It was an event that was a reflection of the interest of the Royal Family in the sporting world which seems certain to continue under the new monarch.

"It was a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the achievements of our Olympic medallists in Tokyo and Beijing," British Olympic Association (BOA) chairman Sir Hugh Robertson said.

The Coronation procession next Saturday (May 6) is to make its way along The Mall, the road from Buckingham Palace, which was where the Olympic marathons and cycling road races finished in 2012.

The King's sister Anne, the Princess Royal, a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is set to ride behind the Monarch’s carriage on Coronation Day as the ceremonial "Gold Stick In Waiting." 

It dates back to Tudor times when it was the position was considered as the sovereign's bodyguard and is traditionally performed by the Colonel of the Blues and Royals, a cavalry regiment of which the Princess is Colonel.

She will be the first woman to undertake the role.

Charles was born in November 1948, shortly after London had previously staged the Olympics, but throughout his life his activities including sporting exploits have been subject to as much scrutiny as  any Olympic athletes.

In 1957, the Prince was only eight years old, but newspapers carried a full account of the sports day, known as a "Field Day" at his Knightsbridge preparatory school.

His efforts were closely watched by The Queen and Prince Philip, who attended the event as many have done for school sports everywhere, although on this occasion there was no egg and spoon race for parents.

The King is now the Head of the Commonwealth but his first connection with the Commonwealth Games came with the 1958 Games in Cardiff.

He did not attend them himself,  but The Queen was scheduled to be present at the Closing Ceremony.

Illness prevented her attendance so a specially recorded message was played over stadium loudspeaker.

It included a surprise announcement.

"By a cruel stroke of fate, I have been prevented from visiting North and South Wales," the message began.

 "I regret particularly not being with you in Cardiff today for this great meeting of Commonwealth athletes,

"The British Empire and Commonwealth Games in the capital, together with all the activities of the Festival of Wales, have made this a memorable year for the principality.

"I have therefore decided to mark it further with an act that I hope will give as much pleasure to all Welshmen as it does to me. I intend to create my son Charles Prince of Wales today."

The decision to make the announcement as Cardiff 1958 came to a conclusion was seen as hugely symbolic.

"That the announcement was made at the end of the Games was a signal honour," Games Organising Chief Sir Godfrey Llewellyn declared.

His daughter Gwenllian Hacket-Pain later recalled the episode.

"I was there at the Closing Ceremony in 1958 when the recorded announcement was played," she told insidethegames.

"Nobody knew anything about it so it was a great surprise when it was announced that Charles would become Prince of Wales.

"The wonderful thing was that the whole crowd burst into song with 'God Bless the Prince of Wales'."

Charles was formally invested as Prince of Wales in a spectacular Ceremony at Caernarvon Castle in 1969.

That same July, a special football match to mark the occasion was arranged in Cardiff.

Wales faced a Rest of the United Kingdom team managed by Sir Alf Ramsey. 

His line up included Bobby Charlton, George Best and Francis Lee, who scored the only goal on a grey and rainy night.

Sadly the weather had not lived up to the occasion, "a night stolen from winter," wrote Peter Corrigan in The Guardian.

Prince Charles had shown promise in cricket whilst still at school, just as his father had done.

The Lord's Taverners, a cricketing charity, presented him with a bat when he was still only six-years-old.

His cricketing prowess did not go unnoticed by the Royal Navy and five sailors from HMS Ark Royal performed a calypso during a concert attended by The Queen and Prince Philip.

"At cricket Prince Charles is not too bad, but not as good as his famous dad...

"Perhaps in 1973, he’ll be keeping wicket for the Queen’s Navee,"

Charles continued the sport at Gordonstoun School in Scotland and was later a regular participant in charity matches.

In 1968, he played for a side raised by Lord Brabourne which beat a team of Formula One Grand Prix drivers, including Graham Hill, Bruce McLaren, Jochen Rindt and Stirling Moss.

The match was played after the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch and it is hard to envisage a similar event taking place today.

Then in 1971, the Prince rode out to bat on a horse whilst playing for the Royal Air Force in a match at Cranwell in a match against the Lord’s Taverners.

He scored 10 runs but his efforts were in vain as his team were beaten by six wickets.

In 1975, Prince Charles became President of the Lord’s Taverners. Britain's leading youth cricket and disability sports charity. 

Prince Philip was serving his second term as President of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in the same year.

Accordingly, a charity match was arranged at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London between teams representing the MCC President and the Lord’s Taverners President.

Participants included Denis Compton and Bill Edrich, among the most prominent players in the 1940s and 50s.

Yorkshire and England opener Geoffrey Boycott and the legendary and outspoken football manager Brian Clough and personalities from showbusiness also played.

The match ended in a tie which prompted Wisden Cricketer's Almanack to conclude that it had achieved "Happy Royal Families,"

As Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall, Charles was also historically the owner of the land on which the Oval cricket ground stands.he took a great interest in developments on the ground and was a regular visitor to social projects staged there.

The Oval is the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club, a team which wear the Prince of Wales feathers on their club caps. 

The responsibility has now passed to his son Prince William, the new Prince of Wales.

In his own active sporting career, Prince Charles was probably best known for his exploits on the polo field, where he became an international player.

He was introduced to the sport in his early teens and played for a team captained by his father against the Household Brigade in the grounds of Windsor Castle.

In his first competitive match, for Rangers against Blacknest, he scored twice.

In his late teens, he spent a year at Geelong Grammar School in Australia where continued to play the game.

“Prince Charles is an extremely good horseman and has a keen eye when it comes to hitting a ball,” Yarra Glen & Lilydale Polo Club President John Lithgow observed.

The following year, the Prince played again in a team captained by his father in the Combermere Cup at Windsor.

At the presentations, Prince Philip introduced his son to The Queen with the words "This is one of my team-mates, who I believe you know."

Charles also won a half blue in polo whilst at Cambridge University.

In 1972, he captained a Royal Navy team against the Blues and Royals at Smith’s Lawn in Windsor and also represented England but his naval service curtailed his play.

Even so, he insisted, "I shall go on as long as I still bounce when I fall off."

He won the Queen’s Cup with Les Diables Bleus in 1986 and did not give up league polo until 1994.

The King has also inherited the traditional royal racing colours,  though it  not since since the days of King Edward VII has the winner of the Derby been owned by a monarch when Minaru won in 1909.

In the 1913 Derby, sufragette Emily Davison threw herself into the path of  Anmer, a horse owned by King George V,

Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother were both famously devotees of the turf, though both experienced disappointment.

The Queen's Horse Aureole finished second in the 1953 Derby and although later she tasted success in the Oaks and the St Leger she never did win the most famous flat race. 

Her fortunes in racing prompted Charles to jokingly tell the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation,

"Whenever I back one of my mothers' horses, it is always a total disaster."

The Queen Mother's Devon Loch famously stumbled in the 1956 Grand National after appearing to jump a "phantom fence" when set for victory.  

Prince Charles took to the saddle in 1980 in the Madhatter's Private Stakes at Plumpton when he finished second on Longwharf.

A few days later, he finished fourth on Sea Swell but although he took part in another four races, he did not ride a winner.

Horse racing is known as "The Sport of Kings," largely due to his namesake King Charles II, known as the "Merry Monarch".

In the late 17th century his patronage  helping to establish the course as the home of racing.

Charles II has a stallion "Old Rowley" and  a race called the "Rowley Mile" is run to this day.

In 2017, Queen Camilla unveiled a statue of Charles II to commemorate 350 years of the course at Newmarket, considered the home of flat racing.

Queen Camilla was a keen rider and is an honorary member of the Jockey Club. 

She has been a patron of the British Equestrian Federation since 2006.

Yet the most successful equestrian in the Royal Family is the King’s sister Anne, the Princess Royal, the first member of the Royal Family to represent Britain at the Olympics.

She competed in eventing at Montreal in 1976 and placed 24th in the individual competition.

She followed her brother into racing and won five races on the flat, including the 1987 Dresden Diamond Stakes at Ascot.

Her only National Hunt success came the same year on Cnoc Na Cuille, her own horse.

It is not yet clear which sporting organisations are to enjoy the patronage of the King Charles III in years to come but the Royal Family has forged an impressive tradition in many sports.

His grandfather George VI, then still known as the Duke of York, laid the foundation stone for the construction of the original Wembley Stadium in 1922.

In 1926,he partnered Wing Commander Sir Louis Greig  in the men's doubles at Wimbledon.

They lost in straight sets 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 in the first round to former champions Arthur Wentworth Gore and Herbert Roper Barrett.

Although he watched the Olympic Torch Relay pass through Tottenham and attended the 2012 Olympics with other members of his family, King Charles has so far been most closely been associated with the Commonwealth Games.

He first visited them in 1966 when they were held in Jamaica's capital Kingston. 

He was joined by his sister Princess Anne to accompany Prince Philip who opened and closed the Games in his role as Commonwealth Games Federation President.

Before they left Kingston, the Prince helped his father in planting Banyan trees in the stadium precincts. 

In 1974, he was serving in the Royal Navy but joined the Royal Family for the Commonwealth Games in Christchurch and even presented medals.

It was not until 2010 that he represented The Queen to open the Games in New Delhi. 

He performed the same role at the 2018 Games in the Gold Coast and then last summer in Birmingham, he delighted the crowds by arriving in a vintage Aston Martin Volante powered by cheese and wine.

He had chosen the idea from a number proposed by Ceremony producers.

He read the message consigned to the tradition Commonwealth Games Baton by his mother,The Queen, some 294 days before.

It had been brought to the Royal box by Dame Denise Lewis, Olympic and Commonwealth Games gold medallist.

“Over the years, the coming together of so many for the ‘Friendly Games’ has created memorable shared experiences, established long standing relationships, and even created some friendly rivalries.

"But above all they remind us of our connection with one another, wherever we may be in the world, as part of the Commonwealth family of nations,” the message read.

It seems certain that the sporting associations of the Royal Family are set to continue for many years to come.