Princess Anne ‘very much her father’s daughter’ says expert

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Princess Anne has long been known as one of the more private members of the Royal Family, and reportedly did not enjoy her “celebrity status” when she was younger working royal. According to The List, the Queen’s daughter “especially loathed” the royal walkabouts, where members of the Royal Family walk through the crowds to greet the public. Speaking to a BBC documentary in 2018, the Princess Royal admitted that during her teenage years, she had “hated” the tradition. 

The List reported: “Whilst some royals might enjoy their celebrity status and growing up in the public eye, Princess Anne is not one of them.

“According to Great British Life, she once snapped at an interviewer, saying, “I didn’t ask to be born a princess!”

“While Anne, fortunately, grew up before social media, public scrutiny was still intense enough without Instagram and Twitter.

“One aspect of royal life that she especially loathed was the expectation of participating in royal walkabouts to greet the public.” 

She said in the BBC documentary ‘The Queen: Her Commonwealth Story’, “We hated them, can you imagine as teenagers?

“Hardly the sort of thing you would volunteer to do…How many people enjoy walking into a room full of people you’ve never met before and then try a street.”

Over recent years, Princess Anne’s popularity amongst the public has greatly improved, and according to recent YouGov surveys, she is currently the fifth most popular member of the Royal Family. 

During the 1970s and 80s, she developed a reputation for being surly to photographers, and for avoiding journalists when attending official engagements. 

She famously told photographers to “naff off” and at one point in the 1980s, she hid in a horsebox to escape the media. 

Her no-nonsense approach to royal duty was seen as blunt by members of the press, and Prince Philip once quipped “If it doesn’t fart and eat hay, she’s not interested”.

In the ITV documentary ‘Princess Anne at 70’, 2012 Olympics organiser Sebastian Coe said the Princess “doesn’t suffer fools gladly” and told the story of when Princess Anne called a committee member “the stupidest person” without realising her microphone was still on. 

Despite receiving negative press attention during her youth, she is now regarded as one of the most hardworking royals, and on average completes around 500 engagements per year. 

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Princess Anne is a royal patron to over 300 charities and organisations, and even during the pandemic, she managed to attend 148 official engagements. 

Since the departure of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, and the stepping down of her brother Prince Andrew, the Princess Royal has undertaken more responsibility and is seen as a crucial member of the ‘Marvellous Seven’. 

The ‘Marvellous Seven’ consist of the leading working royals who regularly represent the Queen at formal engagements. 

Other members include Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and the Earl and Countess of Wessex. 

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