King Charles showing his genuine interest left one Team GB legend taken aback at Windsor Castle
King Charles demonstrated his impressive knowledge of curling whilst presenting Olympic champion Eve Muirhead with her MBE and OBE at Windsor Castle. The 35-year-old captained Team GB to gold at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, competing alongside Vicky Wright, Hailey Duff, Jen Dodds and Mili Smith.
The triumph marked Team GB’s sole gold medal at the Beijing Games and represented the first Olympic gold for the Scottish curler, who had previously secured bronze at the 2014 Sochi Games.
Her remarkable achievement, combined with her distinguished career overall, earned her an invitation to Windsor Castle to receive her honours from the monarch, who was the Prince of Wales at the time.
Following the ceremony, the Perth-born athlete disclosed that Charles displayed extensive knowledge of curling during their exchange. Showing his authentic interest in those receiving the prestigious honour, the monarch made it a “very special day” for the retired curler.
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Muirhead commented: “It went really well and it was actually a really exciting moment to receive my OBE alongside my MBE, as I recently got upgraded to OBE, and the chance to receive them together was really special.
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“And to get the chance to speak to Charles and he knew a lot about curling, which is always nice, yeah, it’s a very special day, a lot of great memories. He just spoke about where I started curling and where I train now and then he spoke a little bit about curling in Balmoral because there is a lot of outside curling up there.
“So he knew a lot about it in terms of Balmoral, obviously they have a lot of connections there, so it was nice that he reflected on that.” Muirhead stepped away from competitive curling in August 2022 and subsequently took on the position of Chef de Mission for Team GB at the 2024 Winter Youth Olympics.
She’s reprised the role for the senior squad at this month’s 2026 Winter Olympics. Earlier this week, she revealed the mental health challenges she faced throughout her career, confessing she reached her lowest point.
In an article for Women’s Health, she wrote: “In Vancouver, we won our first match; four years later, at the next Winter Olympics, I became the youngest skip to win a medal when I picked up bronze.
“But even then, I felt disappointed to have missed out on silver and gold. And when, four years later at the PyeongChang Olympics, I missed out on winning another bronze, my mental health nosedived.
“In the years that followed, I felt like I’d failed. And when we initially didn’t qualify for a spot at the Winter Olympics in Beijing, I began to believe they were better off without me. Seven months before the Games, I was diagnosed with severe depression. The hopelessness became so intense that I didn’t want to be here any more.
“The feeling was temporary and, with encouragement from my family and teammates, I saw a clinical psychologist. I started to recognise that it was okay to put myself first; that the team’s success didn’t rely on me. Alongside therapy, I was prescribed antidepressants and, when the month of the Games arrived, I felt lighter.
“We went on to win gold. It was an incredible feeling and, when the time came to qualify for the next Winter Olympics, I made the difficult decision to retire. I’d already won gold, and I worried that returning to competing risked sending me back to a dark place.”
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