The Royals Have Their Own Private Swimming Pool & Of Course It Has Plenty Of Rules

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If you've ever been to a public swimming pool, you'll know that there are several rules you're expected to abide by: no running by the pool, no diving in the shallow end, and so on. However, one thing you're almost certainly not going to see at your local public pool is a member of England's royal family. Indeed, it should come as no surprise at all that the royals have their own private, hidden pool at Buckingham Palace, where a number of former, current, and future monarchs first learned to swim. Granted, a lot of families own pools — even if it's a lot less common in the U.K. than it is in the U.S. In typical royal fashion, though, the one at Buckingham Palace has some very specific rules and protocols associated with it.

For years, the main rule surrounding the hidden pool at Buckingham Palace was that only royals were allowed to swim in it, while palace staff members were not. According to late author Edna Healey in her book "The Queen's House: A Social History of Buckingham Palace," King George VI — father of Queen Elizabeth II — had the pool built in the late 1930s so his daughter could have a private place to learn to swim, far from the prying eyes of the media. This evidently paid off, given that swimming was one of Queen Elizabeth's lesser-known talents in her youth.

Ironically, it was Elizabeth herself who eventually went back on her father's decree by allowing her staff to hop on in, as it were. Once again, though, this is the royal family we're talking about. So, there are still rules to be followed, even if other rules are technically being broken.

Royal biographer Brian Hoey went into further detail regarding the protocols surrounding the swimming pool at Buckingham Palace in his book "Not in Front of the Corgis: Secrets of Life Behind the Royal Curtains." According to Hoey, "The rule is that if a staff member is swimming and one of the Royals appears, they have to get out, unless invited to remain, which often happens." That being said, things work a bit differently if the roles are reversed. In his book, Hoey writes that if a staff member enters the pool area and there is already a member of the royal family in the water, the staff member "will not attempt to join them" — regardless of their seniority.

All the while, the pool still seems to be serving its original purpose of providing royal children — including future monarchs like Prince George — a private venue to take swimming lessons. During a 2019 interview with the Press Association (via the International Business Times), former competitive swimmer Eileen Fenton recalled a conversation she had with George's father, Prince William, where she learned that the heir to the throne and his wife, Catherine, Princess of Wales, were making it a point to raise a family of strong swimmers. "[T]hey all go and they swim quite well," Fenton said, adding, "I can remember seeing when the Queen was young and her sister Princess Margaret — we used to see them swimming in pictures. He said the whole family have done it."