Like mother, like daughter...

Royal biographer Robert Hardman on talking to ‘mouldbreaker’ Princess Anne ahead of her 70th birthday

Being a loyal servant to Queen and country has always been the Princess Royal’s priority. Regularly topping the hardest-working-royalof-the-year list, she is involved with over 300 charities, organisations and military regiments.

‘I asked her if there was a training manual to become a member of the Royal Family and she said, “Sorry, it’s all trial and error!”’ says Robert.

‘She’ll pack in five events a day and we followed her on a few, which was exhausting.

‘Her work ethic is incredible and she insists on knowing everything about whom she’s visiting. Her former private secretary, Sir Nick Wright, said he had to send her full briefs, adding, “God help me if there was something missing!”

‘She prefers going to places off the beaten track, even if that means sleeping in a tent in a refugee camp overseas for Save the Children.’

GStrong bond: With her mother,

the Queen iven that she spends so much time in the public eye, she has always kept her home life private. ‘She likes to lead as normal a life as possible,’ says Robert. ‘Peter and Zara recall her coming home from a state banquet in her ballgown and pulling on wellies to collect eggs from the chickens! There’s a strong sense that when she’s home, she’s Mum.’

He also captures the strong bond between Princess Anne and her own mother.

‘During lockdown, she had a video meeting with Her Majesty. It’s a genuine, warm, easy friendship.’

Like mother, like daughter, the princess baulked when Robert asked if retirement was on the cards.

‘The short answer was, “No!”’ says Robert.

The show sees Princess Anne recalling her homeschooling days with a governess, before going to school herself – the first daughter of a monarch to do so.

‘We talked to her old school friends, who remember her as fun and popular,’ says Robert. ‘She was bright, too, leaving Benenden School, Kent, with three A-levels [in English, History and Politics].

‘She didn’t go to university because she thought she could have just as fulfilling an education by getting involved in royal duties and supporting the Queen.’

Long before young royals Kate and Meghan were dominating the headlines, the Princess Royal was cutting a dash on the UK and world stage, while quietly modernising the monarchy.

‘People forget Anne was very glamorous in her day,’ says Robert. ‘In the late 1960s and early 1970s, she was very fashionable and cool – a real international sensation.

‘The public hadn’t had a royal princess since Princess Margaret, but she was of the time when princesses wore hats and cut ribbons to open hospitals.

‘Anne was the first princess who didn’t want to just do that. She wanted to get stuck in – and she wore trousers to engagements!’

PSports star: Anne in 1976

rincess Anne was a champion sportswoman, and in 1971 became the first royal to become BBC Sports Personality of the Year. And she was the first royal to compete in the Olympics, riding the Queen’s horse, Goodwill, in a three-day equestrian event in Montreal in 1976.

‘She’s also the first member of the Royal Family to get a HGV licence!’ says Robert. ‘When you’re an eventer, you need to drive your horses around – she’s a lorry driver!’