We're obsessed with these pictures of young King Charles in his 'action' man era

King Charles in his “action” man era is a sight to behold as the Royal Family shared some intriguing throwback snaps of him putting his skills to the test.

King Charles’ skillset has increased impressively over the years given the range of experiences he’s had as a senior royal, from piloting a plane to giving impassioned speeches. Yet one of His Majesty’s most surprising skills is something most fans will never have seen him do and we can’t get over King Charles in his “action” man era in these snaps shared recently by the Royal Family. Taking to Instagram their official account posted a series of photos including one from a time that he was reportedly dubbed an “action Prince” according to a royal historian.

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His Majesty recently undertook a tour of exhibits demonstrating underwater diving technology, eco-friendly artificial reefs and underwater 3D image capturing. Alongside photos of his visit to the Global Underwater Hub in Aberdeenshire were snaps of King Charles fully equipped for diving expeditions of his own. 

The first showed the then-Prince of Wales underwater in a bright red diving suit whilst the second depicted him stepping either into or out of much clearer, warmer looking water. With his mask up, King Charles appeared to be smiling in his full diving gear. Whilst diving isn’t something His Majesty does publicly anymore, he’s the first British monarch to be a qualified diver. 

He was just 26 when he undertook a 30 minute dive under the Arctic ice in Canada’s Resolute Bay in 1975. It seems as though the first picture in the selection was taken during this particular dive, whilst he later explored the wreck of the Mary Rose - King Henry VIII’s warship - nine times before it was raised from the seabed in 1982.

King Charles’ history-making skill is something that is not only seriously impressive, but which apparently made quite the impression at the time too. So much so that a royal historian described him as being known as the “action Prince” in light of his “active pursuits”. 

Discussing King Charles diving in Canada, royal historian Carolyn Harris explained to Woman&Home that he demonstrated the diving suit before he plunged in.  

“[He] actually had a press conference where he demonstrated the diving suit and how it worked and was inflating and deflating the diving suit. And the press were all applauding and finding this very amusing, the Prince taking them through this,” she said. 

Carolyn went on to add, “So there was a lot of interest in in [King] Charles trying his hand at diving in Canada's north and this was in the 1970s, when [King] Charles was known as the action prince who always seemed to be jumping out of aeroplanes or, or under ice diving or playing polo and always seemed to be involved in very active pursuits".

The historian described His Majesty’s time diving in the 1970s in Canada as “quite a unique event for him” and for the Royal Family.

Many of the activities said to have been associated with King Charles in his "action" man era including polo and diving are things Prince William has gone on to do too. He continues to play polo to this day and is also a qualified diver, setting himself up to follow in King Charles' footsteps as a monarch with this qualification. 

The Prince of Wales also took over from His Majesty as the President of the British Sub-Aqua Club in 2014 and he and the Princess of Wales are understood to have enjoyed a private dive in Belize last year whilst undertaking their royal tour.