After Princess Anne injured herself during an incident at the Gatcombe Park estate on Sunday and has been in the hospital since, a former Royal Family butler provides an intimate glimpse into the princess’s character. The year 2024 is becoming increasingly challenging for the British Royal Family: After King Charles, 75, had to undergo prostate surgery in January, Catherine, Princess of Wales, 42, was admitted to the London Clinic for an abdominal procedure. Soon after, the tragic news followed: The monarch has cancer – and so does his daughter-in-law, as Kate revealed in March after wild conspiracy theories about her condition.
Princess Anne Can’t Remember the Accident
And now the next piece of bad news: Princess Anne, 73, had an accident at the Gatcombe Park estate on Sunday, June 23, and according to the palace, “suffered minor injuries and a concussion.” As a precaution, she is now “under observation at Southmead Hospital in Bristol and is expected to recover quickly and fully.” A day later, it was reported that Princess Anne “can’t exactly remember what happened,” as the British newspaper “Daily Mail” reported. It is only known that there were horses nearby at the time of the accident.
“She is a Very Direct Person”
Grant Harrold, former butler to King Charles, does not believe that the 73-year-old will be shaken by this memory lapse and points to Anne’s strong character, which he believes she inherited from her father, Prince Philip, who passed away at 99. “You just have to look at footage of her from the last few years, and she is unflappable. I have met her on many occasions while working with the current King, and I liked very much how openly she spoke to everyone,” Harrold told “Slingo,” as quoted by the “Mirror.” The former employee of the British Royal Family further emphasized: “In that respect, she was like her father, Prince Philip, just without the swearing. She is a very direct person. But Anne also has a very funny side, and I would say she got that from the late Queen.”
Anne is the Hardest-Working Member of the Royal Family
Grant Harrold also pointed out that Princess Anne “takes on more engagements than anyone else,” “in some years, she has taken on more than 500 engagements,” while the King could only record around 400 engagements: “She is definitely the hardest-working royal for many, many years.” Additionally, she “has twice as many engagements as William and Catherine.”
“I like Princess Anne very much. She is an amazing workhorse, she is someone who gets things done. She is like her father, she doesn’t tolerate nonsense and says it as it is, but she gets the job done. Like her mother, she likes to put duty above all else, and that’s exactly what she does.”
“Anne has a Lot of Humor and is a Great Support to the King”
According to Grant Harrold, Princess Anne may be “low in the line of succession, but she is still a very important part of the Royal Family.” This is also due to her great similarity to her mother, Queen Elizabeth, who passed away at 96. “I actually see many similarities between Princess Anne and her mother. Anne loves horse racing, I am sure that when she is there, memories of past experiences come up,” he said and explained: “She took great care of her mother and spent a lot of time with her. They have many similarities in appearance and mannerisms, but also with her father. Philip was a very straightforward man and so is she. Anne has a lot of humor and is a great support to the King.”
