Did you know Princess Anne had a series of torrid love affairs in her youth?

HRH THE PRINCESS ROYAL(HRH Princess Anne)COMPULSORY CREDIT: UPPA/Photoshot PhotoPAH 185811   09.10.1969

The Crown Season 3 is about to drop on Netflix, and it will show Prince Charles and Princess Anne in their teens and early 20s, apparently. Young Josh O’Connor looks like a perfect Charles, I haven’t seen enough of Erin Doherty to know if she will be a good Anne. The thing is, for people my age and younger, Princess Anne exists in the cultural zeitgeist as a horse-obsessed older broad who doesn’t give a sh-t about fashion or makeup. We don’t really think of Anne as a young beauty, or someone who had some possibly torrid love affairs in her youth. But she probably did have lots of love affairs, at least that’s what I think Richard Kay at the Daily Mail is trying to say. As we all know, royal reporters tend to use coded language, especially when it’s about a royal figure’s sex life. So as I was reading Kay’s piece, I just replaced “dance partner” and “riding companion” with “lover” every time. And damn, girl, Anne was GETTING SOME. Richard Kay truly listed them all:

Gerald Ward. The story begins with Gerald Ward, an Eton-educated ex-Cavalry officer, who later became Prince Harry’s godfather. They dated when Anne was in her late teens, after she left Benenden School and had just begun her public duties. Ward, a Berkshire landowner, was an all-round action man who enjoyed parachuting, scuba-diving and skiing, and was a veteran of the Cresta Run, a hair-raising toboggan track in the Swiss Alps. But romance with the Queen’s daughter did not flourish, and Ward, who died in 2008, went on to marry twice.

Sandy Harper. From the age of 19, her most frequent companion was polo player Sandy Harper, a man two years her senior whose father trained ponies for Lord Cowdray on his West Sussex estate. With his fashionably long hair, open-necked shirt and beads, Sandy was certainly not the conventional royal escort. The pair were regulars at the new discotheques springing up all over London’s West End, with Anne often spotted, chastely driving the two of them away at the end of the evening.

The Earl of Caithness. Another among the early runners and riders was the Earl of Caithness, whose late father was factor and land agent for the Queen’s Balmoral and Birkhall estates. And because the Earl was the same age as Prince Charles, he was often invited to parties and dances. It was noted that he was an attentive presence at Anne’s side during Charles’s 18th birthday party at Windsor Castle.

Other dance partners. Other well-born dancing partners included Ewen Cameron, now Baron Cameron of Dillington and a crossbench peer in the Lords. Anne visited the Old Harrrovian when he was at Oxford and was a guest at his 20th birthday party. Off and on she had also been enjoying the company of Brian Alexander, younger son of World War II hero Field Marshal Earl Alexander of Tunis. Brian later ran the private Caribbean island of Mustique. ‘A dear, lovely man, but too wet,’ was Princess Margaret’s caustic observation.

Richard Meade. The most serious suitor in the young Princess’s life was Richard Meade, the dashing horseman who — after Cambridge and the Royal Hussars — went on to win three Olympic gold medals for eventing. (It was at a fancy dress party for his son, James, that Prince Harry was pictured in a Nazi uniform.) To onlookers, the suave Meade seemed to be favourite for the Princess’s hand. Blond, tall and handsome, he had the same firm chin and eyes alive with mischief as Anne’s father, Prince Philip.

Andrew Parker Bowles: For following a chance meeting at Royal Lodge, the Queen Mother’s home at Windsor, the then 20-year-old Anne came to know Andrew Parker Bowles, adjutant in the newly formed Blues and Royals regiment, a former ADC to the Governor-General in new Zealand, and a noted ladies’ man. Until this point, Anne’s boyfriends had been varied but predictable. Parker Bowles was infinitely more sophisticated and it helped that his father, Derek Parker Bowles, was a long-standing friend of the Queen Mother. At the time they met, Andrew was dating ex-deb Camilla but that did not prevent him enjoying the charms of other women, including Lady Caroline Percy, daughter of the Duke of Northumberland, and Lady Amabel Lindsay, lively daughter of the Earl of Hardwicke. But it all fizzled out [with Anne] when Parker Bowles, a man described by one ex as ‘the greatest lover in London’, was posted to Germany.

[From The Daily Mail]

The bit about the “love triangle” between Andrew Parker Bowles, Camilla and Anne has been widely known/rumored for decades. I think it wasn’t really a love triangle as much as Andrew Parker Bowles chasing every skirt he saw, and Camilla was happy to turn a blind eye. Everyone in royal circles knew that Anne and Camilla both had eyes for Andrew Parker Bowles, and then Camilla “won” and then she continued to keep Charles around because… why not? Anyway, apparently the love triangle will feature quite heavily in The Crown. That should be good – I’m very interested in Princess Anne’s young adulthood, when she was out there slaying dudes constantly.

HRH PRINCE OF WALESwith his sisterHRH PRINCESS ANNECOMPULSORY CREDIT: UPPA/Photoshot PhotoC 039031   20.11.1972

B39_084806_002

Photos courtesy of WENN and Avalon Red.

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115 Responses to “Did you know Princess Anne had a series of torrid love affairs in her youth?”

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  1. Becks1 says:

    Before I even read the post, I’m just coming to say that I saw the title of this and immediately thought, omg, @BayTampaBay is going to be SO EXCITED lol

    • BayTampaBay says:

      Becks1, I am very excited as The Princess Royal is my favorite Royal. I have pictures of her from the 1970s that could be advertisements in Vogue or Harper’s Bazaar for Miu-Miu or Prada today. There is one very stunning photograph of Anne at Ascot (I believe) in a very beautiful yellow coat holding a killer navy handbag. I love Anne’s fashion sense in that she buys the most expensive couture and wears it for 30 or more years just like Nan Kempner or Babe Paley. Being able to wear 30 year old couture and not look ridiculous is true style and true old school class. Anne is just too cold for words. IMHO, she is up there with Cher, Dolly, Jane Fonda and Helen Mirren.

      This is just a hunch but I do not think the relationship with Andrew Parker Bowles ever ended. They are both a little long in the tooth to be having a full blown affair but I believe there is a deep on-going relationship still going on especially after the death of Parker-Bowles second wife. When Anne and Parker-Bowels are at the same event there are always pictures of them together whether the event took place in the 1970s or last week. Also, as the Queen mother was very-very good friends with Parker-Bowles parents, Andrew Parker Bowles was always “around” as Anne grew up. FYI: There is a 12 year age difference between The Princess Royal and Andrew Parker Bowles.

      Also, I have read (Lady Colin Campbell books and Tina Brown book) that Anne and Camilla get on very well together as they have the same shared interest in men, wine, horses, hunting and sport. Also, they have always ran in the same set or sets.

      • L84Tea says:

        This is the first time I am hearing that Anne and Cams get on well. I’m not sure why, but that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. I adore that dame Camilla, and I would find a friendship with those two fascinating!

      • BayTampaBay says:

        L84Tea, My theory is that both women are basically no-nonsense broads who just believe in “getting on” with the task at hand to move the situation forward in order to do their duty and facilitate to what they really want to do. I did not mean to imply that they are best buds but from what I have read there is a pleasant respectful relation that is deeper than a :hello there” basis. I mean, when you think about it, they both know all the TRUE DIRT on each other and everyone in their set going back to the late 1960s. I love to imagine they meet up once year in jeans and Shetland sweaters lugging a case of wine to a cottage on the estate of a magnificent country house and gossip about old times.

      • mint says:

        Anne is a badass.
        I always thought Anne+ Cam didnt get along because Anne refused to curtsey to Cam, when she married Chuck in 2005. So the Queen had to invent the blood-Princess-curtsey-rule

      • BayTampaBay says:

        @mint, I could be wrong but I do not think Cammie gives a fat rat’s clacker about who curtsies to her. I think QEII is the one that cares about that type of thing.

        When Lady Tamara Katherine Grosvenor, daughter of the late Duke of Westminster (b. 20 December 1979), married Edward van Cutsem (son of Hugh van Cutsem) on 6 November 2004, Camilla was seated in the “cheap seats” for both the service and wedding breakfast behind (and away from) all the Royals and titled guest. Charles went bat crazy ape shit and Camilla just laughed it off. I read this story in the last book written by Lady Colin Campbell on Diana after her death,

      • L84Tea says:

        BayTampaBay, I feel the same way. They each strike me as the “Here, have a whisky and stop complaining” types. Ha!

      • mint says:

        @BayTampaBay: I am sure that Camilla is pretty chill about all those things and actually one, who is fun to be around with.
        I just tought Anne had a temper tantrum about not wanting to curtsey to Camilla and QEII made the new rule, that blood princesses do not have to curtsy to incomers. So I assumed they do not get along

      • HK9 says:

        @BayTampaBay, I love Ann too. There’s a picture of her at a reception a couple years back in a black pantsuit looking badass!! I’ve always loved her style. (I googled that pic of her at Ascot-it’s just lovely.)

      • Becks1 says:

        My understanding re: the curtseying is that it WAS Anne – I think she does her own thing but expects a certain level of deference as the Princess Royal. I doint think Camilla really cares, and I imagine she probably shrugged at the whole thing.

      • Mo says:

        I’ve always liked Anne. My favorite interview/quote was when she was asked why she was involved in so many children’s charities if she didn’t like children very much.
        I don’t remember her exact words, but the reply was basically – you don’t have to particularly like children to want to make sure they get the best possible start in life. There is a great deal of sense in just seeing what needs to be done and doing it.

      • olive says:

        i don’t think i’ve ever seen photos of anne this young before – she was beautiful! her face in the pink hat photo is almost perfectly symmetrical

    • Anance says:

      @BayTampaBay — I feel that Anne & Camilla belong to the old school of “Yes! Everyone sleeps with everyone else here, get on with it.”

      That said, I don’t believe Anne’s curtsey tantrum was so much aimed at Camilla. By then, Kate was already in the picture and Harry was crushing hard on Chelsy Davy. She wanted to establish that the women in Charles’ family would not outrank her.

      I would love to agree with you, but I just don’t see the charm of Princess Anne. As a young celebrity royal woman, she was completely eclipsed by her younger ‘near’ contemporary – Princess Caroline. Now Caroline in the 70s is a story for the ages.

  2. Becks1 says:

    Okay now I’ve read the post. Looks like it will be an interesting season of the crown, that’s for sure. I really cant wait.

    • Sunnee says:

      Anne was/ is a badass. I don’t know if it’s been covered here but the story of how she foiled her own kidnapping left me all agog. She was interviewed about it and I was just so impressed. Mark Phillips came off as a mere prop.

  3. Sierra says:

    Yes it is common knowledge in UK..

    • Mignionette says:

      I came to say this.

      Ann’s second marriage was so low key she arrived in a Range Rover to spare the RF embarrassment.

      That Aristo / Royal circle is so incestuous that she was shagging Camilla’s husband whilst Camilla was shagging Charles.

      • noway says:

        That’s not really incestuous, just Jerry Springerish. I hope her young relationships were exciting and fun. She looks like they would be.

      • Piptopher says:

        no way: you are technically correct, which is the best kind of correct, as everyone knows.

    • AnnaKist says:

      Ooooh, yes! The Australian magazines at the time alluded to all this, but were very careful in what they published. No matter. My lovely newsagent used to get in several English magazines for me each month. They were less restrained.

    • tiredTreaded says:

      Can you believe these people spend peasant $ to look & behave entitled?

  4. Eliza says:

    Camilla kept Charles because Andrew never stopped chasing skirts. Aristos in that crowd married to make kids and keep estates, not to be faithful.

    • BayTampaBay says:

      It was explained to me that you basically married into a family and into set not necessary to a person per say. Love and companionship were there but romantic love was not necessary the overriding factor. If one can get one’s head around this concept, which is very foreign to all classes of Yanks, it becomes easier to understand how & why Rose Hanbury’s marriage to David Rocksavage Cholmondeley and Marina’s Hanbury’s marriage to Ned Lambton, Earl of Durham are successful.

      • Arpeggi says:

        Which is why I always had issues with Diana’s storyline of the innocent, virgin princess who thought she was marrying Prince Charming for forever live: girl was raised in those circles, she was groomed exactly for that, she had to know how things worked.

      • emmy says:

        Diana was a teenager though. Intellectually she probably knew but I knew stuff at 19 that still didn’t seem to apply to me. First love and all that. You know almost nobody stays with their first love but at the same time, you think this is it. The drama,oh man. Only for her that was a prince in his 30s and the worst in-laws possible. She was not an adult.

      • BayTampaBay says:

        IMPO. Diana was in love with Prince Charles of Wales and it was beyond comprehension for her that she could be in love with someone who was not in love with her. This is Just my lowest common denominator theory reduced to the simplest terms and all else flow from this.

  5. Lightpurple says:

    Looking at these pictures, Vanessa Kirby was fantastic as Margaret in the first series but she would have been really well suited to play Anne too.

  6. Lizzie says:

    interesting….anne was a slut in her youth stories running instead of prince andrew raped youths is really something….

  7. Chelle says:

    Yep. We knew. She just dresses like an Edwardian church reformer.

  8. Fluffy Donuts says:

    Wow. Charles was never handsome. Ever.

    • Originaltessa says:

      I wouldn’t exactly describe Anne as a young beauty either… They just pulled the worst from both of their parents, who were attractive in their youth. Oh well…

      • toro says:

        they are all really lucky to have been born royal… they are not atractive people at all

      • minx says:

        So true.

      • Jerusha says:

        She looks pretty good in that pouty equestrian photo, one of the best I’ve seen.

      • Rocķy says:

        I have heard she was beautiful in real life but doesn’t photograph well

      • Becks1 says:

        I think Anne looks best when not viewed straight on – she has very strong features and I think a slightly side view is most flattering (as in the first pic in this post.) But, overall I do think she’s more what would be termed “handsome” if not classically beautiful.

      • A says:

        I’m glad someone said it – both Anne and Charles were fug. Beauty definitely does not run in that family.

    • Erinn says:

      It’s a strange mix of features. There are some that should be attractive, but they’re kind of extreme all mixed together and it comes off as goofy.

      https://i.pinimg.com/736x/2c/98/10/2c981039f81f9ba12a95498ab68ff168.jpg Like – he looks perfectly fine there – and I can see both Harry and William in him. He was never going to be a heartthrob, but he wasn’t super ugly either. I’d say he was a pretty ‘average’ looking guy.

      Same with Anne though. There are photos where she looks more relaxed and is smiling where she looks a lot more attractive than she does in most photos. There’s a bit of a spark there that makes her look fun.

    • HK9 says:

      One thing I will say about Charles-that man is fit. I remember seeing a pic of him in his polo outfit during the 80s and I was like, wait now, is that Prince Charles??!!?? I literally put my finger over his head, to look at that body, only to realize that this man was pure lean muscle. Wow.

      • Rocķy says:

        I remember the same thing. Who knoew polo could do that?

      • Fleur says:

        Co-Signed!! He unfortunately didn’t inherit his father’s gorgeous face–I have never thought his face was handsome. I see a ton of the Queen in Charles. HOWEVER, from the neck down, that man was gorgeous. What a gorgeous body–guess he has his dad and polo to thank for that. Both Will and Harry inherited his tall, beautiful frame.

    • 50centish says:

      Looks like a budget Ross Gellar to me 🤣

    • Rice says:

      Truer words have never been said. That B&W photo of him is the stuff of nightmares.

    • Rusted says:

      Respectfully disagree. 1970’s, long hair, all flushed and sweaty after a polo match.

    • Tigerlily says:

      In 1983 Charles and Diana visited the city I used to work in and we were given a bit of time off (gov’t employee) if we wanted to go see them in person as they were doing a walkabout near our building. I didn’t go (went shopping instead) but colleagues told me that Charles was far better looking in person and that photos didn’t do him justice.

      • Becks1 says:

        I know – I KNOW – she’s canceled here, lol, but years ago I read a biography about Diana by Ingrid Seward (when I say years I mean their marriage was troubled but it was still assumed Diana would be queen) and one of the lines I remember was that “Charles is a handsome enough chap, but not photogenic, whereas the cameras worshipped his wife.” (or something close to that, it was a few decades ago, lol.) And I still think about that when I see the royals in photographs – the difference in being attractive/handsome/pretty IRL and photographing well. (I think Meghan is a good example of this, I am sure she is striking in real life as well but she photographs REALLY well, not everyone does, myself included, lol.)

      • A says:

        Another perhaps left field example of this–Justin Trudeau is incredibly photogenic, and incredibly average in person. Someone I know was on the same plane as him on the way somewhere from northern BC and they didn’t realize it was him until they were due to disembark from the plane.

      • Anance says:

        @Becks1

        Re Meghan: she has mastered the art of looking well in somber repose. Looking at the Remembrance photos, Meghan appears so much better than Kate or Sophie. I guess it the actress’ craft: she simply does not let face fall into unattractive lines when looking at something sad. Meghan is aware of facial expressions and knows which of hers appear best, most appropriate.

  9. S808 says:

    Ugh I can’t wait for this season. I’m much more interested in Anne’s story than Charles’. We already know his spiel.

  10. Mads says:

    Supposedly, Andrew Parker Bowles is the inspiration for the character Rupert Campbell-Black in Jilly Cooper’s novels.

    • BayTampaBay says:

      Another inspiration for Rupert Campbell-Black was David Somerset, 11th Duke of Beaufort. If it could wear skirt and was a member of the correct set both Andrew Parker-Bowles and David Somerset, 11th Duke of Beaufort went after it. Shortly after David Somerset’s wife died (sister of the current Marquess of Bath), he married his mistress of 10 years. No one batted an eye.

      • betsyh says:

        I looked at old pictures of Andrew Parker Bowles and David Somerset. Don’t see how Parker Bowles was inspiration for a novel hero. Not very attractive.

        Love vintage royal gossip.

      • Tigerlily says:

        betsyh Totally agree with you. Andrew Parker Bowles at any age was not attractive. Different strokes….

    • BayTampaBay says:

      Jilly Cooper actually stated in an interview (it is on YouTube somewhere) that both Andrew Parker-Bowles and David Somerset, 11th Duke of Beaufort were two of several inspirations for Rupert Campbell-Black.

      Also, I read somewhere, Tatler I think, Lucien Freud painted a portrait of Andrew Parker-Bowels and offered it to APB for $1.5 million USD. This portrait later sold to a private collector for $30 million USD.

      • BayTampaBay says:

        ETA: Andrew Parker-Bowles did not purchase the portrait from Lucian Freud.

      • Anance says:

        Lucian Freud? Portrait of Andrew Parker-Bowles? Private collector paid US $30 Mill. That is probably some next level Portrait of Dorian Gray stuff.

      • BayTampaBay says:

        @Anance, The portrait is typical Lucian Freud. The story is on Tatler. I did not make this up! LOL! LOL!

  11. J ferber says:

    In the top black and white picture she’s gorgeous. Then, unfortunately, the horsey genes kicked in and she has royal horse face. Sorry, not sorry. It is what it is.

    • BayTampaBay says:

      Anne could “look” more attractive if she did something with her hair (which I understand to be fine and frizzy which is a difficult combination to work with) and put some slap on her face but she does not care. If your The Princess Royal, you really do not have to care.

      I believe Anne has a killer athletic body as she still is re-wearing clothes she had in the early 1980s.

    • Anance says:

      Windsor genes kick in, it’s a fact of life. Look at William – Sexiest Man Alive for a nanosecond. Fastest glow down of his generation.

  12. aang says:

    Good for her. “Torrid love affairs” should be a chapter in every woman’s biography.

    • Anance says:

      “Torrid love affairs” should be a chapter in every woman’s biography.

      I’m going to steal that … too late already stole it.

  13. lucy says:

    Anne is my favorite, that top black and white pic is amazing. She got kidnapped at gunpoint very briefly in the 70’s (I think?), the Go Fug Yourself girls had a link to the story. She was cool and calm under pressure, and I want her teal winter coat with the matching fedora she wore last winter. I would wear it every day and feel like Carmen Sandiego. LOL, sorry, coffee hasn’t kicked in.
    Anyway. I would watch a super slow British drama if they featured more Anne.

    • Tourmaline says:

      There is a video out there I recently saw of Anne and her then-husband being interviewed on a British talk show in the mid 1970s, she is talking about the kidnapping. And she is FUNNY AS HELL. She comes across as smart, tough, and very wry. I can see how even if not classically beautiful she has a lot of charisma and magnetism in person.

      • BayTampaBay says:

        Check out the PBS documentary “What the Durrells Did Next”. Anne is interviewed about her friendship with Gerry Durrell and her involvement with his wildlife causes. She is absolutely hilarious, engaging, warm, friendly and very articulate. I want to have cocktails with this woman and Cammie!

  14. Purple prankster says:

    How does one “chastely” drive? Please describe with pics if necessary.

  15. Earthbound says:

    She really looks the part in the top pic. Hot horse lady.

  16. Bettyrose says:

    Just re-binged seasons 1 & 2 in anticipation of the S3 drop, but already dreading the loooong wait for S4.

  17. Lucy says:

    That’s a fantastic picture (the B&W one of her in the blazer and tie). I see many people saying she wasn’t/isn’t all that attractive, but I think it was never about that for her, you know?

  18. Prairiegirl says:

    British Celebitchies: when we describe someone as ‘wet’, we’re calling him a socialist, correct? If not, what’s the reference? Many thanks in advance.

    • Tia says:

      it can mean ineffectual or even a bit pathetic.

      • BayTampaBay says:

        Tia,

        What does “fog” mean as in “He is a bit of a fog”?

        What is a “lovie” as in “She hangs with all the lovies”?

        I also thank you in advance.

    • antipodean says:

      It usually means nice enough, but a bit of a drongo. As in quite good company, but not really a long term runner. also a “fog” is a bit thick, not very smart, and “loveies” are thespians, people of the “theatre”, dontcha know. Ian McKellen is a “lovey”, as is Judy Dench, and lots of others.

    • Susan says:

      “Wet” is usually a weak charactered person. Not someone you dislike or harbor ill will toward, but not someone with particularly strong views and so not a social leader. Basically a follower or suck up who doesn’t have their own clear personality.

  19. Other Renee says:

    I think she was beautiful in her youth. Not conventionally beautiful but still captivating. She had a free spirit look to her. I don’t know when she began to look frumpy. I think it’s the hair. I guess she decided to look more professional and mature and the result was the loss of that free spirit look.

  20. spookie says:

    Hey folks, sorry to be a party pooper, but do remember that The Crown is a fictional version!! 😆

    • BayTampaBay says:

      I watch The Crown for the costumes, swag, palace porn and country house porn. Truth be damned as it really gets in the way! LOL! LOL!

    • CynicalCeleste says:

      Oh spookie, that’s what they want you to think 🙂

    • A says:

      I mean, yeah, sure, but let’s not forget, Julian Fellowes who created the show is incredibly well connected within royal and aristocratic circles. Homeboy isn’t making up fiction out of nowhere. His wife was a lady-in-waiting to Princess Michael of Kent, and he very much belongs to that rareified circle of aristocrats who spend their dinners and weekends gossiping and passing stories. I have a conspiracy theory that I nurse every once in a while that he created the show with the blessing of the royal family and he has plenty of “anonymous sources” of his own who help to colour in the story lines.

      • Anance says:

        Didn’t J Fellowes also write “Gosford Park,” with its mortifying reveal of the sordid aristocracy?

        Very few movies about the aristos, country weekends, etc., even deal with “Gosford Park’s” subject matter. Pre-#MeToo.

  21. Molly says:

    I knew Anne had some wild days in her youth when Zara showed up at 17 with a tongue ring. A tongue ring!

  22. anneliser says:

    My sister has a similar look to young Princess Anne–large, lovely eyes, not-ideal nose, full lips, and what she calls the “Anglo anti-chin.” When she was younger, people tended to think she was either irredeemably homely or gorgeous in an off-key way. Guessing it was the same for Princess Anne.

    • BayTampaBay says:

      “Anglo anti-chin”, Rose Hanbury Rocksavage Cholmondeley has the same Anglo aristocratic chin.

      • spookie says:

        Bit of a sweeping generalisation there BTB. And actually Rose was not born aristo. 🙂

      • BayTampaBay says:

        @spookie, Rose’s mother is the daughter of the Earl of Cavan. Rose was not born titled but she was born into the aristocracy.

    • anneliser says:

      I mean, we’re primarily of British heritage; it’s a joke. Obviously, plenty of British people have lovely jawlines. I am also not robust of chin but was always considered the more conventionally attractive sister. 😉 Rose is taller and bustier than us but looks as if she could be our third sister.

  23. Mumbles says:

    Vogue UK has a slideshow of some of her best looks from her youth and some of them are stunning. And while she may not be conventionally “pretty” she had a self-assurance and confidence that comes off as pretty sexy.

    Princess Diana said in one of her later interviews that while the press liked to imagine her and Anne not getting along, it wasn’t true and she admired Anne tremendously for her work ethic and smarts.

    • BayTampaBay says:

      “And while she may not be conventionally “pretty” she had a self-assurance and confidence that comes off as pretty sexy.”

      @Mumbles, many high paid editorial fashion models are not pretty but have a “look” much like Princess Anne which is as you described, “a self-assurance and confidence that comes off as pretty sexy.” which sells magazines, expensive watches, expensive tote bags, champagne, Range Rovers and designer frocks.

      Ralph Lauren built his empire of the Princess Anne “look”.

  24. Emily says:

    Didn’t Anne’s first husband Mark Phillips father a child with some lady in New Zealand? I dunno if it made a lot of waves at the time but Zara and Peter have a half-sister in New Zealand they’ve never met (Mark has never met her either). As far as I know this site has never covered it. The half-sister is also super into horses too and I think at this point in her life over the fact her paternal side of the family has no interest in her.

    As interesting as vintage aristocratic gossip is, it’s also so predictable because they’re all so incestuous and having affairs left and right with the same people!!

    • BayTampaBay says:

      I could be wrong but IIRC, when knowledge of the child came to public attention, I think that is when Anne called an end to and pulled the plug on what had become a marriage of convenience to Captain Mark Phillips.

    • A says:

      @Emily, very little has changed with the aristocracy on that front, believe me! They still have affairs left right and center with the same people. Look at Willy and the Turnip Toffs for a prime example.

  25. The Recluse says:

    Anne uttered my possible favorite curse word: Naff off!
    We used to say it to each other in theater – with Pythonian accents.

    • spookie says:

      Apparently she never actually said it, the press made it up. Sorry. But I can imagine her thinking it!

  26. Rogue says:

    Yes I read an interview and the photographers said her language was harsher then “naff” lol. She apparently used to do away with formalities on overseas trips to poorer regions& just muck in which used to upset the courtiers. And (rightly) would get annoyed with journalists probing about her love life when she was at her horse riding events. She talked about balancing her private life& her public role so these issues aren’t new.

  27. A says:

    Andrew and Camilla honestly…seemed well suited to each other. I think they’d still be married if the whole thing with Charles hadn’t blown up quite so publicly in the way that it did. That whole situation made it so that Charles kind of had to marry the mistress, otherwise all of the stuff that happened would have seemed like it was for nothing, and Andrew had to divorce Camilla because everything became so public. But I can see why someone like Andrew would like a girl like Camilla, who has always been a lot of fun and seemingly up for anything. I think they simply had an understanding with each other, and probably were able to communicate their needs with one another WAY more effectively than Charles and Diana ever did. Some people make it work. They probably did.

    Anyway, what’s the purpose of this article, honestly? Feels kind of filler-y on Richard Palmer’s part to publish this.

  28. Lowrider says:

    Anne is a loon.

  29. Dirk says:

    Good TV show, shitty family.