‘The ability to meet people, that’s what makes the difference’
PRINCESS Anne has revealed she’s no fan of social media, admitting: “I wouldn’t go anywhere near Twitter if you paid me.”
In a ITV documentary, anne: the Princess Royal At 70, which screens on Wednesday, the hardworking royal said she shuns it altogether.
In the film we see her making contact with people online including the Queen, in what appears to be a Zoom call with her 94-year-old mother.
Asked about keeping in touch with charity contacts and others during lockdown, the Princess replied: “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 if you paid me frankly. But that’s a slightly different issue.”
The one-off documentary was filmed over more than a year and features unseen family footage and conversations with Anne, her children, Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall, her husband Sir Tim Laurence and others close to her.
Her son tells how his mother would warn him: “Don’t pick your nose and yawn” during public engagements on the Buckingham Palace balcony.
It also follows Princess Anne as she relaxes at home with her grandchildren and her animals.
She talks frankly about her duties, her approach to royal life and the hazards of being a member of the Royal Family in the age of social media.
The Princess Royal, who celebrates her 70th birthday on August 15, was initially educated by a governess before the Queen gave her permission to go to a school, making her the first princess to do so.
She said: “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 at how much I enjoyed it. And I got on very well with our headmistress [Miss EB Clarke]. 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 was always intrigued by what people were so frightened of.”
One classmate, Sandra Hacking, revealed: “There was a really lovely security officer and we did lead him a bit of a dance. It was rather fun to break out of school and go to the fish and chip shop and try to escape this loyal detective who was supposed to be looking after her. And, anyway we did that a few times. She was a very normal teenager. She was sensible and fun.”
But Anne avoided university. She said: “So many of my contemporaries, when asked why they were going to university would say, well because, basically, ‘Cos that’s, that’s what you do’. and I’m thinking, ‘That’s, 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.”
Known as a royal who broke the mould with often frank opinions and breaking tradition, she said why she decided not to give titles to her children.
Anne said: “As a member of the Royal Family, living with that sort of pressure is, hard and the expectation 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.”
Her son Peter revealed, just like any other parent who wants her children to behave on important occasions, Anne was not averse to laying down the law just before the Royal Family appeared on Buckingham Palace’s balcony.
He said: “You then get a clip round the ear and say right, behave yourself, you know, we’re going out on the balcony.
“Don’t pick your nose and you know, don’t yawn.”
● Anne: The Princess Royal At 70, ITV, Wednesday, 9pm