Anne’s favourite teddy loses fight with her dog
WITH her haughty demeanour and father’s no-nonsense ways, Princess Anne is hardly the cuddliest of royals.
She is admired for her devotion to duty rather than her sensitivity.
Yet now the 61-year- old royal has shown her softer side by being left “mortified” when her dogs got hold of her most treasured possession, a threadbare teddy bear given to her by her mother when she was two.
A source said: “The Queen gave Anne the cuddly toy when she acceded the throne in 1952 and the Princess has treasured it ever since.
“A few weeks ago she came home to find the dogs had torn it to pieces. She was mortified and phoned one of the restorers at the Royal Collection to see if it could be sewn back together.”
The insider said frugal Anne gave instructions that no more than £200 should be spent on the “I think I’ve been
stitched up!” repairs and added: “When she received a bill for £210 she queried why it was £10 over, so the restorer offered to cover the extra out of his own pocket.”
Anne’s dogs – all English bull terriers – have caused her grief before. In 2002 she was convicted under the Dangerous Dogs Act after one called Dotty bit two children, aged seven and 12.
A judge spared Dotty but ordered the dog to be retrained.
A year later, another of Anne’s terriers, Florence, savaged one of the Queen’s corgis so badly that it had to be put down.