Charles Breaks Arm in Polo Match

Britain’s adventure-loving Prince Charles fell off his polo pony and broke his right arm Thursday--his worst injury in a catalogue of royal spills and thrills.

“A silly thing to do,” the prince’s press secretary quoted him as saying about the fall.

“He has got a nasty break above the right elbow,” a police spokesman said after the 41-year-old heir to the throne was taken to the hospital from a polo match in western England.

A Royal Family spokesman said: “The prince was in the process of making a shot when he lost his balance. His horse just trotted away. He is as good humored as one can be when one is in pain.”

“It looked for a moment as though he might have bought it (been killed),” said best-selling novelist Jilly Cooper, a spectator. “The ground went completely quiet.”

Pilot, parachutist and skier as well as polo player, the Prince of Wales has been involved in many mishaps, often followed by public pleas to stop before he cracks his crown.