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.
1978 On his first visit to Klosters, Charles and his then girlfriend Lady Sarah Spencer (Diana’s eldest sister) laugh as they are pulled up the mountain by tow bar. Their affair fizzled out months later
1980: Charles emerges from his chalet in false moustache, nose and glasses insisting the Prince would not be coming out today. Note the dashing bandana
1981: It’s January a year later, and the handsome Prince has squeezed in a trip to the mountains before a very important date. On his return he proposed to Lady Diana Spencer — and she accepted. They were married that summer
In a speech to be delivered to his hand-picked 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 . . .’
1987: Diana and Fergie clown around, mimicking the photographers jostling for position in front of them. But Charles is not impressed and ticks them off
1988: Tormented by grief, Charles, Diana and a pregnant Duchess of York fly back to London with Major Hugh Lindsay’s body after an avalanche struck the royal party
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 Palmer-Tomkinson 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.
1994: Charles introduces William and Harry to the joy of skiing. They learnt the basics with Diana in the Austrian resort of Lech, but the Prince wanted them to fall in love with Klosters. Sadly they never have
1994: Amateur artist Charles is never without his sketchbook, even on the slopes. And he has a little tip to share. From his knapsack he would pour a little vodka into the water he used to clean his brushes. ‘It stops it freezing,’ he said
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.
1995: The Royal thrown. Not the most decorous way to get down the mountain as Charles loses his balance during a toboggan race with his sons
1995: Mwah, mwah … It girl Tara Palmer-Tomkinson (right) and her sister Santa, Charles’s ‘honorary’ goddaughter, add some glamour to the royal skiing party
1997: Slow down Harry . . . Charles can barely watch as the pair hurtle down a slope behind their hotel wreathed in smiles. But at least it was a respite from the bitter War of the Waleses with Diana
He was accompanied by his then girlfriend Lady Sarah Spencer, Diana’s eldest sister. It was on that trip that he met Charles Palmer-Tomkinson, 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).
1996: Nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke became a regular fixture on the slopes, helping the Prince with the boys and providing them with some youthful company
2002: The death of Charles’s beloved grandmother, the Queen Mother, means his holiday with the boys is dramatically cut short as they headed back to Britain. Just as he had after Hugh Lindsay’s death, Charles puts on the black tie that he always travels with in case of a sudden death
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.
2005: Suddenly the speculation over Kate Middleton is ended as William confirms he is in a serious romance with the middle-class girl he met at St Andrews University. Is it love? It certainly is
2005 ‘That awful man . . .’ Unaware microphones are on, Charles is recorded airing his views on the BBC’s royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell during a photocall before his 2005 wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles. ‘These bloody people. I can’t bear that man. I mean, he’s so awful, he really is.’ Note that bandana again!
2018: In green jacket and yellow trousers, Charles poses with one of the four cable cars that take skiers from the village to the top of Gotschnagrat mountain. All have been painted and inscribed to mark the occasion
- Picture research: Sue Connolly