CHARLES’S MOST ENDURING LOVE
Romance. Tragedy. High-jinks. As he throws a party to mark 40 years of skiing there, why Klosters is . . .
THE Alpine horn players — wielding 12ft pipes — clear their throats for a last rehearsal, and the oompah band runs through the playlist for a final time.
Wherever you look, the ski resort of Klosters has its welcoming coat on; fresh snow is thick on the ground and cable cars are newly painted a royal red and bear a special message for its most loyal visitor.
Tomorrow, Prince Charles salutes 40 years of skiing in the Swiss village with a private party to mark his extraordinary attachment to the exclusive resort.
In a speech to be delivered to his handpicked guests, he is expected to speak of the bewitching solitude of the mountains that has drawn him back year after year.
Over the decades, he has transformed into an accomplished, fast and fearless skier, unafraid to tackle anything, pushing himself to the limits.
To close friends Charlie and Patty Palmer-Tomkinson, who have most often shared the experiences with him, it sometimes have seemed he was not merely testing himself, but also daring the fates to do their worst.
Certainly the fates were tested on a day in March 1988 when the Prince and his party were skiing ‘off piste’ on ‘the Wang’, a notoriously difficult slope involving a steep and narrow gully with a rockface on one side and sheer drop on the other.
Diana, who had a cold, was not with him, nor was the pregnant Duchess of York who had fallen heavily earlier and had been taken to hospital to check that neither she nor her unborn child had been hurt.
What happened next Charles described as a ‘whirling maelstrom’ as an avalanche struck. ‘I’ve never forgotten the sound of it,’ the Prince said. ‘The whole mountain apparently exploding outwards . . . vast clouds of snow. I thought to myself My God, the horror . . .’
Two of the party, Mrs Palmer-Tomkinson and royal equerry Major Hugh Lindsay were swept 800ft down the slope until they came to a halt buried under the snow.
The Prince helped dig Mrs PalmerTomkinson out and kept talking to her so she remained conscious as they waited for rescue. Major Lindsay, struck by a huge lump of ice, died on the mountain.
Diana vowed to Major Lindsay’s widow, Sarah, never to return to the resort — and kept her word. Charles promised to pay for the education of the child Mrs Lindsay was expecting. He kept his word, too.
Tomorrow Mrs Palmer-Tomkinson, who made a full recovery, will be at the party with her husband.
Undoubtedly that terrible day was the darkest moment in a love affair that began when Charles learned to ski as a 14-year-old. His early trips were to Scuol in Switzerland and Vaduz in Liechtenstein.
But his love affair with the sport was ignited by his first visit to Klosters in 1978. The British had adopted the picture postcard village in the years after World War I.
He was accompanied by his then girlfriend Lady Sarah Spencer, Diana’s eldest sister. It was on that trip that he met Charles PalmerTomkinson, a Hampshire landowner and former British Olympic skier.
Romance with Lady Sarah did not last — but Charles’s affection for Klosters did.
A year after the avalanche he returned without Diana, and later introduced William and Harry to the resort (jolly royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke strapped on skis, too).
And it was on the slopes above Klosters that William confirmed his love for the middle-class Kate Middleton.
One figure in Charles’s life has never taken to the Swiss air, however, Camilla. ‘She doesn’t like heights and doesn’t like the cold,’ says a friend. When he toasts absent friends tomorrow, no doubt his wife will also be in his thoughts.