Royal Ascot week is a key event in the Royal Family’s calendar and the opening day kicked off in style yesterday with the royal carriage procession delighting racegoers and royal watchers. Princess Anne is a keen racing aficionado, as well as an accomplished horsewoman herself, and is a familiar sight at the prestigious race meeting. Keen-eyed royal observers may have spotted the Princess Royal in the company of Camilla Parker Bowles’ ex-husband Andrew at Ascot this afternoon, although some may not realise that the two had a “torrid affair” in the past.

Podcast “Royals” from Australian magazine New Idea, heard from royal commentator Angela Mollard in an episode that first aired in March.

Ms Mollard said: “It was well-known that Andrew Parker Bowles had multiple lovers.

“When Charles and Camilla reignited their relationship some years into his marriage with Diana, he was forever known as the man who laid his wife down for the country.”

However, she continued: “This is really funny. Princess Anne, who we always think is the grumpy one with the bun – she had an affair with Andrew Parker Bowles.

“The fact is, they had an affair and they’ve remained friends.

“They’re both obsessed with horses and when they get together at Royal Ascot they get on really well.”

Royal biographer Penny Junor also writes about the romantic liaison, which came to be noticed when Anne brought Andrew to Ascot with the Queen.

In her 2017 book “The Duchess”, she writes that in 1972: “To [Camilla’s] fury, Andrew was also seeing Princess Anne, Charles’ feisty younger sister.

“He had never been known to date just one girl at a time, but he seemed to be unusually smitten, and rumour had it that so was Anne. 

“During their time together he was even invited by the Queen to join the family at Windsor Castle for Ascot week.”

She continues: “There was an element of tit-for-tat in Camilla’s fling with Charles.

“Her principal motivation was to have some excitement and make Andrew jealous.”

However, Ms Junor continues: “Andrew knew that his relationship with Princess Anne could never end in marriage.”

As a Roman Catholic, he was forbidden under the 1701 Act of Settlement – only amended in 2011 – from marrying an heir to the throne. 

As for Camilla, her “heart was set” on Andrew.

Ms Junor writes: “Andrew was never very nice to her, never made her feel special, but she was stubbornly determined to marry him.

“She wanted to be Mrs Parker Bowles, wife of her handsome cavalry officer, not Princess of Wales, not Queen.”

Tina Brown’s 2007 biography “The Diana Chronicles” also delves into the relationship between Princess Anne and Andrew Parker Bowles.

Ms Brown wrote: “Andrew adored women. And, like his father, he was a royal groupie.

“One of his earlier diversions was a torrid affair with Princess Anne, who, in her stern way, has always enjoyed a roll in the hay.

“There was a romantic re-enactment of ‘La Ronde’ on the dance floor at Annabel’s one night in 1971 when it was clear that Princess Anne was in love with Andrew Parker Bowles, Camilla was in love with him too, and Charles was in love with Camilla.”

Camilla went on to marry Andrew in 1973, after her initial romance with Prince Charles ended when he was deployed on military service.

Princess Anne married Captain Mark Phillips in 1973, and the couple had two children, Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall. 

The Princess Royal has now been happily married to Timothy Laurence since December 1992, after her April 1992 divorce from Phillips.

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