Like father, like daughter... ‘ a tomboy who presented no problems at all’
PRINCESS Anne is like her father. From her, you’ll never hear a complaint of any kind about her upbringing.
As Philip’s cousin Patricia Mountbatten said, with a dry laugh: ‘Anne, of course, as a natural tomboy, presented no problems.’
The Princess’s first husband, Mark Phillips, was from solidly middle-class stock, and an outstanding horseman, if a little unexciting. He sired two fine bipeds, but the marriage foundered. Prince Philip said to me at the time: ‘What can you do? It isn’t easy. She tried to make it work. She really did.’
In December 1992, the Princess Royal married Commander Timothy Laurence, RN, the naval son of a naval father. He, too, is from solidly middle-class stock, and a little unexciting, but brighter and more determined than he looks.
But I got the impression from Prince Philip that his daughter’s second marriage has not been a bed of roses. Once, at a charity lunch, the duke told me that Anne and her husband were having a ‘rocky patch’. He paused. ‘You’re married — you know how it is?’
‘I do,’ I said. We’d only just taken our places, and now food was being served.
He turned to the middleaged woman who was seated between us.
‘As a rule, I try to keep out of these things,’ Prince Philip explained.
‘But you want to help,’ said the woman, who had married children of her own.
‘Yes,’ said the duke, contemplating his starter, ‘but I don’t know what to say — except: “Keep going, it will work out. With good will on both sides, it usually does.”’
He sighed. ‘Children.’