The Times Magazine 31“I mean, I know what Twitter is,
but I wouldn’t go anywhere near
it if you paid me, frankly.”
On Twitter, 2020
“Nowadays, [the younger royals]
say: ‘Oh, let’s do it a new way.’
And I’m already at the stage,
please do not reinvent that
particular wheel. Some of these
things don’t work. I’m the boring
old fuddy-duddy at the back
saying, ‘Don’t forget the basics.’ ”
On the younger royals, 2020
“I think this person is probably
the most stupid person in world
sport.” After her microphone
was accidentally left on following
an International Olympic
Committee speech, 2012
“My brother tells a story of
having visited an elderly care
home in Scotland, and at the time
he was in a kilt. And he actually
heard, when he was engaged
in conversation down the other
end, an old lady say, ‘Is that the
Princess Royal?’ I am wearing
trousers today. Well, there you go.”
On being mistaken for
Prince Charles, 2012
“A good suit goes on for ever.
If it is properly made and has
a classic look, you can go on
wearing it ad infinitum. Economy
is bred into me. My parents
believe that things are not to be
wasted. That lesson does last.”
On her legendary thriftiness, 2008
“A 19-year-old suddenly being
dropped in the middle of the
street and being told to go and
pick on someone and talk to
them. Fun? No, I don’t think so.”
On royal walkabouts, 2002
“I never liked the idea of the
Royal Family film [the joint
BBC/ITV documentary in 1969].
I always thought it was a rotten
idea. The attention that had been
brought on one ever since one
was a child, you just didn’t want
any more. The last thing you
needed was greater access.”
On a TV documentary, 2002“It’s rather like market research.
You can ask everybody, literally
everybody, the same questions.
Like you have three questions
for that afternoon and you ask
everybody the same questions.
And with any luck, it shortens
the time involved. Doesn’t
always happen.”
On meet and greets, 1985“Obviously, in the past,
I wasn’t sufficiently interested
in clothes to be of interest.
And whatever one wore was
going to be bad news. I think,
inevitably, it takes people quite
a long time to find their feet
in terms of what’s going to suit
them, for anyone young. It’s
just taken me longer than most,
that’s all.”
On her image, 1985“I find it very difficult to
understand why anybody gets
sucked into screens and devices.
Life’s too short, frankly. There’s
more entertaining things to be
done. I suppose that puts me in
the real dinosaur range.”
On social media, 2020“On the basis that one didn’t
have a farm to work on, or there
was no other alternative, both
my husband and I have heavygoods vehicle licences. He has
an HGV1, I have an HGV3.
So, in fact, it seemed like a
very logical way of earning
one’s living. There is, in fact,
quite a demand for good horse
box drivers, who know one
end of a horse from another,
you see? And we thought we
could probably crack that one
between us.”
Her response to what she’d
do if the royal family were
abolished, 1985“Naff off!”
Said to the
paparazzi, 1982“He said I had to go with him.
Can’t remember why. I said
I didn’t think I wanted to go. I
was scrupulously polite because
I thought it’s silly to be too rude
at that stage. And we had a fairly
low-key discussion about the
fact that I wasn’t going to go
anywhere and wouldn’t it be
much better if he just went away
and we’d all forget about it?
Which was, it turned out, wishful
thinking... In the process of
getting the door open, the back
of my dress split from the top.
All the shoulders went out of it
and that was his most dangerous
moment. I lost my rag at
that stage.”
On a gunman’s attempt to kidnap
her, 1974“Not bloody likely!”
Response to her attempted
kidnapper, 1974 n~ NAFF OFF! NOT BLOODY LIKELY! ~
Princess Anne, in one’s own words
Princess Anne at the Bath and West
Agricultural Show, May 1969‘BEING PREGNANT IS A
VERY BORING NINE MONTHS.
I AM NOT PARTICULARLY
MATERNAL. IT IS AN
OCCUPATIONAL HAZARD
OF BEING A WIFE’
On having children, 1981‘WHEN I APPEAR IN
PUBLIC, PEOPLE EXPECT
ME TO NEIGH, GRIND MY
TEETH, PAW THE GROUND
AND SWISH MY TAIL, NONE
OF WHICH IS EASY’
On her public image, 1977