Inside Princess Diana's Cherished Ski Getaway Where William and Harry 'Could Simply Be Kids,' Says Hotel Owner (Exclusive)

Erin HillTue, March 17, 2026 at 2:35 PM UTC

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Princess Diana with Prince William (left) and Prince Harry in Lech, Austria, on April 9, 1991Credit: Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty

• Princess Diana regularly brought Prince William and Prince Harry to the Austrian village of Lech for ski holidays, staying at the historic Hotel Arlberg

• Harry once imagined returning to the village to work as a ski instructor — until his father, King Charles, told him it was “out of the question”

• Hannes Schneider, owner of Hotel Arlberg, recalls the visits fondly, saying Lech was a place where the young princes “could simply be kids”

For several years in the 1990s, Princess Diana brought her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, to a quiet Alpine destination, where they could ski, explore and, as one longtime host recalls, simply be kids.

In his 2023 memoir Spare, the Duke of Sussex looked back on those trips to Lech, Austria, recalling how deeply the place stayed with him. After graduating from Eton, he even dreamed of returning to the village to work.

“For several years I’d talked in all seriousness about working at the ski resort in Lech am Arlberg, where Mummy used to take us,” Harry, 41, wrote in the book. “Such wonderful memories.”

At first, he imagined working at the fondue hut in the center of town that his mother loved. “That fondue could change your life,” he joked in the memoir.

Later, he told his father, King Charles, that he wanted to become a ski instructor instead. His father’s response: “Out of the question.”

Hannes Schneider, owner of Hotel Arlberg, who welcomed Diana and the young princes to the family-run hotel for five consecutive years, tells PEOPLE with a laugh, “Daddy said no.”

Still, the memory has remained a point of pride for the hotel — and for Schneider, who says Princess Diana's visits left a lasting mark on the village.

Hotel Arlberg in Lech, AustriaCredit: Hannes Schneider

“She had such a presence,” Schneider, 65, tells PEOPLE. “She was absolutely natural, authentic. A very caring person. She really tried to take care of everybody — and at the center of that were her boys. They were the center of her universe. That was the nucleus of everything during these holidays.”

“All the other issues and whatever you were reading about didn’t influence the holiday experience of them as a family,” he adds. “She was the caring, loving mother that we all loved.”

Schneider, who was the same age as Diana, got to know the princess well over the years as he helped organize her visits and protect her privacy while she was in Lech.

“We always tried to create a home away from home,” he says. “Something that was very normal for us was a huge privilege for them — to be treated as normal people.”

Hannes Schneider (left) and Princess Diana in Lech, Austria, on March 30, 1994Credit: Martin Keene - PA Images/PA Images via Getty

Diana first discovered Lech through a friend, Catherine Soames, the wife of Charles' former equerry, who had planned a 1991 ski holiday there with her child. Diana decided to join, bringing William and Harry along for what would become a cherished annual trip.

The Hotel Arlberg, which opened in 1956, is deeply rooted in the village. The property has been run by the Schneider family for generations — first by Schneider’s father, Johannes, alongside his mother, Helga, who is still living. Today, Hannes and his wife, Christiane, run the hotel with the help of their son Benjamin and his husband, Patrick Krummenbacher, continuing a family tradition that has long defined Lech’s hospitality culture.

The Schneider familyCredit: Hannes Schneider

Unlike many global ski destinations, many of Lech’s hotels remain largely family-owned, something Schneider believes helps create the sense of familiarity that drew guests like Diana back each year.

“This legacy is very fragile and very precious,” he says. “You don’t find this very often anymore.”

Hotel Arlberg in Lech, AustriaCredit: Hannes Schneider

That approach has helped the hotel build a remarkably loyal following. Schneider says roughly 90% of guests return to Hotel Arlberg year after year, many visiting for decades.

The quiet Alpine village of Lech has long attracted European royalty, with several of the town’s hotels welcoming different royal families over the years.

At the time of Diana’s visits, Charles typically skied in nearby Klosters, Switzerland, where the royal family had long kept a winter routine. But for the Princess of Wales, the quiet Alpine village of Lech offered something different: privacy, simplicity and a place where her sons could just be kids.

“Everybody was happy and proud to see them here,” Schneider says. “But everybody minded their own business.”

For two weeks each year during William and Harry’s Easter school holidays, Diana brought the boys to Lech, teaching them to ski and spending time together toward the end of the Alpine season, away from the relentless scrutiny of royal life.

Princess Diana in Lech, Austria, in April 1991Credit: Kent Gavin/Mirrorpix/Getty

Even with as many as 50 photographers in town hoping for a glimpse of the world’s most photographed woman, Schneider says Diana was determined to keep the trips as relaxed as possible.

Despite the press presence, the atmosphere inside the hotel remained deliberately normal.

“We learned very quickly that the more normal, the better,” Schneider says.

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The princes embraced that sense of freedom, spending their days skiing the slopes, running around the hotel and exploring the village, often joining other children to play while enjoying the rare chance to just be kids with their mom.

Even so, the reality of their roles was never far away. Schneider remembers William, even as a young boy, already carrying himself with a strong awareness of his future place in the royal family.

“He always knew who he was,” Schneider tells PEOPLE. “He was always educated toward the target to be Prince of Wales and King of the United Kingdom one day.”

Once, when Diana suggested they step out across the street together to shop, William gently reminded her of the rules.

“He said, ‘Mom, you know I’m not allowed to leave the hotel without my police officer,’ ” Schneider recalls. “That’s the way he was. But one had to respect this.”

Prince William, Princess Diana and Prince Harry are accompanied by Diana's friends, Catherine Soames and Kate Menzies, in Lech, Austria, on March 27, 1994Credit: Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty

Harry, meanwhile, lived up to his reputation as the fun-loving younger brother.

“Harry was the wild one,” Schneider recalls fondly.

During one stay, the hotel staff built ski jumps in the snow for the boys to watch the instructors perform tricks. Harry couldn’t resist trying a jump himself — launching into a somersault that ended in a crash landing in deep powder.

“He went for it,” Schneider says. “It was great fun.”

For Schneider, moments like those explain why Harry’s memories of Lech endured into adulthood.

“He felt home here,” Schneider says of why Harry wanted to come back as an adult. “This was probably once in a lifetime for them to be natural as can be.”

Diana’s affection for the village extended beyond the slopes as well. One of her favorite traditions was visiting a cozy fondue hut known as the Klösterle, a small farmhouse restaurant nestled within the village.

She and her sons were known to travel there by horse-drawn sleigh for quiet dinners away from the crowds.

Pictures of Princess Diana displayed at Hotel Arlberg in Lech, AustriaCredit: Hannes Schneider

Back at the hotel, Schneider sometimes helped Diana outmaneuver the press pack waiting outside. On one occasion, two women staying at the hotel — both sporting Diana-inspired hairstyles — dressed similarly and left through different exits at the same time, sending photographers chasing the wrong person.

The trust Diana placed in the hotel — and in Schneider himself — was especially evident during one visit when she had to unexpectedly return to the U.K. after her father, John Spencer, the 8th Earl Spencer, died of a heart attack on March 29, 1992.

Schneider recalls that Charles had come over from nearby Klosters to check on how his sons were doing on the slopes, long having accepted that the Lech holidays were primarily a special trip for Diana and the boys.

That same day, Diana received the devastating news about her father. She and Charles flew back to the U.K. for the funeral, while William and Harry remained in Lech with their nanny and protection officers. Diana wanted to spare the boys from the difficult moment and the attention that would surround it, Schneider says.

A signed photo of Princess Diana and her sons on display at Hotel Arlberg in Lech, AustriaCredit: Hannes Schneider

The hotel team helped look after the young princes for the following week — something Schneider says reflected the deep confidence Diana had in the people around her there.

“You wouldn’t leave your children behind in a place where you don’t trust people,” he says. “We as a hotel — we as friends — kept them entertained.”

Schneider says the trust Diana placed in the hotel meant everything to him and his staff. To protect her privacy, Schneider kept the number of staff who interacted with the family as limited as possible. Even when Fleet Street reporters approached employees offering money for stories about the royal visit, the hotel team refused.

“I remember one correspondent telling me, ‘What did you do to your people? They don’t tell us anything!’ ” Schneider recalls.

Hotel Arlberg owner Hannes SchneiderCredit: Hannes Schneider

That discretion helped create the environment Diana sought for her sons. And decades later, Schneider believes those carefree days in the Alps still live on in the princes’ memories.

“We would be more than happy,” he says when asked whether Harry or William might someday return with their own children. “I’m sure the memories are in the backs of their minds.”

For Schneider, the essence of those visits was clear.

“For them,” he reflects, “this was a place where they could simply be kids.”

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