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Princess Anne unearthed a thorny issue which has been causing tensions for years with her brother Prince Charles. The Princess Royal spoke about her love for farming in a rare interview ahead of her 70th birthday next month. 

As she opened up on her passion – and how much work it requires – the Queen’s only daughter said she doesn’t agree with Charles’s ban on genetically modified crops (GM).

Speaking to Women’s Weekly magazine, Princess Anne said: “It has been an enormous advantage in many parts of the world to use GM wisely for very specific environments.

“It makes it much more likely to be able to grow what you need.

“I have to remind people that rapeseed oil was only made non-toxic to humans by the Canadians after the Second World War by genetically modifying the plant. 

“It’s [ironically] quite popular with all those people who don’t like GM.”

Asked whether she and her brother the Prince of Wales ever discuss about farming, Princess Anne appeared to let transpire some tensions as she answered: “Yes… occasionally, but rather short.”

Prince Charles has been championing organic farming for years and has made his private home in Tetbury, Highgrove, a safe haven from GM.  

Similarly, he has been administrating the Duchy Home Farm, a farm operated by his Duchy of Cornwall, with a strict ban on GM.

As early as in 1985, Charles converted this farm into an entirely organic farming system.

Princess Anne also appears to disagree with Prince Charles and his sons Harry and William on the links between the Australian bushfires, which have ravaged the country for months, and climate change.

The Princess Royal said: “I don’t even go down the climate change route.

“I think the way people manage ground is part of the discussion… Climate changes all the time.

“It has done so throughout the globe’s history, so there’s nothing new under the sun.

“Somehow, we’ve got to learn that our kind of life is changing.

“We’ve got to remember to respect what’s out there and how to live with it.” 

The fires ate millions of acres of land between October and January, killing millions of animals and 33 people.

At the peak of the emergency, Prince Charles and his sons shared emotional posts on Instagram and called for action.

Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, spoke of an “ecocide” in a damning Instagram post.

It read: “From areas, we are personally connected to such as the communities and people we visited in New South Wales in 2018, to the fires in California and parts of Africa, we are struck by the increasingly overlapping presence of these environmental disasters, including of course the destruction of the Amazon which continues.

“This global environmental crisis has now been described as ecocide.

“It’s easy to feel helpless, but there’s always a way to help.”

Similarly, Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince William spoke of their shock and sadness at the devastation caused by the fires. 

Sharing pictures of the fires, they said: “We continue to be shocked and deeply saddened to hear about the fires that are destroying homes, livelihoods and wildlife across much of Australia”.

Rather than blaming the fires on climate change and the rising temperatures across the world, Princess Anne believes Australians should cooperate with First Australians in fighting and preventing the devastating fires.

She said: “They’ve got a lot more knowledge and I suspect their ability to pass on the relevant knowledge is better than us.

“First Nations people have a much better understanding of what the dangers are, and fire would have been a massive danger throughout their existence.

“They know Australia a lot better than anybody else.

“I suspect they existed in quite a lot of climate changes already.”   

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