Princess Anne has many
guises – she is an Olympian, a down-to-earth family matriarch who rejected
royal titles for her children, a frugal country woman with a passion for
anything equine, and a punctilious public servant. She is also consistently
named as Britain’s hardest-working royal.
Princess
Anne’s hilarious video call with the Queen
During the pandemic, the
Queen got to grips with video calls with a little help from her
daughter. The monarch and Princess Anne took part in a video call to support
the nation’s carers during National Carers’ Week in 2020.
In the footage, Her Majesty’s
Assistant Private Secretary Tom Laing-Baker can be heard introducing her, as
Anne smiles and says: “Good morning at Windsor.” Appearing on the
screen, the Queen said: “Good morning. I’m very glad to have been able to
join you.”
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The Queen and Princess Anne during their joint video call in 2020
Anne then tries to give her
royal mother a rundown of how to use the video call, asking her: “Can you
see everybody? You should have six people on your screen,” to which she
replies: “Yes, well I can see four anyway!”
The Princess Royal then
joked: “Actually, you don’t need me. You know what I look like!”
The
fashion faux-pas
Every year, the royal family
gather at Sandringham for Christmas, and a key part of their day is attending
the 11am service at St Mary’s Magdalene Church. All those in attendance are
impeccably dressed – but in 2019, Princess Anne and her sister-in-law,
the Duchess of Cornwall, suffered an amusing faux-pas!
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Anne and Camilla pictured on Christmas Day in 2019
The two ladies both arrived at
church wearing very similar shades of purple – furthermore, they had both
chosen dress coats, similar hats and long black boots. Luckily, they both took
it in good humour. Anne was photographed looking Camilla up and down, before
laughing the coincidence off.
Her
retirement from eventing
Princess Anne is known for her
equestrian talents; she won two silver medals and a gold at the European
Eventing Championships, and was the first member of the British royal family to
compete in the Olympic Games.
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The Princess was an accomplished equestrian
But she has another string to
add to her bow. Asked about her achievements following her decision to retire
from eventing, she quipped, “I got them more lavatories.”
The
kidnapping attempt
Princess Anne’s cool and calm
demeanour was never more evident than in 1974 when she was the subject of a
kidnapping attempt. Then just 23, Anne was on her way to Buckingham Palace with
her then-husband Captain Mark Phillips after a film screening when
their maroon Rolls Royce was waylaid on the Mall by a white Ford Escort.
Her bodyguard was shot in the
shoulder by Ian Ball, before he approached the vehicle and ordered Anne to get
out, or he’d shoot. “Not bloody likely!” Anne retorted. She
later told an inquiry: “I nearly lost my temper with him. But I knew
that if I did, I should hit him and he would shoot me.”
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Princess Anne with her first husband, Mark Phillips
Anne further spoke about the
1974 incident in an interview with Michael Parkinson. “We had a sort
of discussion about where or where not we were going to go,” she
recalled to laughter from the audience. “Well, he said I had to go
with him – I can’t remember why,” she added facetiously, before
turning to her husband Mark. “You were quite obstinate about it,” he
added. “I said I didn’t think I wanted to go,” the Princess said with
a smile. “I was scrupulously polite, because I thought, silly to be too
rude at that stage.”
