Princess Anne At 70 – HT
She never wanted to be a fairy tale princess. As a member of the royal family, females were tended to be treated as honorary men. She loves driving the tanks and firing the guns. As the Princess Royal prepares for her 70th birthday, we’ve had unique access to her family and her world, daughter. Good morning at Windsor.
Wife. Any husband who makes a comment on his wife’s uh fashion style is a very brave or risky man. Mother, it’s unbelievable the information that’s stored in her brain. It’s quite annoying as well. It is quite annoying. Yes. And grandmother. I’ve offered to try and do some homeschooling.
Haven’t seen hiding a hair of them at that suggestion. We hear from old friends with memories of the young princess. She was more determined than most, more competitive than most. See how she planned her own education. I did volunteer to go to school, I have to say. Became a trend setting it girl. The vocab is for extraordinary women and dedicated herself to a life of service, becoming one of the hardest working royals.
She was lovely. She really does hold a conversation with you. Does anyone ever try to tell her to slow down a bit? I mean, good luck. She’s in the public eye, but has managed to stay intensely private. Anne doesn’t crave the limelight. She probably had her fill of being in the newspapers when she was young.
Being royal in the media age can be tough. Anne was a pioneer. The pressure that is applied to the younger members of the family is hard sometimes to deal with. The Princess Royal has always gone her own way. The first Royal Olympian. It is probably the most dangerous sport on the planet. As fearless in the saddle.
Good evening. Shots have been fired at Princess Anne. As in the face of a kidnapper. I had thought about it before that. What would you do if now in closeup an Elizabeth Alice Louise the Princess Royal as we’ve never seen her before? Goldfish in a bowl here. Oh, there he goes. Hello, big boy. Summer 2020 and like the rest of the country, the Princess Royal is selfisolating at home.
In her case, Gakam Park in Gsters. We have cattle and sheep here partly because environmentally you’re better off if you share the feeding um actually the the fertilizing as well. Thank you dear. In any other summer, Gakam would be hosting the Festival of British Eventing, a sport where horses and riders undergo timed trials.
Princess Anne has been the royal face of the sport for 50 years. The festival’s informal, a chance for the public to see her up close. The princess’s children, Zara Tindle and Peter Phillips, live locally. Their children are on hand to help out their grandmother. She loves seeing them ride. She loves having them around for Sunday lunches and, you know, taking them for walks and, you know, doing all the stuff that we used to do as kids.
She now takes them to do those sorts of things. Yeah, we quite like leaving them on Sundays. I’ll say we’ll pick them up later. See you later. And they are off racing. Off they go around the outside. Number six, Alfie Day is going like a storm around the outside there. He’s on Dan Brown. The festival’s a family affair.
But this year, CO 19 changed that. Once it was legal for her grandchildren to approach, the princess was ready to play school. mom, they got ponies and they come over and they can ride here, but they are they they face the same challenges of everybody else in terms of homeschooling and I think that’s actually that is a challenge wherever you are.
I offered to try and do some outdoor learning, but so far it hasn’t been taken up on. When I was small, we had to pick things and then press them and identify them and I don’t think anybody does that anymore. And I was thinking, oh, you know, might be a good idea if we started doing that again.
Haven’t seen hiding a hair of them at that suggestion. It’s the longest time I’ve ever spent at Gatakam in the 40 odd years we’ve been here. It’s frustrating, I think. But look around. It’s not hard here. The idea of being stuck in an um a block of flats with small children and um can’t imagine how difficult that would be. For five decades, she’s been used to a packed work schedule.
The Princess Royal didn’t expect to spend her 70th year down on the farm. Working from home has been a challenge. Husband, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Lawrence, has seen the frustration. Almost everything that she does in a public way involves people coming together to to to meet her for for some reason or another.
So, that’s been extremely difficult. The charity work is constant. It’s Tom here. I’m I’m just going to introduce her majesty the queen. But country broadband isn’t. These aren’t your average conference calls either. Uh good morning at Windsor. Good morning. I’m very glad to have been able to join you. Can you see everybody? You should have six people on your screen.
Yes. Well, I can see four anyway. Okay. Fair enough. Actually, you don’t need me. you know what I look like. Um, with online technology, being in touch is one thing, but it’s not quite the same. The ability to meet people, that’s what makes the difference. I know what Twitter is, but I wouldn’t go anywhere near it.
Um, if you paid me, frankly, that’s slightly different issue. So, I do feel pretty useless stuck here in relative terms to what I I think I should be doing. Whatever the new normal brings, the old normal was a life of duty. Seasons marked by state events at Buckingham Palace. Evenings filled with charity dinners and speeches. Most mornings involve an early start, even before the transport arrives.
The princess has a daily schedule of public appearances. Today they’re all over Kent. She is very hardworking. She is the busiest member of the royal family, regularly carrying out over 500 engagements a year. Well, the way days each of those will probably be different and different reasons for going many of volunteer organizations and if you can do anything to raise their profile then you will have achieved something.
you are reflecting her majesty’s position, but most of the time you are, I think in my case, just trying to cover the the bits of the country that most other people won’t get to. Huxley, come and practice your bow. Mommy, practice a curtsy then. Ready? There we are. See, it’s good, isn’t it? That’s my curtsy.
Is that right? What do you do with your hands? Today, the first organization is English Rural near Asheford. Villages are getting ready for the royal opening of some new homes. Princess S’s coming to visit my house. It’s a bit nervous with two young boys, but there you go. No, it’s very exciting. I hear she’s quite a country girl like me.
We have to send her programs, her briefs, her speeches, and God help me if there was something missing. She would read with a really sharp eye. And I I remember once I’ve never forgotten it, she said, “Private sector, what normally comes after 16?” And I knew then that page 17 of the brief was missing.
The organization has backstories that have got useful to know. So that’s, you know, either length of time, people involved, impact of what it does. She’s like a sponge. It’s unbelievable the information that’s stored in her brain. It’s incredible. It’s quite annoying as well. It is quite annoying. Yes. Had to wait a bit, haven’t you? Yes.
I first registered an interest about a year and a half or two years ago, but we’re very happy. And did you help with decorating? Huxley, did you decorating to you? Oh, he’s been really battling this morning. Your royal highness. The first unveiling of the day done. Then it’s back to the helicopter. At Maidstone Hospital, a new helipad needs opening.
We’ve got about 200 people here. here. I don’t suppose she’ll be able to say hello to every single one of those, but anybody she can say hello to, I know they’ll really appreciate it. Oh, look, she’s coming. Sometimes people react in the most extraordinary ways. You know, they get completely overroled being in front of a princess and thoroughly overdo the curtsies or the boughs or don’t do it at all or practically shake the whole hand off, which can happen.
You don’t literally work your way through the crowd. That’s usually left up to other people. In some ways, it be just as much fun if you did it all by yourself, but it’d be a bit chaotic. This is Kennedy. Although Polyrid at the garden party, I used to work up the back of the the border, which is where the people who didn’t want to be seen went.
That was my they were almost pretending they weren’t there. So, engaging them in conversation was always quite they were always looking I’m not really here, you know, I don’t really want to talk to anyone. And this is Luchier. So, nice to meet you. So, Luchier is a senior employee of the whole of the NHS.
93 years old and that she now looks after the junior doctors on this site. So she keeps their you know where they live is called a mess but actually it’s very clean. It’s not a mess at all. It’s only because of her. It’s only nice to meet you. Yeah. Nice. Thank you. The impact of a royal visit. It’s very hard to quantify but you get back into the car and you see people just beaming.
It’s winter 2 hours before sundown. But the Princess Royal is only halfway through her day’s engagements. I always reminded many of our colleagues of the British Olympic Association that while we’ve all sort of sauntered into a board meeting at 2:00 that runs till 5:00, she’s probably opened five hospitals by the time that she’s even had lunch.
Does anyone ever try to tell her to slow down a bit and take things easier? I mean, good luck. We would try and you know and then it would be a very short conversation. At Gillingham there are hospital building works to inspect and staff at the maternity unit of the year to congratulate two events in coming year.
It’s amazing and and I know how demanding it is. So really my hat off to her. Well, she a remarkable hardworking woman. I haven’t done a curtsy since I did ballet. I’m just going to have to do a little bob. 3 2 1. Here she comes. Oh, she’s got so much more energy than anybody that I know who’s 70.
Well, apart from various members of our family, but she there there certainly uh she certainly doesn’t act it. Age is not a a thing to her. It’s, you know, very much the more she keeps doing the the younger she’ll stay. Yeah. She always says she doesn’t have very good role models for slowing down. No, that’s true.
I do remember a day the princess must have met a thousand people on four or five engagements. And I remember thinking, I’m absolutely wrecked at the end of the day. Um, she was still giving everybody the attention she gave at the beginning of the day. So, ma’am, if I could introduce Laura and Chris and then new baby.
Nice to see Do you work here? Yeah. This is Allor’s third baby. Early Christmas present, I think. Darling to wrap it up. Have a very good Christmas. Thank you. You too. The princess is scheduled to land at Kensington Palace helipad at just after 4:00. A cup of tea, change of clothes, and then she’ll be off to a charity dinner.
There may be a change to a formal thing, a ball crown or cocktail dress. And she’s so adept at chopping and changing. I’ve not quite mastered the art myself. But the Princess Royal’s presence is requested at charity dinners most nights of the week. She has one golden rule. I’m very jealous of the princess doesn’t drink at all. It is a busy day for her.
She does start early and then doesn’t really finish until 9:00 at night. Maybe if it’s after a dinner quite a lot later. I always remember when we were living at Gaken that she would come home from engagements and she’d be exactly what she was wearing and her makeup on and stuff, put her well boots on, her jacket on and then she walks up and goes to do her chickens and get her eggs.
Sitting still really um doesn’t happen very much. Sometimes of course it’s unavoidable. Sculptor Francis Segman Pachi is making a bust to mark the princess’s 70th birthday. She’s done most of the royal family. She’s coming for a second sitting. I would love her to have a tier. I’m going to try and persuade her today.
Good morning. Lovely to meet you again. Thank you for coming. I did the sculpture of your of your mother in 2008. 2008. Your father in 2000. Boris hair do is tricky. The princess must now be center of attention, not something she enjoys. Caroline Nunnelly is a lady in waiting. Her job anticipating the boss’s needs.
Right now, it’s probably escape. Goldfish in a bowl here. Francis bravely tries the T-word. So, we were going to talk about the tiara. Don’t we? Yeah. I thought I’d said no. I know. But I just think it would look so fabulous if you got little tiny tiaras are not really worth it. It would just make it so nice.
You could think about it again. Yeah. If you do wear a tiara, well, the back still be the same. To be honest, if I’m if I’m wearing a tiara, am I doing my hair differently? It’s probably a no. But there is another type of crown to discuss. I want people to like us to feel that they know us. I know you value your privacy, but I think there’s a lot about you that they would like if they if they got a chance.
The fact that you’re you’re generally your good value for money, like a pair of long-lasting boots. Actually, I read an article the other day about the I don’t watch Netflix in the Crown, but the actress was talking about how long it took them to do their hair like I did. Really? And I’m thinking, how could you possibly take that long? I mean, it takes me 10 or 15 minutes. You do it yourself.
I do it. Do you do it yourself? Because it’s so much quicker. I The idea that they’re taking that long. Don’t you think I did that every day? I don’t think so. Amazing. The early ones were quite interesting. When your mom was young, making series about people who are still living is always quite a dangerous thing to do.
The television princess wasn’t interested in celebrity. Not unlike the real one. She’s not a person that is constantly looking for praise. She gets on and does her work uh regardless because she thinks it’s important. Anne doesn’t crave the limelight. She probably had her fill of being in the newspapers when she was young.
So, there’s a lot of things that she does under the radar. There were no tears when Princess Anne was first captured on film in September 1950. It’s an occasion when we would all wish to share their joy and pride. Anne was a new princess for a new age. the media age. She grew up surrounded by cameras in public and at home.
Both the princess’s parents were keen home filmmakers. When he was six, the Earl of Caes was invited to balmoral playdates with the 5-year-old princess. I was very fortunate to know Princess Anne. She was always a lot of fun. She was a very determined person. She was not going to get beaten by a situation or by somebody.
And if somebody could do something, she could do it, too. She was a very imaginative child and curious about everything that happened. So, she was curious about the environment. And of course, the Duke was very keen on the environment. So, he was passing that knowledge and interest onto his children, too. She also was brought up by her father to sail in in dingies and developed a love of sailing.
almost her earliest memory is going on board the Royal Oper Britannia. The Duke of Edinburgh just got on with things. Didn’t suffer fools gladly. And I think it’s fair to say that the the the Princess has many of her father’s characteristics. The Duke of Edinburgh’s home movies capture determination and perhaps more in the child who would become the Princess Royal.
She was more determined than most, more competitive than most, and that was a lovely streak in her. Anne and her brother Charles were first educated together at Buckingham Palace by Miss Katherine Peebles. The school days was governor’s driven, so the range of what you can do is quite limited. My basic skills were okay.
Um, but we won’t go further than that. And I did more French than most people did, but no maths and no Latin. a new term at Benendon schools. When she was 12, Anne took the initiative and asked her mother if she could go to school outside the palace, the first princess to do so. I did volunteer to go to school, I have to say, and I was thrilled.
School was much more interesting. Now she’ll live and learn with 300 other girls and be treated at the Queen’s request exactly the same as any other girl. This was a new experience, the first time she had mixed with large groups of other children. Did you feel you were treated as like one of one of the girls or something? You don’t have to ask the other girls that. I thought so.
One of them was classmate Sandra Hacking, already part of a tight friendship group. For 6 years, they had shared the princess’s hopes, dreams, and secrets. We were given encouragement to be as natural as possible with with the princess. The perception was that the princess might be quite shy, but we had this group of friends and the princess um just rocked up and joined in.
For me, of course, it was education at a different level and the fact that you were doing it with a group of people. I was amazed how much I enjoyed it. I got on very well with our head mistress, Miss Eie Clark, but most people were terrified of her. We used to have quite interesting conversations and she was fascinating.
didn’t happen all that often, but I I was always intrigued why people were so frightened of her. Perhaps the head was on best behavior with a pupil who had her own policeman. There was a really lovely security officer and we did lead him a bit of a dance. It was rather fun to um break out of school and go to the fish and chip shop and trying to escape this loyal detective who was supposed to be looking after her.
And um anyway, we did that a few times. She was a very normal teenager. She was sensible and fun. Scotland Yard had help. Anne’s classmates also kept an eye on her. There was a possibly a general instruction not to talk to the press. The paparazzi did exist then. I don’t recall intrusion at school, but on the public road they were quite keen to photograph her.
So there was a sense of looking after her. After A levels, many went on to further education. The princess went into the family business. So many of my contemporaries when asked why they were going to university would say, “Well, because basically because that’s what you do.” And I’m thinking, “Really? That’s not a very good reason for going to university.
” So, I thought I’d skip that. But I also thought that I might have the opportunity to travel with her majesty on her tours. I did geography A level, so it for me it made more sense. Shortly before her 19th birthday, the princess joined her parents on a state visit to Austria. It was the start of a lifelong career representing the country abroad.
On early trips, the princess was learning the ropes. People talk about um being trained to become member of the royal family. Um I’m sorry to disappoint you, there is no such thing. It’s just learning by experience. But as hardly ever does anything go quite according to plan. You have to learn that one that sticks in my mind about going up in lifts and there was the queen of the juke of Edinburgh and the lady waiting me.
We were all dressed for quite a smart do somewhere and we went from the ground floor. We were only supposed to be going two stories and it went up to about the 19th floor and this chap got in thinking he was going for, you know, a spa treatment. He was slightly surprised. In Australia in 1970, the princess tried out a new approach to royal visits that Fleet Street dubbed the walkabout.
I picked a young woman who I thought was sort of my age and she looked at me and she said, “We met before and I’d never been to Australia before. Never done a walkabout before.” And I thought, “Don’t be ridiculous.” And she said, “I was the floor maid in Malta when you came.” So you learn this is a small world.
At the time Princess Anne came of age, whatever the young did was news, and whatever young royals did was big news. Today, their celebrities, like it or not, but an was the pioneer. The pressure that is applied to the younger members of the family. It’s always worse because that’s what the media is interested in and that’s, you know, hard sometimes to deal with.
But there was no social media in my day. So it probably has made it more difficult. I know there are lots of younger royals sort of who are very glamorous. But she was a very modern princess. In the relatively short time that Anne has been a grown-up, fashion conscious young lady.
She’s made herself a name for her choice of hats. She was actually rather glamorous in the long hair and she was very much of her time. She’s the first princess to wear a minikrt. Different looks go in out of fashion. She’s not ahead of it, but she’s definitely in there. And she was on the cover for her 21st birthday.
There was a landmark portrait to be on the cover of Vogue in 1971. I mean, the vocab is for extraordinary women. And she was very much her own person, not her mother or her her aunt. Princess Anne hit planet fashion for six. Her public wardrobe was bold and blocky. She favored bright colors and big hats. She’s actually really fashionable as a young woman and she’s sort of her own person within those parameters.
The princess turned her visibility to good use, backing the textile and fashion industries. Tonight she’s at London Fashion Week to present a design award. So the princess has been our president since 1985. In the 60s and 70s, she was known for her very lively interest in fashion. The princess has an eye.
I’m sure she wouldn’t mind me saying this. She she has her preferences on colors. I mean, we see green quite a lot, natural colors. In the 80s, she she started to wear on public occasions the suit, of course, emblematic of the working woman. She also wears those suits again and again, as a normal woman would. that’s made her be recently hailed as an icon of sustainability.
I’m probably the very last person to make any comment about fashion. Uh and any husband who makes a comment on on his wife’s uh fashion style is is is a very brave or risky man. What I would say is that she has developed a style of her own and and she sticks to it. She she’s not driven by others to do something that doesn’t suit her.
Back in the 1970s, if the world’s most eligible princess was seen anywhere near a bachelor, it made for banner headlines. Captain Mark Phillips was a rising star in the equestrian world. He met his princess at an Olympic party in 1968. 3 years later, the press got their story. After weeks of rumors, speculation, and denials, finally it’s official.
Neither the princess nor her fianceé wanted the attention, but their celebrity fueled royal wedding fever. In November 1973, the ceremony was a major television event. There had never been anything like it in terms of television spectacle, probably since the coronation, which was on tiny black and white sets.
500 million people watched around the world. With this ring, I be wed. With this ring, I be wed. The wedding made the princess and her new husband, the most famous couple on earth. It also made them targets. Good evening. Shots have been fired at Princess Anne and Captain Phillips. At least five shots were fired at their car. The bullets shattered the windows.
4 months after her dazzling wedding, Princess Anne was the target of wouldbe kidnapper Ian B. What is interesting is what you remember and how you remember it. Cuz although I thought I remembered everything that had happened, I would never have been able to swear that I could remember in the right order because they were like photos, individual snapshots very clearly.
In March 1974, the Royal Car was returning from a charity event when B forced it to stop. The MAL is completely closed off here tonight. Now, a gunman got out and fired several shots through the windscreen. When protection officer Jim Beaton confronted him, he was shot in the shoulder. There was a couple of short cracks.
I took my pistol, lifted it up, and fired it in his direction, but nothing happened. And it obviously had jammed. I managed to get into the car and there was Ian B with his gun. So I just stuck up my right hand in front of it and he fired um and it went through the window obviously and into my hand. The driver and Princess Anne’s bodyguard were hurt.
Then a policeman on point duty ran up. He was turned on by the gunman and shot at at point blank range. Strangely, I had thought about it before that. What would you do if one thing about horses and sport is you you have to prepare for the unexpected and you’ve got to think your way through the sort of problems that are likely to occur.
And I suppose that was the discipline which to some extent colored my thought processes. The princess tried to talk the gunman down, insisting she would not leave the car. I remember she said to me, she said, “I was so annoyed that he tore the sleeve out of my dress.” she said and it was a good new dress.
Before he was overpowered, B shot and wounded four people. They were all given medals by a grateful queen. Princess and because she was so cool, calm and collected, I think it kept the situation within control. 3 years later came the birth of a son, Peter, and in 1981, baby Zara. Their mother decided her children should be playing Mr. and Miss.
Stunning pictures of her in here. We were always brought up on the understanding that we were going to have to go to work. We were going to have to go out and earn our earn our living regardless of the fact of who our grandmother was or who our mother was. I think it made us fight harder as well to try and be as successful as we could be.
Um, so I definitely, you know, I’m very we’re very grateful to her not give us a title anyway. As a member of the raw family, living with that sort of pressure is is hard and the expectations that come with it is hard and that might have been at the bottom of the list that it may be less difficult for you.
But actually understanding where they sit within the family and what happens next, it made much more sense. Peter and Zara both live with their families close to Gakam Park in Glsters. It was where they grew up, a haven for them and their mother. It was her her sanctuary if you like. When you’re working, you also um want to be able to then go home and, you know, be be a mother.
You know, she was taking us out, you know, onto the farm and helping out on the farm, helping with the lamming and all that sort of stuff. They didn’t give them titles, but Princess Anne and Mark Phillips did give their children a leg up into the saddle. Captain Phillips was an Olympic gold medalist before he and Princess Anne were married.
For the whole family, horses were work, rest, and play. It was part of our lives. We didn’t really know anything else. We both started off with a little shetling called Smokey. When we went up to the stables to go and ride, it was a working professional yard. You know, both our parents were riding. It was normal, especially as our father won Olympic medals and been hugely successful in the sport.
That was just life growing up. But the marriage wasn’t to last. After 19 years, the couple were divorced. Princess Anne then married naval commander Tim Lawrence. It’s quite amusing that she married first an army officer and then a naval officer. So there must be something about the military that that attracts her. They met while the up and cominging officer was an Aquari or military assistant to the queen.
After almost 30 years of marriage, the Vice Admiral and the Princess Royal make a powerful team. They both have the understanding of what being a part of the the wider family means and what is required. and through the last 25 years plus that they’ve been together. Now, it’s it’s um he’s been a very strong support for her.
Naturally, their interests coincide. The Trafalaga dinner is an annual naval tradition and an enjoyable date for both of them. There’s a shared love of history, duty, and much more besides. We are both map and chart people. We like to know where we are and see where we’re going. For more than three decades, Sir Tim has been able to observe the royal family close up.
Similarities with her father are much talked about. What is less spoken about is the similarities with her mother, the queen. The uh the common theme is humor, fun. One of the great surprises for me when I first went to Balmoral and to Sandingham and Windsor was that these places are full of laughter. The love of sport is another bond. We both follow with great enthusiasm the Scottish rugby team.
As you may have noticed, they don’t always win. There is one area where the couple don’t see eye to eye. She grew up with horses. Horses have been part of her life. It’s not something I share with her. Sadly, I’ I’ve never been bitten by the horse bug. At Gakam, that bug draws the crowds to the festival of British Eventing.
Jane Holdenus Rodom is a lady in waiting to the princess and a former Olympic gold medalist. They first met riding as children. Even at 9 years old or 10 years old, you know, when she appeared, she had great presence. She never pushed herself forward, but she just, you know, you knew she was there sort of thing.
I started to compete. There was an acceptance. I give that a try and see how it went. And then there was more successful than I thought it was going to be. Well, she was obviously very competitive and she had an amazing affinity with her horses. You know, her and and Dublet were just a real partnership.
They were a pleasure to watch. At the age of 21, as a member of the British Eventing Team, Princess Anne won gold at the 1971 European Eventing Championships. Well, sport is a great leveler. It has no respect for who you are. It it uh it’s a question of whether you succeed. If you come first in a in a world equestrian games, nobody can really accuse you of of having extra favors because you’re a member of the royal family.
You’ve done it and it’s a great thing to achieve. Also in 1971 there was another trophy for the royal mantelpiece. Just being selected with that group of sports people has to be a significant honor especially from a from the perspective of a sport that doesn’t get that level of profile. It gives me great pleasure ma’am to present the sport personality award of 1971.
It was a really important moment for Olympic sport when she won that. Seeing off George Best at the same time was pretty much up there. And of course, Zara went on to win it uh many, many years later. Which section of the 3-day event do you enjoy best? The end. It was a slightly novel novel entrance for everybody.
I was just amazed to be included. But the Olympics were the pinnacle of the princess’s career and brought even more attention to her sport. The Queen was determined to see the tough 17-m cross country course that Princess Anne will find on Saturday. I wasn’t at the Olympics. I couldn’t go. So, it was all on the television what we saw.
What I didn’t know at the time was that she had this awful fall. I was going very well. and then I don’t remember anything else. But she got back on and competed. She was that concussed that she couldn’t remember and still to this day I believe doesn’t remember the rest of the course. Nothing at all. Nothing at all. No, it is probably the most dangerous sport on the planet.
I’ve watched a lot of three-day eventing. I I know the sort of the competitive granite uh that those those men and women are made from. and she’s absolutely heuned from that. Her mantra of her life is very much if you fall get back up and try again. Get up, carry on, mind your manners. All that early exposure inspired the next generation.
Zara Phillips was a gold medalist with the Britishing team and was for 4 years world champion. In 2012, she won silver at the London Olympics. her mother presented the award. To be given your medal by your mother is is pretty special. You can’t really ever explain that that feeling. She very much, you know, knows what it takes to achieve and to win.
Having the whole family to come and watch was incredible as well. All the cousins were there, weren’t they? It was a really um special day, special family day for um it’s the only competition that everyone’s watched me in. But if there’s going to be one, it’s going to be that one. Was it very important that you beat your mother’s record? No, but it’s very important I beat my father’s.
It was pointed out to me a while ago that um that I’m the only member of my direct family not to have a gold medal. Um but we moved on from that. The International Olympic Committee has It was her competitor’s understanding of the Olympics that made the princess a key player in the bid to bring the games to London in 2012.
London. I really think the team have earned it and they’ve done a fantastic job. She was absolutely integral to uh winning the bid for the Olympics in 2005. Then did a huge job uh with the British Olympic Association. The Princess Roy was on the the bid committee and her contribution was seismic uh and it was always to the point.
Um she doesn’t always suffer fools uh gladly. She doesn’t speak for the sake of speaking. I do remember after a rather long- winded um interjection by one of the uh committee members, she’d actually forgotten to turn her microphone off and she did manage to utter the immortal words, I think this person is probably the most stupid person in world sport.
And this echoed absolutely around the room and she never flinched. It was as though never happened and we just moved on. But it is probably one of my favorite moments. In Estonia, the king’s royal hazars are awaiting the princess, their colonel in chief. She’s coming east to observe their maneuvers as part of a NATO battle group.
First time I’ve driven a member of the royal family. I’m busy. I’m really looking forward to it. It’s quite an honor to have a member of the royal family on our tank. Tell the grandkids. The monarchy is our guiding light, our our moral compass. Having someone like the Princess Ra who stands for that family and she’s the head of our family is incredibly important.
She’s hugely in admiration of what the United Kingdom’s military does for this country and she wants to support them. It’s really good. She’s interested in see like variance of what we do. It’s really nice to see her come out and get amongst all the lads. I think it’s important that they recognize that there is somebody from outside the military who might understand what they’re doing.
They are working very hard. So that’s I I hope what they feel is is being achieved. We all know her and we’ve all felt that personal touch uh that she brings. And her ability to talk to everyone uh of any rank, of any age is something that we all love about her. So, as Royal Engineers, we’re setting up battlefield simulations for the attack that’s going to happen.
The Challenger 2 uh is a hugely effective um piece of equipment. There are in life upgrades going on at the moment. There’s always the technology to catch up on cuz that’s changing all the time. It’s quite a full-on uh environment. It’s loud. It’s noisy. She loves going in any of her army vehicles.
She loves driving the tanks, firing the guns. There’s a huge amount going on. I was impressed by actually how much she immediately understood. Right in the middle, she got out her her phone and started filming, which is what people do today. Uh she doesn’t stand above and beyond it. and she’s terribly human. At headquarters, the officer’s mess is a shrine to their royal comrade.
As a member of the royal family, females were tended to be treated as honorary men. So, you know, they would become involved in organizations otherwise men only. In 1969, the princess joined up her first rank colonel and chief of the 14th 20th Hazars as they were then known. That was almost the first thing that I did when they were in Germany.
Then at the age of 19, she was on exercise in a Chieftain tank named after her. Just perfect for Trafalga Square. You know, it solves all your problems really. Oh, they’re fantastic bits of kit. Commanding officer Latutenant Colonel Angus Tney is keeper of the regimental scrapbook. We’ve got photos here of the Princess Roy a chieftain uh with her headscarf on.
I’d make sure she had a helmet on if she did it today and firing the Sterling submachine gun. Again, no air defense uh in those days. Um but certainly today we’d make sure that she did. It’d be the end of me if I had Princess Royal shooting a Sterling submachine gun without ear defenders. But she seems pretty easy with it. She’s actually the longest serving member of the King’s Rollars.
It’s a very long association. I thought I’d got old when the son of the commanding officer when I met him was in short pants in Germany became an officer in the regiment. I thought I’d been there too long already. Such we’re into grandchildren. Yeah. When she was very young, Princess Anne would join Prince Charles watching the Queen at the grandest military ceremony of all. It’s among her first memories.
Well, the earliest ones of course were the troop in the color of the busy parade. It was important training for Princess Anne in the ceremonial role of the monarchy. You were allowed to go um quite early in your career. That was much the earliest of the sort of ceremonial events you were allowed to be part of.
State visits came much later. For today’s ceremony, the princess will ride behind the queen as a royal colonel. Right. Final polish and grooming. You get the other horse out now, chap. Every year, royal stud groom Terry Pendry prepares the family’s horses for the ceremony. The Princess Roy there.
We have her her saddle. She’s a fine fine horse woman. Passed on from her mother, her grandmother, all the royal children, and they learned to walk and straight after walking, they were learned to ride. Of course, the princess royal just went from strength to strength to strength. I did compete against her on the odd occasion.
I I have beaten her, but most of the time I would have seen her backside disappearing into She was a lot better than I’ll ever be. Right, saddles on. I’m pretty certain they know they’re going on parade. George behind me certainly does. Yeah, they do know. I’m certain of it. Trooping the color is the most astonishing mixture of pageantry, military ceremonial, horsemanship, and horsemanship.
But at the heart of it is this family and the family of course are on performance and of course does very well since she probably rides more than the others. Trooping the color it is absolutely crucial in terms of what they do as members of that family. For me like family occasions were all about hanging out with our cousins and just having as much fun as possible.
You then get a click around the ear and say right be behave yourself. Yeah, we’re going out on the balcony. Don’t pick your nose and you don’t yawn. Today, the Princess Royal increasingly helps out the queen and not just in military ceremonies. She also takes a key role in the most exciting civil event, the investigures.
I didn’t think I would ever be asked to do an investigure. It’s a real pleasure. I’m delighted to be able to go on doing those. These are British Empire. That’s a CBE. And then over there is the sword that the princess ro will be using uh for the investor today. The honor system is a wonderful way of recognizing individual people around the country that makes this country great rather than you know big companies or politicians.
So this is it. Journalist Brenda Immanis is to receive the OBBE for services to broadcasting and diversity. Her Majesty the Queen may be graciously pleased to approve that you be appointed an officer of the Order of the British Empire. It’s really quite amazing and quite humbling. My mother was so proud.
The first time I’ve seen her genuinely bursting with pride. Choosing what to wear took forever. That’s the coat. But I’m not sure what the formality is whether you keep your coat on or take your coat off when you go up to do your bit. Let’s get straight up the stairs. Recipients. Today, 65 recipients and their families have traveled to Buckingham Palace.
Linda Longstaff has come from Sunderland to receive an MBE for her work as a hospital chaplain. Absolutely overwhelmed. What a day. And to be with my husband and my two girls, it’s wonderful. For most people, this will be their first contact with the royal family. Brenda’s mom has bought a new hat. I feel very proud this morning.
Yes, I am because of my daughter coming to get this. It’s quite a thing actually starting to hit me. So, the Princess Ry likes to spend a good chunk of time talking to each recipient. She’s really good at it. So, you know, we tailor the numbers accordingly. She does her homework with her staff on each person so that she knows their background story and uh will remember each one as they come up.
She’s exceptional at it. If you get in a position where you can see and hear what I have to say, please. And it’s my job to explain how an investion works. Turn to face the Princess Royal. Neck bell and from the ladies are much better than I can do. It’s a curts. You’re now moving forward towards the das.
Receive your award. Conversation. Handshake. Take it. Shake it. Let go. Go back two or three paces. Neck bow or a curtsy. Turn to your right and pass out in that direction. People winge about having an award system. But actually this one does work. And I think on the whole the decisions made have been good and they do reflect I think appropriately the important issues.
The system itself gets a bit of flack because occasionally somebody controversial gets an honor. But the award of an MBE to somebody who’s been uh beavering away for for 10 or 20 years supporting some charitable cause is is a is a massively important part of our national life. I think this is absolutely the the the heart of what the monarchy does because the princess has been going around the country for 50 yearsish.
She she would give an MBE out to a health worker and the lady would say, “I remember when you opened the General Hospital in North Allatin in 1980.” And and then the conversation would go on from there. Talking about um we’ve met before. That happens more in investigages than I care to think and then often a bit of a challenge. But there you go.
She was lovely. She really does hold a conversation with you cuz I was really worried what to say and she knows about you as well. She asked me if I prefer being in front of the camera or behind. She knew a lot about my artwork. Some of the palace authorities thought the princess’s investigators was went on a bit too long, but it gave enormous joy and pride to the recipients.
which at the end of the day is what it’s all about. Hello. Hello. And that was a preview of Princess Anne and me on our Blue Peter Royal Safari. The Princess Royal has spent 50 years bringing the spotlight to the vast array of charities she represents. It all began in 1970 when she became president of Save the Children.
I don’t know why they asked me because pattonly as a 19year-old um who’d done very little that was quite an interesting um risk. The princess gets this wonderful new role. Royal Events before that she’d maybe been you know with her mother and father or maybe with Prince Charles. This time it was you know it was her film.
Do you like flying? Well it I wouldn’t consider it one of my favorite forms of transport. Probably that first interview was a little bit awkward because it was the first time she was doing it. It was the first time I was doing it. Once we got into Kenya, it became much more relaxed. She’s very natural.
She was very easy with the children. I think she was enjoying the film being there and being, let’s face it, she was the center of attention, but she absolutely knew all about the Save the Children fund. And she absolutely wasn’t going to make any mistakes. She’d done her homework. She was in charge of Save the Children. When I was a kid, as far as I can remember, I said, “Who is this person who wants to save me and all other children?” At the charity’s London headquarters, they’re awaiting her arrival.
50 years after she joined them, her royal highness is still on the headed note paper and on the board. I suppose it took me about 10 years to work out just how say the children functioned. So, I didn’t say much for 10 years. It was a good organization to learn from because it if you got children involved, it’s about health, it’s about education, it links to all sorts of other things.
The Princess has a really inquisitive mind uh and a huge knowledge across the workings of all her charities. The great advantage of having the Princess Royal sitting at your boardroom table is that when you have somebody of that bandwidth of experience, it allows you to make much better and informed decisions.
The Princess delivers experience and exposure to more than 300 charities and patredages. It was the reason that in 1987 the Queen made her Princess Royal. One of the things my father said was, you know, you’ll be offered a whole lot of things. And the big mistake that was made in the past was just accepting anything that anybody asked you to do.
And he said, you know, just be a bit careful and find something that either you’re interested in or you think might you might be able to have an impact. And for me, that was the writing of the disabled association. No knowledge of disabilities, but some knowledge of ponies. In June, the charity holds a weekend of competitions and displays.
It’s a fixture in the princess’s diary. Her Royal Highness has been involved with Riding for the Disabled for 50 years. The fact that she’s a horsewoman makes it much more authentic. She’s incredibly inspirational. After this is my horse, Sarin. Have you not completed yet? Not yet. Well, horses are used as a great therapy in lots of organizations and the princess knows very much the therapeutic use of of riding um to help both physical disabilities and um mental.
The organization has provided support for 17-year-old showjumper Eevee Tombs. She hasn’t let the complications of spinobipida dent her parolympic ambitions. It’s a wonderful association and it helped in so many ways. Daisy recognizes that my legs don’t work very well and I’m not very strong.
She knows when I’m a bit weak and she can kind of look after me that bit more. She’s very special to me. Horses make the world go round. At least for everyone here. I actually had to ask my sister what is the correct way to address the princess. Oh yeah. What is the correct way? I was going to say her royal highness the princess royal or this is Evie Jones.
Nice to meet you. She rides with Lincolnshire World’s RTA. She’s an amazing show jumper. You competed this morning, didn’t you? Yeah, I do a lot of riding and I also visit uh primary schools to educate on hidden illnesses and kind of spread the love for riding. So, when did you start riding yourself? How old were you? I was about four years old.
My mom rides. So, I’m really lucky in that aspect. Yeah. and got pushed. Even my neurosurgeon when I had neurosurgery said to get her on a horse. So that was doctor’s orders. Yeah, I expected the horse to be a bit like up here and posh and all that. But she was nice. She’s so relaxed though. It makes it so enjoyable, doesn’t it? Because she’s so relaxed.
She’s not bothered and she is really important. says she invests a huge amount of time in all sorts of charities around this country and sticks up for you know the smallest and most obscure charities you could you could imagine. The small organizations who find it more difficult. I think raising their profile is no bad thing.
Hearing dogs for deaf people is a small charity with a big profile partly thanks to the princess’s patronage. hearing dogs came through a chap I met years ago who blinded in the war was very much part of my father’s life. He was one of those people who said no he said I’d rather be blind because I if I couldn’t hear I couldn’t be part of this conversation and suddenly you become aware of the fact that this is an isolation um by being deaf and the dogs helped people get over that.
The charity trains the puppies and the deaf people they’ll live with. The princess has been patron since 1992. Hello, darlings. Hello. Hello. Michelle Jennings is the organization’s new chief executive. She’s still getting used to the hands-on royals. She does far more than I ever expected a royal patron to do.
The temperament is crucially important. So, we breed about 75% of our own dogs. She’s incredibly engaged in how we’re bringing up these animals, how we’re training them. It’s very complex what we do. The whole working life of the dog is around £45,000. It’s a very very costly endeavor, but it changes lives. People who go and visit and see, they’re the ones that doing the research, the development, and the work on the ground and being the volunteers who make the difference.
Not me, but you can sometimes help other people make an even bigger impact than I’m already doing. The team work around the clock to train dogs like Scamp, who’s become the ears of 15-year-old Amelia Price Moxon. May I introduce Amelia? Hello. With her human dog, Scamp. So, what have you found has been helpful about scam? Um, he made me feel more confident.
Do you go out more? Yeah. With him on buses and trains and things like that. And he’s good at that. Yeah. Very good. That’s crucial. Yes, I think cuz media can’t really hear behind her or so safety aspect. Scamps been a lifesaver for you, hasn’t he? Yeah. Very good. And he does school assemblies as well.
Oh, really? Yes. Yeah. Do those, does he? What about in the house? Yeah. And he like help me like sleep better, so I know he’s there with me. Mhm. And he does he doesn’t sleep on the bed, does he? Yeah. Like at the end. Okay. She’s been supporting a lot of these organizations for many, many years.
She’s invested in, you know, all those things now. That’s why I think everything that she’s involved in has done so well. If you’ve got that much knowledge and um association with something, you put your passion into it. Certainly, as she’s got older, she’s tried to cut down, although she clearly hasn’t.
When trooping the colors over for another year, the household cavalry head for the beach. It’s time for the horses summer holiday. We come out here to get the horses away from London. We’re really lucky to be able to sit for a couple of beach rides, go for a caner/gallop, and we take the horses swimming.
Some of them love it, some of them are a bit reluctant to get in the water. Their colonel also enjoys the seaside. Today she’s dropping in for a private visit, horse play, and a spot of lunch. Every year she comes up after Queen’s birthday for a drink in the mess and occasionally some dinners. Um, but not to summer camp regularly.
She came up um, well, she was due to come up last year, but unfortunately had a helicopter breakdown. Colonel Anne, as she’s known, arrives without fast or formality and joins in the camp activities. It’s a bit more of a relaxed environment and it’s great to be able to see, you know, our colonel come along to chat to lots of soldiers and the officers to meet the horses to go for a ride.
It’s just a really good way to do a visit. We have Oscar for you to to ride ride later. Major Harriet Tel’s a regimental vet used to talking horse with the princess. I mean, clearly her horse knowledge is is outstanding. Even as a clinician, I sort of worry that she knows more than I do about the horses.
And you’d think that would be intimidating, but it isn’t because she puts you at ease. That’s true. You seem to have an empty box. You see Klan go up to soldiers and at first they are really nervous, rigidly nervous. And as soon as she starts talking and talking about something they know, they just instantly relax.
Colonel, we’ve got you on javelin, which is a colonel’s horse. She just jumped up with um was Oscar. Um I’ve taken advice from the old riding master. You spread the blame already. I read on the drills and she was very good actually. Fair enough. It’s not trooping the color, but the day still has some of the ingredients the princess enjoys.
Duty, precision, and horses. No. Walk on, not backwards. Thank you. 12 months on, a virus has made all this a golden memory. Back at Gatkham Park, the farmer princess has work to do. Well, I don’t sit still. I mean, that’s the advantage of being here is there’s always plenty to do and a lot of it is physical. She doesn’t go to the gym, but she is she will always go for a walk or she’ll always do something in the day.
You know, she’s she’s very disciplined in in that kind of thing. She still rides every day. She’s always walking the dogs. She’s not one of these people to sit down and you feel sorry for yourself. As soon as travel was legal, she was back visiting testing stations. In time of crisis representing the queen.
In this day and age, there’s still an expectation of the monarch for that kind of overall assistance. And I suppose part of it is the experience that we have across the board gets gives you a a better idea of of the impact that these dramas are having. And I would argue that that spread of knowledge is important that you’re not seen to be a single issue person.
Being seen as a role model was never an ambition. One of the oddities about my life is that I never either felt that or um always encouraged to be that. Maybe because I like doing things on my own and I did my own things. So no, I’m afraid I was a really bad at that sort of role model bit. The princess was born as postwar Britain was being recast.
The processes that shaped the nation helped to shape her a royal for the new age. She’s very uncompromising and she is incredibly loyal. I’m sure she would never selfidentify as a feminist, but you know, she’s a a working woman and feminism is as feminism does. I wish I had her energy. There’s nothing she’s not prepared to tackle.
She keeps herself very fit and just gets on with it. Francis Seelman Pache has finished her sculpture. This is very much like Elizabeth the First. Her hair, the way it goes up. Thanks to COVID 19, the subject herself hasn’t seen it yet. We’re hoping that Prince Leanne will unveil it for her birthday in August. I think it’s elegant and I think it’s imposing and I think it is her.
She is a very elegant, serene, strong lady. At the start of her eighth decade, the Princess Royal could just put her feet up. She won’t be spending her weekends at home with her slippers on. She’s more likely to be wearing sea boots. Our ideal of a a break, if we have a break, is to go up to our boat on the west coast of Scotland, uh spend a few days um sometimes getting wet and cold.
It is very nice to be able to do it just together. I navigate. I know how to get from A to B, but she’s a better uh sailor of the boat. She she’s she’s better at setting the sails and that sort of thing. I’m sure she tells the admiral what to do. She’s also an admiral. Oh, yes, she is. I think she’s slightly more senior than he is as well.
I’m sure they tell each other. Luckily, you wouldn’t go on a boat with them, would you? For this senior royal senior citizen, stopping is clearly out of the question. But there is another sword. Slow down. I thought I had slowed down. Um I think that the thing that nags away at you is that after all this time you should have learned something and there is a an element of responsibility to make sure that you kind of knit that knowledge together and pass that on.