Princess Anne often tops the annual list of hardest-working royal and it looks like she doesn’t intend on slowing down in the imminent future, according to a new report in The Sunday Times.
Although Anne doesn’t see retirement as an option at the moment, she has been thinking ahead to when the time for retiring will come. The Times reports that ‘her plan is to push on until she is 80, then start winding down a bit, then copy the Duke of Edinburgh and wind down completely at 90’.
Her late father, Prince Philip, conducted his last engagement in 2017, when he took the salute in heavy rain from the Royal Marines, at Buckingham Palace, after being their Captain General for 64 years. However, he did conduct an engagement in 2020 when he handed over the title of Colonel-in-Chief of The Rifles to her daughter-in-law, Camilla.
The Sunday Times
also note how The Princess will be spending her upcoming 75th birthday, quietly, the way she prefers it. She will spend her birthday the same way she does every year, sailing with her husband around western Scotland with no staff on board before joining Charles and the rest of the family at Balmoral.
A former aide recalled planning meetings in the diary for The Princess, who has previously resisted attempts to create more space for downtime. “I’d look at the diary and suggest, ‘Ma’am, you really can’t do another weekend of engagements, it’s your third weekend in a row.’ ‘Why not?’ she would say. ‘Because I’ll get a rocket from your husband on Monday asking, ‘When are we going to spend some time together’.”
A source told The Times: “The head of state has to go on but the princess is in a position where she can wind down and say, ‘I’ve done my bit’, just like the Duke of Edinburgh did. She would like to do it while she is still in reasonable health and she can enjoy some time at Gatcombe”.
Anne publicly marked her 75th birthday by hosting a Charities Forum at Buckingham Palace, which brought together some of her Patronages to network and forge new connections. In her address, Anne told guests “I’m not here because this was my choice. You very kindly asked me to become patron of your organisations, so it’s an honour for me to have all of you here”. In addition, Her Royal Highness approved a new £5 coin which was to be issued by the Royal Mint.
Courtiers had previously suggested ideas to her, but she has refused new official portraits and media interviews. After swerving meetings about her birthday, the courtiers gave up after the instructions to not make a fuss. An aide, as reported by The Times, said, ‘she told us she would do things for birthdays that had zeroes, but not for the fives’.
2024 saw Anne temporarily put a hold on her royal duties after she was admitted to hospital following an accident with a horse at Gatcombe Park, her Gloucestershire home. She later revealed in an interview that incidents like the one she endured ‘just reminds you, shows you, you never quite know, something happens and you might not recover’ and that you should ‘take each day as it comes, they say. You are sharply reminded that every day is a bonus really’.
Despite only returning to work three weeks later, The Times have reported that Princess Anne would like to see Prince William do more of the investiture engagements as she does most of them at Windsor, near Williams home of Adelaide Cottage.
The Duke of Sussex revealed in his book, Spare, that it was his aunt, who greeted him at Balmoral after Elizabeth II’s death and showed him to his grandmothers room. With recent speculations of Harry reconciling with his father, people have suggested Anne could have a role to play.
In Spare, Harry said after a fight with William he called his therapist, however, as The Times says, a session with Anne would have been better. She was second in line to the throne ‘and kicked further down the line of succession as a woman, but she forged her own path’.
