Like father, like daughter: Duke and his beloved Anne’s unbreakable bond
The pair shared many characteristics, opinions and interests, which resulted in a relationship of mutual admiration
Both were extremely competitive and neither believed that coming second was something to aim for
He was an affectionate father to them all but, where Anne was concerned, it was unique
The Duke of Edinburgh and his daughter, Anne, the Princess Royal, enjoyed membership of an exclusive, two-person admiration society. It was a relationship that was totally unqualified and neither father nor daughter could see any wrong in the other; indeed, one way in which to annoy either one was to criticise the other.
They shared many of the same characteristics of being outspoken, abrasive, stubborn, strong-willed and sarcastic, and also the same sense of humour, which was often at the expense of others. Neither would ever suffer fools gladly – or at all – and both were impatient with those who did not grasp things as quickly as they did themselves.
It is from Prince Philip that Anne has inherited her total honesty and unwillingness to compromise on matters she believes in. It all began when Anne was a young girl. She quickly realised that she would have to take second place to her brother, Prince Charles. As she once told me: “I became used from an early age to being a ‘tail-end Charlie’.”
Philip, who from the moment of his wife’s accession to the throne was also forced to take a subordinate role, immediately started to instruct his only daughter in how to handle the frustrations and tribulations of a court life where all the attention was on her brother.
People always said that Anne was her father’s girl, and she has never contradicted anyone who expressed such an opinion. She has the same attitude to life and very similar forthright opinions – particularly about the media. They both had a tendency to be abrupt with photographers, especially when one was competing in a sporting event, and neither was ever afraid of giving offence, occasionally with the accompanying four-letter word.
There is a strong physical resemblance and some similar mannerisms. Anne loves sport and when she was growing up she was constantly with her father when he was playing polo. It was Philip who taught Anne to sail, on Loch Muick, on the Balmoral Estate, and it was he who directed her enthusiasms towards sporting rather than academic achievements.
Indeed, nobody was more pleased or proud than her father when Anne won the European Three-Day Event Equestrian Championship in 1971 and then went on to represent Britain at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games. Both were extremely competitive and neither believed that coming second was something to aim for.
The Princess Royal frequently tops the unofficial league table in the number of public engagements she undertakes in a year. In normal circumstances, it is usually around the 500 mark and even during the Covid-19 restrictions she has still managed to carry out over 300. She says she sees no point in having a day off; neither did Prince Philip.
They both possessed a profound sense of duty and I once asked them (independently) if they found some of the tasks they were asked to perform excruciatingly boring. The replies from each of them were masterpieces in understatement. Anne merely admitted: “Some are more interesting than others,” while Philip said: “It’s the price we pay for the positions we occupy.”
But just because they loved and admired each other, it did not follow that they invariably agreed at all times. They would sometimes argue, hammer and tongs, about various topics in which they both had an interest, such as wildlife or conservation. To any outsider it might have appeared to be a serious row, but they always seemed to end up on the best of terms.
It was a truly genuine father/ daughter relationship and one that was cherished equally by them both. It never faltered. There was an almost uncanny telepathy between them. They were on exactly the same wavelength even through Anne’s divorce from Mark Phillips, though, privately, her father was greatly distressed as he thought theirs was a marriage that would last. Even though it was well known at the palace that the Duke was “incandescent” with rage when he heard the news of his daughter’s affair with Sir Timothy Laurence, a former equerry to the Queen, whom she subsequently married, all his anger was directed at Sir Timothy, not Anne.
I once spoke to Princess Anne about her parents’ relationship with each other and she said that Prince Philip was the one person in the world who told the Queen what she needed to know. Everyone else, politicians and courtiers, told her what they thought she wanted to hear.
If there was one way in which the two were different it was their attitude to outsiders. Philip was always provocative; he seemed to go out of his way to stir up an argument simply to get some sort of debate going, as long as he won in the end – even with strangers. Anne is more like the Queen in that respect. She may disagree with someone’s opinion, but if they are not close friends or acquaintances, she rarely enters into an argument.
Prince Philip’s relationship with his daughter was much closer than that with any of his sons. He was an affectionate father to them all but where Anne was concerned, it was unique. It is well known that Prince Charles and his father did not always see eye to eye, but it was more a case of disappointment on Philip’s part than anger. Being someone who could and would make a decision in an instant, he simply did not understand that Charles did not follow him in that respect. With Anne it was entirely different. Since childhood, she has been able to decide if she wants to do something
– or not. A characteristic she has inherited from her father.
Prince Philip was showered with honours during his lifetime and it was he who encouraged Princess Anne to accept the title of Princess Royal in 1987. She had refused any title for her own children – the Duke’s first grandchildren, to whom he was particularly close – but Prince Philip felt that this would be an acknowledgement of her many years of dedicated public service, so she acquiesced.
If it is true that Prince Philip felt his daughter was “the son I’ve never had” then perhaps Anne, the Princess Royal, could be described as his true legacy.