana reportedly learned to ski. Frequently pursued by the press, they're said to have preferred Malbun’s seclusion to the royals’ usual haunt of Klosters in Switzerland, which was often swarmed by photographers.
At the start of their holiday, the Prince and Princess of Wales were photographed here on the slopes alongside the Crown Prince and Princess of Liechtenstein.
Two European dynasties came together in 1987, when the British and Spanish royal families spent the summer together. Former King Juan Carlos of Spain hosted Prince Charles, Princess Diana and their sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, at Marivent Palace in Mallorca.
In this image, the families are seen gathered on the palace steps during a photocall. A young Prince Harry was said to have been especially fond of the Spanish royals’ dog and delighted in following it around the grounds. The two families were known to share a warm relationship, with the Waleses returning to Marivent Palace for several summer visits in the years that followed.
In 1989, the Prince and Princess of Wales decided to stay a little closer to home. Pictured here, the royal couple take their young sons on a bike ride during a private holiday on the Scilly Isles. The family stayed on the island of Tresco, part of the archipelago located off the coast of Cornwall in the southwest of England.
The freehold of Tresco is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, a private estate that provides an income to the heir of the British throne. When this photograph was taken, that title belonged to Prince Charles, but since his ascension to the throne, Prince William has now inherited the Duchy estate.
In the glare of the public eye, a typical beach holiday was hardly an option for Princess Diana and her sons in 1990. Enter billionaire Richard Branson, who invited the Princess and her sons to stay on Necker Island, his 74-acre (30ha) private retreat in the British Virgin Islands. Renting out the entire island offered the royal a rare level of seclusion and privacy.
Diana is pictured here enjoying the beach with her sons and her sister's children. She had visited Necker the year before, but this time around, she brought along her mother, her two older sisters and their children, turning the trip into a relaxed family affair.
In August of the same year, Princess Diana and Prince Charles set off on a sun-drenched cruise around Mallorca aboard King Juan Carlos of Spain’s yacht. Joined by their sons, the British royals are pictured here in distinguished company. Alongside Queen Sofía and her daughters, Infanta Elena and Infanta Cristina, the gathering also included Queen Sofía’s brother, King Constantine II of Greece and Denmark, his wife, Queen Anne-Marie, and two of their children, Princess Theodora and Prince Philippos.
The British and Greek royal families have a long-standing bond. The late King Constantine was godfather to Prince William, while King Charles is godfather to Crown Prince Pavlos.
Less than a year after separating from Prince Charles, Princess Diana took her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, to Florida's Walt Disney World Resort in August 1993 with a select group of family friends. The trio stayed in a luxurious suite of rooms in the Grand Floridan Resort & Spa and feasted on Disney classics, including Mickey-shaped waffles.
Here, Princess Diana is pictured at the back of a log flume car on the iconic Disney World ride Splash Mountain, while Prince Harry sits at the front. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have since recreated the special trip with their own children, Archie and Lilibet.
Three years after the tragic death of their mother, Princess Diana, Prince William and Prince Harry returned to Klosters with their father. This snap, taken in 2000, captures the trio pausing on the slopes for a press photocall.
The Swiss village holds special memories for Prince William, who continued to visit throughout the mid-2000s. It was in Klosters that he was first photographed with Kate Middleton, his future wife, now Catherine, Princess of Wales, while the two were enjoying a ski break during their time at the University of St Andrews in Scotland.
In 2016, a new generation of royals hit the slopes when Prince William and Catherine, then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, took their children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, to the French Alps. This photo of the family wrapped up in ski jackets and hats was one of a few released by Kensington Palace of the private holiday, which was captured by royal photographer John Stillwell.
It's said to have been their first holiday as a family of four and the first time the young royals had played in the snow.
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