Princess Anne is widely admired for her pragmatic personality, quick wit, and dedication to royal duties. Beyond her formal engagements, she is also a favorite among royal fans due to her outdoorsy lifestyle and love for animals.
As the first British royal to compete in the Olympics, having participated in the 1976 Montreal Games, and a hands-on caretaker of her Gatcombe Park estate, Anne is no stranger to hard work.
However, one of her lesser-known skills is holding a Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) licence—a qualification that proves particularly useful on her family’s working farm.
A Groundbreaking Royal First
According to the royal family’s official website, Anne has held an HGV license since 1974, making her the first royal to achieve this qualification. She spoke about this unusual skill in a 1985 BBC interview with Terry Wogan, where she was asked what she would do if the monarchy were ever abolished.
Her response? She would focus even more on farm work: “Out of necessity, I qualified as a heavy goods vehicle driver, on the basis that if one didn’t have a farm to work on or there was no other alternative, both my husband and I have heavy goods vehicle licenses.”
She humorously noted that her husband held an HGV One license, while hers was an HGV Three, adding: “It seemed like a very logical way of earning one’s living. There is, in fact, quite a demand for good horse box drivers. We know one end of a horse from another, so we thought we could probably crack that one between us.”
Life on the Farm
Princess Anne’s Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire spans 730 acres and is home to an array of rare cattle, sheep, and pigs. According to the royal family’s website, the farm includes 230 Wiltshire horn ewes, 14 white park cows, six Highland cows, and two Gloucester Old Spot sows.
In a 2014 interview with BBC’s Countryfile, she discussed the importance of making the farm self-sufficient: “Being able to take on a place like this—for me, I’ve got to make it work. This is not something that comes free, this has got to pay its way, otherwise, I can’t stay here.”
Anne has also been an advocate for genetically modified (GM) crops and livestock, suggesting that genetic technology could help improve food production and livestock resilience.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today in 2017, she explained: “GM is one of those things that divides people, but surely if we are going to be better at producing food of the right value, then we have to accept that genetic technology is going to be part of that.”
Reflecting on GM livestock, she added: “I have rare breeds of livestock, so genetic modification would be a bonus, if I could just find a way of making them a little more robust in terms of survivability.”
From royal duties to farm management and even truck driving, Princess Anne’s down-to-earth approach continues to set her apart within the royal family.
