- 7 weeks ago
Anne: The Princess Royal at 70 (2020) is a documentary celebrating the life and achievements of Princess Anne as she reached her milestone 70th birthday. Featuring rare interviews, personal insights, and archival footage, the film highlights her dedication to public service, her role within the Royal Family, and her enduring influence over the decades. A thoughtful and inspiring portrait of one of Britain’s most respected royals.
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00:00:00She never wanted to be a fairy tale princess.
00:00:04As a member of the royal family, females were tended to be treated as honorary men.
00:00:08She loves driving the tanks and firing the guns.
00:00:11As the Princess Royal prepares for her 70th birthday, we've had unique access to her family and her world.
00:00:21Daughter.
00:00:22Good morning, at Windsor.
00:00:25Wife.
00:00:26Any husband who makes a comment on his wife's fashion style is a very brave or risky man.
00:00:31Mother.
00:00:32It's unbelievable, the information that's stored in her brain.
00:00:36It's quite annoying as well.
00:00:37It is quite annoying, yes.
00:00:39And grandmother.
00:00:41I've offered to try and do some home schooling.
00:00:43I haven't seen hiding a hair of them at that suggestion.
00:00:46We hear from old friends with memories of the young Princess.
00:00:50She was more determined than most, more competitive than most.
00:00:54See how she planned her own education.
00:00:57I did volunteer to go to school, I have to say.
00:00:59Became a trendsetting it girl.
00:01:02The vocabulary is for extraordinary women.
00:01:05And dedicated herself to a life of service, becoming one of the hardest working royals.
00:01:11She was lovely, she really does hold a conversation with you.
00:01:15Has anyone ever tried to tell her to slow down a bit?
00:01:18I mean, good luck.
00:01:20She's in the public eye, but has managed to stay intensely private.
00:01:24Anne doesn't crave the limelight.
00:01:26She probably had her fill of being in the newspapers when she was young.
00:01:30Being royal in the media age can be tough.
00:01:34Anne was a pioneer.
00:01:36The pressure that is applied to the younger members of the family is hard sometimes to deal with.
00:01:42The Princess Royal has always gone her own way.
00:01:45The first Royal Olympian.
00:01:48It is probably the most dangerous sport on the planet.
00:01:51As fearless in the saddle.
00:01:53Good evening.
00:01:54Shots have been fired at Princess Anne.
00:01:56As in the face of a kidnapper.
00:01:59I had thought about it before that.
00:02:01What would you do if?
00:02:02Now, in close-up, Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise.
00:02:06The Princess Royal as we've never seen her before.
00:02:11Goldfish in a bowl here.
00:02:21Oh, there he goes. Hello, big boy.
00:02:28Summer 2020.
00:02:30And like the rest of the country, the Princess Royal is self-isolating at home.
00:02:36In her case, Gatcombe Park in Gloucestershire.
00:02:39We have cattle and sheep here.
00:02:41Partly because, environmentally, you're better off if you share the feeding.
00:02:46Actually, the fertilising as well.
00:02:50Thank you, dear.
00:02:53In any other summer, Gatcombe would be hosting the Festival of British Eventing.
00:02:58A sport where horses and riders undergo timed trials.
00:03:05Princess Anne has been the royal face of the sport for 50 years.
00:03:11The festival's informal.
00:03:13A chance for the public to see her up close.
00:03:16The Princess's children, Zara Tyndall and Peter Phillips, live locally.
00:03:21Their children are on hand to help out their grandmother.
00:03:25She loves seeing the rides.
00:03:26She loves having them round for Sunday lunches and, you know, taking them for walks.
00:03:30And, you know, doing all the stuff that we used to do as kids.
00:03:33She now takes them to do those sorts of things.
00:03:35Yeah, we quite like leaving them on Sundays.
00:03:37I'll say we'll pick them up later.
00:03:39See you later.
00:03:40And they are off-racing.
00:03:42Off they go.
00:03:43Around the outside, number six.
00:03:44Alfie Doper is going quite a storm around the outside there.
00:03:47He's on for our lilies.
00:03:50The festival's a family affair.
00:03:53But this year, Covid-19 changed that.
00:03:56Once it was legal for her grandchildren to approach, the Princess was ready to play school.
00:04:02Mum.
00:04:03They've got ponies and they come over and they can ride here.
00:04:05But they are...
00:04:07They face the same challenges as everybody else in terms of home schooling.
00:04:11And I think that's, actually, that is a challenge wherever you are.
00:04:14I've offered to try and do some outdoor learning, but so far it hasn't been taken up on.
00:04:19When I was small, we had to pick things and then press them and identify them.
00:04:23And I don't think anybody does that anymore.
00:04:24And I was thinking, ah, you know, it might be a good idea if we started doing that again.
00:04:28I haven't seen hiding a hair of them at that suggestion.
00:04:34It's the longest time I've ever spent at Gatcom in the 40 odd years we've been here.
00:04:39It's frustrating, I think, but look around him, it's not hard here.
00:04:43The idea of being stuck in a block of flats with small children,
00:04:49and I can't imagine how difficult that would be.
00:04:54For five decades, she's been used to a packed work schedule.
00:04:59The Princess Royal didn't expect to spend her 70th year down on the farm.
00:05:04Working from home has been a challenge.
00:05:07Husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Lawrence has seen the frustration.
00:05:11Almost everything that she does in a public way involves people coming together to meet her for some reason or another.
00:05:19So that's been extremely difficult.
00:05:21The charity work is constant.
00:05:24It's Tom here. I'm just going to introduce Her Majesty the Queen.
00:05:29But country broadband isn't. These aren't your average conference calls either.
00:05:35Good morning. At Windsor.
00:05:39Good morning. I'm very glad to have been able to join you.
00:05:43Can you see everybody? You should have six people on your screen.
00:05:47Yes. Well, I can see four anyway.
00:05:49OK, very well. Actually, you don't need me. You know what I look like.
00:05:52With online technology, being in touch is one thing, but it's not quite the same.
00:05:59The ability to meet people, that's what makes the difference.
00:06:03I know what Twitter is, but I wouldn't go anywhere near it if you paid me, frankly.
00:06:08That's a slightly different issue.
00:06:10So I do feel pretty useless stuck here in relative terms to what I think I should be doing.
00:06:18Whatever the new normal brings, the old normal was a life of duty.
00:06:24Seasons marked by state events at Buckingham Palace,
00:06:27evenings filled with charity dinners and speeches.
00:06:35Most mornings involve an early start even before the transport arrives.
00:06:39The princess has a daily schedule of public appearances.
00:06:43Today, they're all over Kent.
00:06:46She is very hard-working.
00:06:47She is the busiest member of the royal family,
00:06:50regularly carrying out over 500 engagements a year.
00:06:53Well, away days, each of those will probably be different.
00:06:56There are different reasons for going.
00:06:58Many of them are voluntary organisations.
00:07:00And if you can do anything to raise their profile,
00:07:03then you will have achieved something.
00:07:05You are reflecting Her Majesty's position.
00:07:08But most of the time, you are, I think, in my case,
00:07:11just trying to cover the bits of the country
00:07:14that most other people won't get to.
00:07:17Huxley, come and practise your bow.
00:07:19Mummy practise the curtsy, then.
00:07:21Ready?
00:07:22There we are. See, it's good, isn't it?
00:07:24That's my curtsy. Is that right? What do you do with your hands?
00:07:27Today, the first organisation is English Rural.
00:07:30Near Ashford, villagers are getting ready for the royal opening of some new homes.
00:07:36Princess Anne's coming to visit my house.
00:07:39I was a bit nervous with two young boys, but there you go.
00:07:43No, it's very exciting. I hear she's quite a country girl like me.
00:07:47We have to send her programmes, her briefs, her speeches.
00:07:52And God help me, if there was something missing,
00:07:55she would read with a really sharp eye.
00:07:58And I remember once, I've never forgotten it,
00:08:00she said, Private Secretary, what normally comes after 16?
00:08:03And I knew then that page 17 of the brief was missing.
00:08:07The organisation has backstories that have got useful to know.
00:08:10So that's, you know, either length of time, people involved, impact of what it does.
00:08:15She's like a sponge.
00:08:16It's unbelievable, the information that's stored in her brain.
00:08:20It's incredible. It's quite annoying as well.
00:08:22It is quite annoying, yes.
00:08:24You had to wait a bit, haven't you?
00:08:26Yes, I first registered an interest about a year and a half or two years ago.
00:08:31But we're very happy.
00:08:32And did you help with decorating?
00:08:34Huxley.
00:08:35Do you want me to take this room to you?
00:08:38Oh, he's been really baffled this morning, isn't it?
00:08:40Your Royal Highness.
00:08:42The first unveiling of the day, done.
00:08:45Then it's back to the helicopter.
00:08:47At Maidstone Hospital, a new helipad needs opening.
00:08:54We've got about 200 people here.
00:08:56I don't suppose she'll be able to say hello to every single one of those,
00:08:58but anybody she can say hello to, I know they'll really appreciate it.
00:09:02Oh, look, she's coming.
00:09:04Sometimes people react in the most extraordinary ways.
00:09:07You know, they get completely overawed being in front of a princess
00:09:10and thoroughly overdo the curtsies or the bows or don't do it at all
00:09:15or practically shake her hand off, which can happen.
00:09:19You don't literally work your way through the crag.
00:09:21That's usually left up to other people.
00:09:23In some ways it would be just as much fun if you did it all by yourself,
00:09:26but it would be a bit chaotic.
00:09:28This is Lord Kennedy.
00:09:29Although Holyrood at the Garden Party, I used to work up the back of the border,
00:09:35which is where the people who didn't want to be seen went.
00:09:37That was my...
00:09:39They were almost pretending they weren't there.
00:09:41So engaging them in conversation was always quite...
00:09:43They were always looking at her, I'm not really here.
00:09:45You know, I don't really want to talk to anyone.
00:09:47And this is Lucia.
00:09:48Nice to meet you.
00:09:49So Lucia is the senior employee of the whole of the NHS, 93 years old.
00:09:53And Lucia now looks up to the junior doctors on this site.
00:09:56So she keeps their...
00:09:57You know where they live is called a mess, but actually it's very clean.
00:09:59It's not a mess at all.
00:10:00It's only because of her.
00:10:02It's only because of Lucia.
00:10:04Very nice to meet you.
00:10:06Nice to meet you.
00:10:07The impact of a royal visit, it's very hard to quantify.
00:10:11But you get back into the car and you see people just beaming.
00:10:18It's winter, two hours before sundown.
00:10:21But the Princess Royal is only halfway through her day's engagements.
00:10:26I always reminded many of our colleagues of the British Olympic Association
00:10:31that while we've all sort of sauntered into a board meeting
00:10:35at two o'clock that runs till five,
00:10:37she's probably opened five hospitals by the time that she's even had lunch.
00:10:41Does anyone ever try to tell her to slow down a bit?
00:10:44I mean, good luck.
00:10:47We would try and, you know, and then it would be a very short conversation.
00:10:54At Gillingham, there are hospital building works to inspect
00:10:57and staff at the Maternity Unit of the Year to congratulate.
00:11:01Two events in the coming year.
00:11:03It's amazing and I know how demanding it is.
00:11:06So, really, my hat off to her.
00:11:08Well, she's a remarkable, hard-working woman.
00:11:14I haven't done a curtsy since I did ballet.
00:11:15I'm just going to have to do a little bob.
00:11:20Three, two, one.
00:11:22Here she comes.
00:11:26Oh.
00:11:27She's got so much more energy than anybody that I know who's 70.
00:11:31Well, apart from various members of our family,
00:11:34but she certainly doesn't act it.
00:11:39Age is not a thing to her.
00:11:41It's, you know, very much the more she keeps doing,
00:11:44the younger she'll stay.
00:11:46Yeah, she always says she doesn't have very good role models
00:11:48for slowing down.
00:11:49No, that's true.
00:11:51I do remember a day,
00:11:53the princess must have met a thousand people
00:11:55on four or five engagements,
00:11:56and I remember thinking,
00:11:57I'm absolutely wrecked at the end of the day.
00:12:00She was still giving everybody the attention she gave
00:12:04at the beginning of the day.
00:12:06So, Mum, if I could introduce Laura and Chris,
00:12:08and their new baby, Laura.
00:12:10I'd like to see you.
00:12:12Will you work in it?
00:12:13Yeah.
00:12:14This is Laura's third baby.
00:12:15Early Christmas present, I think.
00:12:17Don't need to wrap it up.
00:12:20I know.
00:12:21Have a very good Christmas.
00:12:24You too.
00:12:29The princess is scheduled to land at Kensington Palace helipad
00:12:32at just after four o'clock.
00:12:34A cup of tea, change of clothes,
00:12:36and then she'll be off to a charity dinner.
00:12:39There may be a change to a formal thing,
00:12:42a ball, ground or cocktail dress.
00:12:44And she's so adept at chopping and changing.
00:12:47I've not quite mastered the art myself.
00:12:51The Princess Royal's presence is requested at charity dinners
00:12:54most nights of the week.
00:12:56She has one golden rule.
00:12:58I'm very jealous that the princess doesn't drink at all.
00:13:01It is a busy day for her.
00:13:02She does start early
00:13:03and then doesn't really finish until nine o'clock at night.
00:13:07Maybe if it's after a dinner quite a lot later.
00:13:09I remember when we were living at Gatkin
00:13:12that she would come home from engagements
00:13:15and she'd been exactly what she was wearing
00:13:17and her make-up on and stuff.
00:13:19Put her welly boots on and her jacket on
00:13:21and then she walks up and goes to do her chickens
00:13:24and get her eggs.
00:13:26Sitting still really doesn't happen very much.
00:13:30Sometimes, of course, it's unavoidable.
00:13:33I'm thinking, how could you possibly take that long?
00:13:43Princess Anne's got quite a lot of character in her face.
00:13:46Sculptor Frances Segelman-Petchy
00:13:49is making a bust to mark the princess's 70th birthday.
00:13:53She's done most of the royal family.
00:13:57She's coming for a second sitting.
00:13:59I would love her to have it here.
00:14:00I'm going to try and persuade her today.
00:14:03Good morning.
00:14:04Lovely to meet you again.
00:14:06Thank you for coming.
00:14:08I did the sculpture of your mother in 2008.
00:14:11What was in 2008?
00:14:12Your father in 2000.
00:14:14Boris?
00:14:16Hairdo is tricky.
00:14:19The princess must now be centre of attention.
00:14:22Not something she enjoys.
00:14:23Caroline Nunnerly is a lady-in-waiting.
00:14:26Her job?
00:14:27Anticipating the boss's needs.
00:14:29Right now, it's probably escape.
00:14:32Goldfish in a bowl here.
00:14:36Francis bravely tries the T-word.
00:14:41So, we were going to talk about the tiara.
00:14:43Are we?
00:14:44Yeah.
00:14:45I thought I'd said no.
00:14:46I know, but I just think it would look so fabulous if you did.
00:14:49I've only got little tiny tiaras that are not really worth it.
00:14:52Can we just make it so nice?
00:14:53You could think about it again.
00:14:55Yeah.
00:14:56If you do wear a tiara, will the back still be the same?
00:15:00To be honest, if I'm wearing a tiara, I might do my hair differently.
00:15:03It's probably a no.
00:15:05But there is another type of crown to discuss.
00:15:08I want people to like us, to feel that they know us.
00:15:12I know you value your privacy, but I think there's a lot about you that they would like if they got a chance.
00:15:18The fact that you're generally, you're good value for money.
00:15:22Like a pair of long-lasting boots.
00:15:24Actually, I read an article the other day about that I don't watch Netflix and the crown.
00:15:28No.
00:15:29But the actress was talking about how long it took them to do their hair like I did.
00:15:34Really?
00:15:35I'm thinking, how could you possibly take that long?
00:15:38I mean, it takes me 10 or 15 minutes.
00:15:41You do it yourself.
00:15:42I do it.
00:15:43Do you do it yourself?
00:15:44Because it's so much quicker.
00:15:45I have the idea that they're taking that long.
00:15:47Don't you think I did that every day?
00:15:49I don't think so.
00:15:50Amazing.
00:15:51I think the early ones were quite interesting.
00:15:54When your mum was young.
00:15:55Making series about people who are still living is always quite a dangerous thing to do.
00:16:00The television princess wasn't interested in celebrity.
00:16:04Not unlike the real one.
00:16:06She's not a person that is constantly looking for praise.
00:16:10She gets on and does her work regardless because she thinks it's important.
00:16:15Anne doesn't crave the limelight.
00:16:17She probably had her fill of being in the newspapers when she was young.
00:16:21So there's a lot of things that she does under the radar.
00:16:26There were no tears when Princess Anne was first captured on film in September 1950.
00:16:32It's an occasion when we would all wish to share their joy and pride.
00:16:35Anne was a new princess for a new age.
00:16:39The media age.
00:16:41She grew up surrounded by cameras in public and at home.
00:16:45Both the princess's parents were keen home filmmakers.
00:16:49When he was six, the Earl of Caithness was invited to Balmoral playdates with the five-year-old princess.
00:16:59I was very fortunate to know Princess Anne.
00:17:01She was always a lot of fun.
00:17:03She was a very determined person.
00:17:07She was not going to get beaten by a situation or by somebody.
00:17:11And if somebody could do something, she could do it too.
00:17:15She was a very imaginative child and curious about everything that happened.
00:17:19So she was curious about the environment.
00:17:21And of course the Duke was very keen on the environment.
00:17:24So he was passing that knowledge and interest onto his children too.
00:17:28She also was brought up by her father to sail in dinghies and developed a love of sailing.
00:17:34Almost her earliest memory is going on board the Royal Yacht Britannia.
00:17:40The Duke of Edinburgh just got on with things.
00:17:43Didn't suffer fools gladly.
00:17:45And I think it's fair to say that the princess has many of her father's characteristics.
00:17:52The Duke of Edinburgh's home movies captured determination,
00:17:56and perhaps more, in the child who would become the Princess Royal.
00:18:01She was more determined than most, more competitive than most,
00:18:05and that was a lovely streak in her.
00:18:08Anne and her brother Charles were first educated together at Buckingham Palace
00:18:13by Miss Catherine Peebles.
00:18:15The school days was governess-driven,
00:18:18so the range of what you can do is quite limited.
00:18:21My basic skills were okay, but we won't go further than that.
00:18:25And I did more French than most people did, but no maths and no Latin.
00:18:30A new term at Benenden School...
00:18:32When she was 12, Anne took the initiative and asked her mother
00:18:36if she could go to school outside the palace, the first princess to do so.
00:18:41I did volunteer to go to school, I have to say, and I was thrilled.
00:18:44School was much more interesting.
00:18:46Now she'll live and learn with 300 other girls
00:18:49and be treated, at the Queen's request, exactly the same as any other girl.
00:18:53This was a new experience.
00:18:55The first time she'd mixed with large groups of other children.
00:18:59Did you feel you were treated as one of the girls?
00:19:02You'd have to ask the other girls that, I thought so.
00:19:06One of them was classmate Sandra Hacking, already part of a tight friendship group.
00:19:11For six years, they'd share the princess's hopes, dreams and secrets.
00:19:17We were given encouragement to be as natural as possible with the princess.
00:19:23The perception was that the princess might be quite shy,
00:19:26but we had this group of friends and the princess just rocked up and joined in.
00:19:33For me, of course, it was education at a different level.
00:19:36And the fact that you were doing it with a group of people,
00:19:39I was amazed how much I enjoyed it.
00:19:42I got on very well with our headmistress, Miss E.B. Clarke,
00:19:46but most people were terrified of her.
00:19:48We used to have quite interesting conversations, and she was fascinating.
00:19:51It didn't happen all that often, but I was always intrigued by what people were so frightened of.
00:19:56Perhaps the head was on best behaviour with a pupil who had her own policeman.
00:20:02There was a really lovely security officer, and we did lead him a bit of a dance.
00:20:07It was rather fun to break out of school and go to the fish and chip shop,
00:20:11and trying to escape this loyal detective who was supposed to be looking after her.
00:20:15And anyway, we did that a few times.
00:20:19She was a very normal teenager.
00:20:22She was sensible and fun.
00:20:25Scotland Yard had help.
00:20:27Anne's classmates also kept an eye on her.
00:20:30There was possibly a general instruction not to talk to the press.
00:20:34The paparazzi did exist then.
00:20:36I don't recall intrusion at school, but on the public road,
00:20:39they were quite keen to photograph her.
00:20:41So there was a sense of looking after her.
00:20:44After A-levels, many went on to further education.
00:20:48The princess went into the family business.
00:20:52So many of my contemporaries, when asked why they were going to university,
00:20:55would say, well, basically, because that's what you do.
00:20:58And I'm thinking, really? That's not a very good reason for going to university.
00:21:01So I thought I'd skip that.
00:21:03But I also thought that I might have the opportunity to travel
00:21:06with Her Majesty on her tours.
00:21:08I did geography A-level, so for me, it made more sense.
00:21:12Shortly before her 19th birthday,
00:21:15the princess joined her parents on a state visit to Austria.
00:21:19It was the start of a lifelong career representing the country abroad.
00:21:24On early trips, the princess was learning the ropes.
00:21:28People talk about being trained to become a member of the royal family.
00:21:33I'm sorry to disappoint you, there is no such thing.
00:21:37It's just learning my experience.
00:21:39But hardly ever does anything go quite according to plan.
00:21:42You have to learn that.
00:21:43One that sticks in my mind about going up in lifts,
00:21:46and there was the Queen of the Duke of Edinburgh and the lady-in-waiting me.
00:21:49I think we were all dressed for quite a smart do somewhere.
00:21:53And we went from the ground floor.
00:21:54We were only supposed to be going two storeys.
00:21:57And it went up to about the 19th floor.
00:21:59And this chap got in thinking he was going for a spa treatment.
00:22:02He was slightly surprised.
00:22:05In Australia in 1970, the princess tried out a new approach to royal visits
00:22:11that Fleet Street dubbed the walkabout.
00:22:14I picked a young woman who I thought was sort of my age.
00:22:17And she looked at me and she said, we met before.
00:22:20And I'd never been to Australia before.
00:22:22I'd never done a walkabout before.
00:22:23And I thought, don't be ridiculous.
00:22:26And she said, I was the floor maid in Malta when you came.
00:22:30So you learn.
00:22:32This is a small world.
00:22:34At the time Princess Anne came of age,
00:22:36whatever the young did was news.
00:22:39And whatever young royals did was big news.
00:22:42Today, they're celebrities like it or not.
00:22:45But Anne was the pioneer.
00:22:47The pressure that is applied to the younger members of the family,
00:22:51it's always worse because that's what the media is interested in.
00:22:55And that's, you know, hard sometimes to deal with.
00:23:00But there was no social media in my day.
00:23:02So it probably has made it more difficult.
00:23:05I know there are lots of younger royals sort of who are very glamorous,
00:23:08but she was a very modern princess.
00:23:11In the relatively short time that Anne has been a grown-up,
00:23:14fashion-conscious young lady,
00:23:16she's made herself a name for her choice of hats.
00:23:18She was actually rather glamorous in the long hair.
00:23:21And she was very much of her time.
00:23:24She's the first princess to wear a miniskirt.
00:23:26Different looks go in and out of fashion.
00:23:29She's not ahead of it, but she's definitely in there.
00:23:32And she was on the cover.
00:23:35For her 21st birthday, there was a landmark portrait.
00:23:38To be on the cover of Vogue in 1971, I mean, the Vogue cover is for extraordinary women.
00:23:45And she was very much her own person, not her mother or her aunt.
00:23:49Princess Anne hit planet fashion for six.
00:23:53Her public wardrobe was bold and blocky.
00:23:56She favoured bright colours and big hats.
00:23:59She's actually really fashionable as a young woman.
00:24:01And she's sort of her own person within those parameters.
00:24:05The princess turned her visibility to good use, backing the textile and fashion industries.
00:24:13Tonight, she's at London Fashion Week to present a design award.
00:24:18The princess has been our president since 1985.
00:24:21In the 60s and 70s, she was known for her very lively interest in fashion.
00:24:27The princess has an eye.
00:24:28I'm sure she wouldn't mind me saying this.
00:24:30She has her preferences on colour.
00:24:32I mean, we see green quite a lot, natural colours.
00:24:37In the 80s, she started to wear on public occasions the suit.
00:24:41Of course, emblematic of the working woman.
00:24:43She also wears those suits again and again, as a normal woman would.
00:24:48That's made her be recently hailed as an icon of sustainability.
00:24:53I'm probably the very last person to make any comment about fashion.
00:24:57And any husband who makes comments on his wife's fashion style is a very brave or risky man.
00:25:05What I would say is that she has developed a style of her own and she sticks to it.
00:25:11She's not driven by others to do something that doesn't suit her.
00:25:15Back in the 1970s, if the world's most eligible princess was seen anywhere near a bachelor, it made for banner headlines.
00:25:26Captain Mark Phillips was a rising star in the equestrian world.
00:25:30He met his princess at an Olympic party in 1968.
00:25:34Three years later, the press got their story.
00:25:39After weeks of rumours, speculation and denials, finally, it's official.
00:25:49Neither the princess nor her fiancé wanted the attention, but their celebrity fuelled royal wedding fever.
00:25:57In November 1973, the ceremony was a major television event.
00:26:02There'd never been anything like it in terms of television spectacle, probably since the coronation, which was on tiny black and white sets.
00:26:09500 million people watched around the world.
00:26:12With this ring, I be wed. With this ring, I be wed.
00:26:18The wedding made the princess and her new husband the most famous couple on earth.
00:26:25It also made them targets.
00:26:36Good evening. Shots have been fired at Princess Anne and Captain Phillips.
00:26:39At least five shots were fired at their car and the bullets shattered the windows.
00:26:43Four months after her dazzling wedding, Princess Anne was the target of would-be kidnapper Ian Ball.
00:26:52What is interesting is what you remember and how you remember it.
00:26:54Because although I thought I remembered everything that had happened,
00:26:57I would never have been able to swear that I could remember in the right order.
00:27:01Because they were like photos, individual snapshots, very clearly.
00:27:07In March 1974, the royal car was returning from a charity event when Ball forced it to stop.
00:27:16The mall is completely closed off here tonight.
00:27:19Now a gunman got out and fired several shots through the windscreen.
00:27:23When protection officer Jim Beaton confronted him, he was shot in the shoulder.
00:27:28There was a couple of short cracks.
00:27:30I took my pistol, lifted it up and fired it in his direction, but nothing happened.
00:27:35And it obviously had jammed.
00:27:37And I managed to get into the car and there was Ian Ball with his gun.
00:27:42So I just stuck up my right hand in front of it and he fired.
00:27:45And it went through the window, obviously, and into my hand.
00:27:51The driver and Princess Anne's bodyguard were hurt.
00:27:55Then a policeman on point duty ran up.
00:27:58He was turned on by the gunman and shot at at point-blank range.
00:28:03Strangely, I had thought about it before that.
00:28:06What would you do if?
00:28:08One thing about horses and sport is you have to prepare for the unexpected
00:28:12and you've got to think your way through the sort of problems that are likely to occur.
00:28:16And I suppose that was the discipline which, to some extent, coloured my thought processes.
00:28:23The princess tried to talk the gunman down, insisting she would not leave the car.
00:28:29I remember she said to me, she said,
00:28:31I was so annoyed that he tore the sleeve out of my dress, she said,
00:28:34and it was a good new dress.
00:28:36Before he was overpowered, Ball shot and wounded four people.
00:28:40They were all given medals by a grateful queen.
00:28:44Princess Anne, because she was so cool, calm and collected,
00:28:48I think it kept the situation within control.
00:28:51Three years later came the birth of a son, Peter, and in 1981, baby Zara.
00:28:59Their mother decided her children should be plain Mr. and Miss.
00:29:05Stunning pictures of her in here.
00:29:11We were always brought up on the understanding that we were going to have to go to work,
00:29:16we were going to have to go out and earn our living,
00:29:19regardless of the fact of who our grandmother was or who our mother was.
00:29:23I think it made us fight harder as well to try and be as successful as we could be.
00:29:31So I definitely, you know, we're very grateful to not give us a title anyway.
00:29:37As a member of the royal family, living with that sort of pressure is hard
00:29:42and the expectations that come with it is hard.
00:29:44And that might have been at the bottom of the list.
00:29:48It may be less difficult for you.
00:29:50But actually, understanding where they sit within the family and what happens next,
00:29:54it made much more sense.
00:29:56Peter and Zara both live with their families close to Gatcombe Park in Gloucestershire.
00:30:02It was where they grew up, a haven for them and their mother.
00:30:07It was her sanctuary, if you like.
00:30:09When you're working, you also want to be able to then go home and, you know, be a mother.
00:30:17She was taking us out, you know, onto the farm and helping out on the farm,
00:30:20helping with the lambing and all that sort of stuff.
00:30:23They didn't give them titles,
00:30:27but Princess Anne and Mark Phillips did give their children a leg up,
00:30:32into the saddle.
00:30:34Captain Phillips was an Olympic gold medallist
00:30:37before he and Princess Anne were married.
00:30:40For the whole family, horses were work, rest and play.
00:30:44It was part of our lives.
00:30:46We didn't really know anything else.
00:30:48We both started off with a little Shetland called Smokey.
00:30:51When we went up to the stables to go and ride,
00:30:54it was a working professional yard.
00:30:56You know, both our parents were riding.
00:30:58It was normal, especially as our father won Olympic medals
00:31:01and been hugely successful in the sport.
00:31:04That was just life growing up.
00:31:06But the marriage wasn't to last.
00:31:08After 19 years, the couple were divorced.
00:31:10Princess Anne then married Naval Commander Tim Lawrence.
00:31:14It's quite amusing that she married first an army officer
00:31:17and then a naval officer,
00:31:18so there must be something about the military that attracts her.
00:31:23They met while the up-and-coming officer
00:31:25was an equerry, or military assistant, to the Queen.
00:31:30After almost 30 years of marriage,
00:31:32the Vice Admiral and the Princess Royal make a powerful team.
00:31:36They both have the understanding of what being a part of the wider family means
00:31:41and what is required,
00:31:42and for the last 25 years plus that they've been together now,
00:31:47it's...
00:31:49He's been a very strong support for her.
00:31:53Naturally, their interests coincide.
00:31:56The Trafalgar dinner is an annual naval tradition
00:31:59and an enjoyable date for both of them.
00:32:01There's a shared love of history, duty and much more besides.
00:32:07We are both map-and-chart people.
00:32:10We like to know where we are and see where we're going.
00:32:14For more than three decades,
00:32:16Sir Tim has been able to observe the royal family close up.
00:32:20Similarities with her father are much talked about.
00:32:23What is less spoken about is the similarities with her mother,
00:32:27the Queen.
00:32:28The common theme is humour, fun.
00:32:32One of the great surprises for me
00:32:34when I first went to Balmoral and to Sandringham and Windsor
00:32:39was that these places are full of laughter.
00:32:42The love of sport is another bond.
00:32:45We both follow with great enthusiasm the Scottish rugby team.
00:32:49As you may have noticed, they don't always win.
00:32:54There is one area where the couple don't see eye to eye.
00:32:59She grew up with horses.
00:33:01Horses have been part of her life.
00:33:03It's not something I share with her.
00:33:05Sadly, I've never been bitten by the horse bug.
00:33:09At Gatcombe, that bug draws the crowds
00:33:12to the Festival of British Eventing.
00:33:15Jane Holderness Rodham is a lady-in-waiting to the Princess
00:33:19and a former Olympic gold medallist.
00:33:22They first met riding as children.
00:33:25Even at nine years old or ten years old,
00:33:28you know, when she appeared, she had great presence.
00:33:30She never pushed herself forward,
00:33:32but she just, you know, you knew she was there sort of thing.
00:33:36I started to compete.
00:33:38There was an acceptance.
00:33:39I'd give that a try and see how it went.
00:33:41And then it was more successful than I thought it was going to be.
00:33:44Well, she was obviously very competitive
00:33:46and she had an amazing affinity with her horses.
00:33:49You know, her and Doublet were just a real partnership.
00:33:52They were a pleasure to watch.
00:33:54At the age of 21, as a member of the British eventing team,
00:33:58Princess Anne won gold at the 1971 European Eventing Championships.
00:34:05Well, sport is a great leveller.
00:34:07It has no respect for who you are.
00:34:09It's a question of whether you succeed.
00:34:12If you come first in a world equestrian games,
00:34:15nobody can really accuse you of having extra favours
00:34:19because you're a member of the royal family.
00:34:21You've done it and it's a great thing to achieve.
00:34:24Also in 1971, there was another trophy for the royal mantelpiece.
00:34:29Just being selected with that group of sports people
00:34:33has to be a significant honour,
00:34:36especially from the perspective of a sport
00:34:38that doesn't get that level of profile.
00:34:41It gives me great pleasure, ma'am,
00:34:42to present the SportU Personality Award of 1971.
00:34:48It was a really important moment for Olympic sport when she won that.
00:34:51Seeing off George Best at the same time was pretty much up there.
00:34:55And, of course, Zara went on to win it many, many years later.
00:35:01Which section of the three-day event do you enjoy best?
00:35:04The end.
00:35:06LAUGHTER
00:35:08It was a slightly novel, a novel entrance for everybody.
00:35:14I was just amazed to be included.
00:35:17But the Olympics were the pinnacle of the princess's career
00:35:21and brought even more attention to her sport.
00:35:25The Queen was determined to see the tough 17-mile cross-country course
00:35:29that Princess Anne will find on Saturday.
00:35:31I wasn't at the Olympics. I couldn't go.
00:35:34So it was all on the television what we saw.
00:35:38What I didn't know at the time was that she had this awful fall.
00:35:42I was going very well.
00:35:44And then I don't remember anything else.
00:35:47But she got back on and competed.
00:35:50She was that concussed that she couldn't remember
00:35:52and still to this day I believe doesn't remember the rest of the course.
00:35:56Nothing at all then?
00:35:57Nothing at all, no.
00:35:59It is probably the most dangerous sport on the planet.
00:36:03I've watched a lot of three-day eventing.
00:36:05I know the sort of the competitive granite
00:36:09that those men and women are made from.
00:36:13And she's absolutely hewn from that.
00:36:16Her mantra for life is very much
00:36:19if you fall, get back up and try again.
00:36:22Get up, carry on, mind your manners.
00:36:25All that early exposure inspired the next generation.
00:36:31Zara Phillips was a gold medalist with the British eventing team
00:36:35and was for four years world champion.
00:36:38In 2012, she won silver at the London Olympics.
00:36:43Her mother presented the award.
00:36:46To be given your medal by your mother is pretty special.
00:36:51You can't really ever explain that feeling.
00:36:54She very much knows what it takes to achieve and to win.
00:37:00Having the whole family come and watch was incredible as well.
00:37:04All the cousins were there, weren't they?
00:37:06It was a really special day, a special family day for...
00:37:10It's the only competition that everyone's watched me in.
00:37:14If there's going to be one, it's going to be that one.
00:37:17It's going to be one, yeah.
00:37:18Was it very important that you beat your mother's record?
00:37:22No, I think it was very important that I beat my father's.
00:37:25It was pointed out to me a while ago that I'm the only member
00:37:31of my direct family not to have a gold medal.
00:37:34But we moved on from that.
00:37:36The International Olympic Committee...
00:37:40It was her competitors' understanding of the Olympics
00:37:43that made the Princess a key player in the bid to bring the Games
00:37:46to London in 2012.
00:37:49London!
00:37:50I really think the team have earned it.
00:37:57I mean, they've done a fantastic job.
00:37:59She was absolutely integral to our winning the bid for the Olympics in 2005.
00:38:07Then did a huge job with the British Olympic Association.
00:38:11The Princess Royal was on the bid committee and her contribution was seismic.
00:38:17And it was always to the point.
00:38:20She doesn't always suffer fools gladly.
00:38:24She doesn't speak for the sake of speaking.
00:38:26I do remember after a rather long-winded interjection
00:38:31by one of the committee members,
00:38:34she'd actually forgotten to turn her microphone off.
00:38:37And she did manage to utter the immortal words,
00:38:41I think this person is probably the most stupid person in world sport.
00:38:46And this echoed absolutely around the room.
00:38:50And she never flinched.
00:38:52It was as though it never happened and we just moved on.
00:38:55But it is probably one of my favourite moments.
00:38:59Not flinching is a speciality, even in the heat of battle.
00:39:05It's a speciality.
00:39:06It's a speciality.
00:39:07It's a speciality.
00:39:08It's a speciality.
00:39:09It's a speciality.
00:39:10It's a speciality.
00:39:11It's a speciality.
00:39:12In Estonia, the king's royal hussars are awaiting the princess,
00:39:17their colonel-in-chief.
00:39:18She's coming east to observe their manoeuvres as part of a NATO battle group.
00:39:23First time I've driven a member of the royal family.
00:39:26I'm buzzing.
00:39:27I'm really looking forward to it.
00:39:28It's quite an honour to have a member of the royal family on our tank.
00:39:31Tell the grandkids.
00:39:35The monarchy is our guiding light, our moral compass.
00:39:38Having someone like the princess royal who stands for that family
00:39:41and she's the head of our family is incredibly important.
00:39:44She's hugely in admiration of what the United Kingdom's military does for this country
00:39:50and she wants to support them.
00:39:53It's really good.
00:39:54She's interested in seeing variants of what we do.
00:39:57It's really nice to see her come out and get amongst all the lads.
00:40:01I think it's important that they recognise that there is somebody from outside the military
00:40:06who might understand what they're doing.
00:40:09They are working very hard so that's, I hope, what they feel is being achieved.
00:40:14We all know her and we've all felt that personal touch that she brings.
00:40:19And her ability to talk to everyone, of any rank, of any age,
00:40:24is something that we all love about her.
00:40:27So as Royal Engineers we're setting up battlefield simulations
00:40:30for the attack that's going to happen.
00:40:32The Challenger 2 is a hugely effective piece of equipment.
00:40:36There are in-life upgrades going on at the moment.
00:40:39There's always the technology to catch up on
00:40:41because that's changing all the time.
00:40:52It's quite a full-on environment.
00:40:55It's loud, it's noisy.
00:40:57She loves going in any of her army vehicles.
00:41:00She loves driving the tanks, firing the guns.
00:41:06There's a huge amount going on.
00:41:08I was impressed by actually how much she immediately understood.
00:41:15Right in the middle she got out her phone and started filming,
00:41:19which is what people do today.
00:41:21She doesn't stand above and beyond it and she's terribly human.
00:41:25At headquarters, the officers' mess is a shrine to their royal comrade.
00:41:35As a member of the royal family, females tended to be treated as honorary men.
00:41:39So, you know, they would become involved in organisations,
00:41:41otherwise men only.
00:41:43In 1969, the Princess joined up.
00:41:46Her first rank, Colonel-in-Chief of the 14th, 20th Hussars,
00:41:50as they were then known.
00:41:52That was almost the first thing that I did when they were in Germany then.
00:41:56At the age of 19, she was on exercise in a Chieftain tank named after her.
00:42:02Just perfect for Trafalgar Square.
00:42:04You know, it solves all your problems, really.
00:42:07They're fantastic bits of kids.
00:42:09Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Angus Tilney
00:42:12is keeper of the regimental scrapbook.
00:42:15We've got photos here of the Princess Royal driving a Chieftain
00:42:18with her headscarf on.
00:42:20I'd make sure she had a helmet on if she did it today.
00:42:23And firing the Stirling submachine gun.
00:42:26Again, no ear defence in those days,
00:42:28but certainly today we'd make sure that she did.
00:42:31It'd be the end of me if I had the Princess Royal
00:42:35shooting a Stirling submachine gun without ear defenders.
00:42:38But she seems pretty easy with it.
00:42:41She's actually the longest-serving member of the King's Royal Azars.
00:42:45It's a very long association.
00:42:48I thought I'd got old when the son of the Commanding Officer,
00:42:52when I met him, was, in short, in Germany,
00:42:55became an officer in the regiment.
00:42:58I thought I'd been there too long already.
00:43:00We're into grandchildren, yeah.
00:43:04When she was very young, Princess Anne would join Prince Charles,
00:43:08watching the Queen at the grandest military ceremony of all.
00:43:12It's among her first memories.
00:43:15Well, the earliest ones, of course,
00:43:16were the troop in the colour of the birthday parade.
00:43:18It was important training for Princess Anne
00:43:21in the ceremonial role of the monarchy.
00:43:24You were allowed to go quite early in your career.
00:43:27That was much the earliest of the sort of ceremonial events
00:43:29you were allowed to be part of.
00:43:31State visits came much later.
00:43:33For today's ceremony, the Princess will ride behind the Queen
00:43:39as a royal colonel.
00:43:41Right, final polish and grooming.
00:43:43You get the other horse out now, chap.
00:43:45Every year, royal stud groom Terry Pendry
00:43:48prepares the family's horses for the ceremony.
00:43:51The Princess rode.
00:43:52There we have her saddle.
00:43:54She's a fine, fine horsewoman.
00:43:56Passed on from her mother, her grandmother,
00:43:59all the royal children, and they learned to walk.
00:44:01And straight after walking, they were learned to ride.
00:44:04Of course, the Princess rode.
00:44:05We just went from strength to strength to strength.
00:44:08I did compete against her.
00:44:10On the odd occasion, I have beaten her.
00:44:13But most of the time, I would have seen her backside
00:44:16disappearing into...
00:44:17She was a lot better than I'll ever be.
00:44:19Right, saddle's on.
00:44:21I'm pretty certain they know they're going on parade.
00:44:24George behind me certainly does.
00:44:26Yeah, they do know I'm certain of it.
00:44:31Trooping the Colour is the most astonishing mixture
00:44:34of pageantry, military ceremonial, horsemanship
00:44:39and horsewomanship.
00:44:40But at the heart of it is this family.
00:44:44And the family, of course, are on performance.
00:44:46Anne, of course, does very well,
00:44:48since she probably rides more than the others.
00:44:50Trooping the Colour, this is absolutely crucial
00:44:53in terms of what they do as members of that family.
00:44:56For me, like, family occasions were all about
00:44:59hanging out with our cousins
00:45:01and just having as much fun as possible.
00:45:03You then kind of click round the ear and say,
00:45:05right, behave yourself.
00:45:06You know, we're going out on the balcony.
00:45:08Don't pick your nose and, you know, don't yawn.
00:45:11Today, the Princess Royal increasingly helps out the Queen,
00:45:17and not just in military ceremonies.
00:45:20She also takes a key role in the most exciting civil event,
00:45:24the investitures.
00:45:26I didn't think I would ever be asked to do an investiture.
00:45:30It's a real pleasure.
00:45:31I'm delighted to be able to go on doing those.
00:45:33These are all British Empire.
00:45:35That's a CBE.
00:45:36And then over there is the sword that the Princess Royal
00:45:39will be using for the investiture today.
00:45:41The honours system is a wonderful way of recognising
00:45:45individual people around the country
00:45:47that makes this country great,
00:45:48rather than, you know, big companies or politicians.
00:45:52This is it.
00:45:54Journalist Brenda Imanus is to receive the OBE
00:45:58for services to broadcasting and diversity.
00:46:01Her Majesty the Queen may be graciously pleased
00:46:05to approve that you be appointed an Officer
00:46:07of the Order of the British Empire.
00:46:10It's really quite amazing and quite humbling.
00:46:13My mother was so proud.
00:46:15It's the first time I've seen her genuinely bursting with pride.
00:46:19Choosing what to wear took forever.
00:46:21That's the coat.
00:46:22But I'm not sure what the formality is,
00:46:25whether you keep your coat on or take your coat off
00:46:27when you go up to do your bit.
00:46:31Get straight up the stairs.
00:46:33Recipients, whether it's that case.
00:46:34Today, 65 recipients and their families
00:46:37have travelled to Buckingham Palace,
00:46:39Linda Longstaff has come from Sunderland
00:46:42to receive an MBE for her work as a hospital chaplain.
00:46:46Absolutely overwhelming.
00:46:48What it is.
00:46:50And to be with my husband and my two girls.
00:46:54It's wonderful.
00:46:56For most people, this will be their first contact
00:46:59with the royal family.
00:47:01Brenda's mum has bought a new hat.
00:47:04I feel very proud this morning.
00:47:07Yes, I am.
00:47:09Because of my daughter.
00:47:11Coming to get this, it's quite a thing actually.
00:47:14It's starting to hit me.
00:47:16The Princess Royal likes to spend a chunk of time
00:47:21talking to each recipient.
00:47:22She's really good at it.
00:47:23So, you know, we tailor the numbers accordingly.
00:47:25She does her homework with her staff on each person
00:47:29so that she knows their background story
00:47:31and will remember each one as they come up.
00:47:34She's exceptional at it.
00:47:36If you get in a position where you can see
00:47:38and hear what I have to say, please.
00:47:39And it's my job to explain how an investigation works.
00:47:42Turn to face the Princess Royal.
00:47:45Thank you, Belle.
00:47:46And from the ladies,
00:47:47much better than I can do, it's a curtsy.
00:47:49You're now moving forward towards the dais.
00:47:52Receive your award.
00:47:54Conversation.
00:47:55Handshake.
00:47:56Take it.
00:47:57Shake it.
00:47:58Let go.
00:47:59Go back two or three paces.
00:48:01Neck bell.
00:48:02Or a curtsy.
00:48:03Turn to your right.
00:48:04And pass you out in that direction.
00:48:09People whinge about having an awards system.
00:48:14But actually, this one does work.
00:48:16And I think on the whole, the decisions made,
00:48:18have been good.
00:48:19And they do reflect, I think, appropriately,
00:48:22the important issues.
00:48:24The system itself gets a bit of flack
00:48:26because occasionally somebody controversial
00:48:28gets an honour.
00:48:29But the award of an MBE to somebody
00:48:31who's been beavering away for 10 or 20 years,
00:48:34supporting some charitable cause,
00:48:36is a massively important part of our national life, I think.
00:48:42This is absolutely the heart of what the monarchy does.
00:48:47Because the princess has been going around the country
00:48:49for 50 years-ish, she would give an MBE out to a health worker
00:48:56and the lady would say,
00:48:58I remember when you opened the general hospital in North Allerton
00:49:02in 1980, and then the conversation would go on from there.
00:49:06Talking about we've met before,
00:49:11that happens more in investigers than I care to think.
00:49:15And then often a bit of a challenge.
00:49:18But there you go.
00:49:20She was lovely.
00:49:22She really does hold a conversation with you.
00:49:24Because I was really worried what to say.
00:49:27And she knows about you as well.
00:49:29She asked me if I preferred being in front of the camera or behind.
00:49:31She knew a lot about my artwork.
00:49:33Some of the palace authorities thought the princess's investigers
00:49:43went on a bit too long,
00:49:45but it gave enormous joy and pride to the recipients,
00:49:49which, at the end of the day, is what it's all about.
00:49:52The royal presence makes all the difference.
00:49:56It's the electricity the princess aims to bring
00:49:59to the 300 charities she represents.
00:50:13Hello. Hello.
00:50:14And that was a preview of Princess Anne and me
00:50:16on our Blue Peter Royal Safari.
00:50:18The Princess Royal has spent 50 years bringing the spotlight
00:50:21to the vast array of charities she represents.
00:50:25It all began in 1970,
00:50:27when she became president of Save the Children.
00:50:30I don't know why they asked me,
00:50:32because, patently, as a 19-year-old who'd done very little,
00:50:37that was quite an interesting risk.
00:50:40The Princess gets this wonderful new role.
00:50:43Royal events, before that,
00:50:44she'd maybe been, you know, with her mother and father,
00:50:47or maybe with Prince Charles.
00:50:48This time it was, you know, it was her film.
00:50:50Do you like flying?
00:50:52Well, I did.
00:50:53I wouldn't consider it one of my favourite forms of transport.
00:50:57Probably that first interview was a little bit awkward,
00:51:01because it was the first time she was doing it,
00:51:03it was the first time I was doing it.
00:51:04Once we got into Kenya, it became much more relaxed.
00:51:07She's very natural, she was very easy with the children.
00:51:13I think she was enjoying the film, being there and being,
00:51:16let's face it, she was the centre of attention.
00:51:19But she absolutely knew all about the Save the Children Fund.
00:51:23And she absolutely wasn't going to make any mistakes,
00:51:26she'd done her homework.
00:51:28She was in charge of Save the Children when I was a kid,
00:51:31as far as I can remember.
00:51:32I said, who is this person who wants to save me
00:51:34and all other children?
00:51:36At the charity's London headquarters,
00:51:38they're awaiting her arrival.
00:51:40Fifty years after she joined them,
00:51:43Her Royal Highness is still on the headed note paper
00:51:46and on the board.
00:51:48I suppose it took me about ten years to work out
00:51:51just how Save the Children functions.
00:51:53So I didn't say much for ten years.
00:51:56It was a good organisation to learn from,
00:51:58because if you've got children involved,
00:52:00it's about health, it's about education.
00:52:02It links to all sorts of other things.
00:52:05The Princess has a really inquisitive mind
00:52:08and a huge knowledge across the workings of all her charities.
00:52:13The great advantage of having the Princess Royal
00:52:16sitting at your boardroom table is that,
00:52:19when you have somebody of that bandwidth of experience,
00:52:24it allows you to make much better and informed decisions.
00:52:28The Princess delivers experience and exposure
00:52:31to more than 300 charities and patronages.
00:52:35It was the reason that, in 1987,
00:52:37the Queen made her Princess Royal.
00:52:41One of the things my father said was,
00:52:44you know, you'll be offered a whole lot of things.
00:52:47And the big mistake that was made in the past
00:52:50was just accepting anything that anybody asked you to do.
00:52:53And he said, you know, just be a bit careful
00:52:55and find something that either you're interested in
00:52:58or you think you might be able to have an impact.
00:53:01And for me, that was the writing of the Disabled Association.
00:53:05No knowledge of disabilities, but some knowledge of ponies.
00:53:10In June, the charity holds a weekend of competitions and displays.
00:53:15It's a fixture in the Princess's diary.
00:53:18Her Royal Highness has been involved
00:53:20with Riding for the Disabled for 50 years.
00:53:23The fact that she's a horsewoman makes it much more authentic.
00:53:25She's incredibly inspirational.
00:53:27Afterday?
00:53:29Yes.
00:53:30This is my horse.
00:53:31Seven.
00:53:32Not completed yet?
00:53:33Not yet.
00:53:34Well, horses are used as a great therapy
00:53:37in lots of organisations
00:53:39and the Princess knows very much the therapeutic use of riding
00:53:43to help both physical disabilities and mental.
00:53:48The organisation has provided support for 17-year-old show jumper Evie Toombs.
00:53:53She hasn't let the complications of spina bifida dent her Paralympic ambitions.
00:53:59It's a wonderful association and it helps in so many ways.
00:54:03Daisy recognises that my legs don't work very well and I'm not very strong.
00:54:07She knows when I'm a bit weak and she can kind of look after me that bit more.
00:54:11She's very special to me.
00:54:13Horses make the world go round.
00:54:16At least for everyone here.
00:54:18I actually had to ask my sister,
00:54:20what is the correct way to address the Princess?
00:54:22Oh, yes.
00:54:23What is the correct way?
00:54:25Because I was going to say,
00:54:26Her Royal Highness, the Princess Royal.
00:54:31This is Evie.
00:54:32Hello.
00:54:33Nice to meet you.
00:54:34She rides with Lincolnshire World's RDA.
00:54:36She's an amazing show jumper.
00:54:38You competed this morning, didn't you?
00:54:39Yeah, I do a lot of riding
00:54:40and I also visit primary schools to educate on hidden illnesses
00:54:44and kind of spread the love for riding.
00:54:46So when did you start riding yourself?
00:54:48How old were you?
00:54:49I was about four years old to my mum ride.
00:54:51So I'm really lucky in that aspect.
00:54:53Yeah.
00:54:54Got pushed.
00:54:55Even my neurosurgeon, when I had neurosurgery, said get her on horse.
00:54:58So that was doctor's orders.
00:55:00Yeah.
00:55:01I expected her to be a bit like up here and posh and all that,
00:55:07but she was nice.
00:55:08She's so relaxed though.
00:55:10It makes it so enjoyable, doesn't it?
00:55:12Because she's so relaxed.
00:55:13She's not bothered.
00:55:14And she laughs.
00:55:15Yeah.
00:55:16Which is really important.
00:55:18She invests a huge amount of time in all sorts of charities
00:55:21around this country and sticks up for, you know,
00:55:25the smallest and most obscure charities you could imagine.
00:55:29The small organisations who find it more difficult,
00:55:32I think raising their profile is no bad thing.
00:55:35Hearing Dogs for Deaf People is a small charity with a big profile,
00:55:40partly thanks to the princess's patronage.
00:55:43Hearing Dogs came through a chap I met years ago who blinded in the war.
00:55:48It was very much part of my father's life.
00:55:50He was one of those people who said,
00:55:52no, he said I'd rather be blind because if I couldn't hear,
00:55:57I couldn't be part of this conversation.
00:56:00And suddenly you become aware of the fact that this is an isolation
00:56:03by being deaf.
00:56:05And the dogs helped people get over that.
00:56:08The charity trains the puppies and the deaf people they'll live with.
00:56:12The princess has been patron since 1992.
00:56:16Hello darlings. Hello. Hello.
00:56:19Michelle Jennings is the organisation's new chief executive.
00:56:23She's still getting used to the hands-on royal.
00:56:26She does far more than I ever expected a royal patron to do.
00:56:30The temperament is crucially important.
00:56:33So we breed about 75% of our own dogs.
00:56:36She's incredibly engaged in how we're bringing up these animals,
00:56:40how we're training them.
00:56:41It's very complex what we do.
00:56:43The whole working life of the dog is around £45,000.
00:56:47It's a very, very costly endeavour.
00:56:50But it changes lives.
00:56:52People you go and visit and see,
00:56:54they're the ones who are doing the research, the development
00:56:56and the work on the ground
00:56:58and being the volunteers who make the difference.
00:57:00Not me, but you can sometimes help other people
00:57:04make an even bigger impact than they're already doing.
00:57:06The team work around the clock to train dogs like Scamp,
00:57:11who's become the ears of 15-year-old Amelia Price Moxon.
00:57:15May I introduce Amelia? Hello.
00:57:18With her here in the dog, Scamp.
00:57:21Morning, Scamp.
00:57:22So what have you found has been helpful about Scamp?
00:57:25It made me feel more confident.
00:57:28Do you go out more? Yeah, with him.
00:57:30On buses and trains and things like that,
00:57:33and he's good at that? Yeah.
00:57:35Very good. That's crucial.
00:57:37Yes, because Amelia can't really hear behind her,
00:57:39or so safety aspect.
00:57:41No.
00:57:42Scamp's been a lifesaver for you, hasn't he?
00:57:45Yeah. Very good.
00:57:46And he does school assemblies as well.
00:57:48Oh, really? Yes.
00:57:49Yeah.
00:57:50What about in the house?
00:57:53Yeah, and he helps me sleep better,
00:57:56so I know he's there with me.
00:57:58Mm-hmm.
00:57:59And he doesn't sleep on the bed, does he?
00:58:02Yeah.
00:58:03But at the end...
00:58:04OK.
00:58:08She's been supporting a lot of these organisations
00:58:10for many, many years.
00:58:11She's invested in, you know, all those things now.
00:58:14That's why I think everything that she's involved in
00:58:17has done so well.
00:58:18If you've got that much knowledge and association with something,
00:58:23you put your passion into it.
00:58:25Certainly, as she's got older, she's tried to cut down,
00:58:28although she clearly hasn't.
00:58:30As the princess enters her eighth decade,
00:58:32cutting down is not on the agenda.
00:58:43When trooping the colours over for another year,
00:58:46the household cavalry head for the beach.
00:58:49It's time for the horse's summer holiday.
00:58:53We come out here to get the horses away from London.
00:58:56We're really lucky to be able to sit in for a couple of beach rides,
00:58:59go for a canter-slash-gallop, and we take the horses swimming.
00:59:04Some of them love it.
00:59:05Some of them are a bit reluctant to get in the water.
00:59:08Their colonel also enjoys the seaside.
00:59:11Today, she's dropping in for a private visit, horseplay and a spot of lunch.
00:59:18Every year, she comes up after Queen's birthday for a drink in the mess
00:59:21and occasionally some dinners, but not to summer camp regularly.
00:59:25She came up...
00:59:26Well, she was due to come up last year, but unfortunately,
00:59:28her helicopter broke down.
00:59:30Colonel Anne, as she's known, arrives without fuss or formality
00:59:34and joins in the camp activities.
00:59:37It's a bit more of a relaxed environment
00:59:40and it's great to be able to see our colonel come along
00:59:43to chat to lots of soldiers and the officers,
00:59:45to meet the horses, to go for a ride.
00:59:47It's just a really good way to do a visit.
00:59:49We have Oscar for you to ride later.
00:59:53Major Harriet Telfer's a regimental vet
00:59:56used to talking horse with the princess.
00:59:59I mean, clearly her horse knowledge is outstanding.
01:00:03Even as a clinician, I sort of worry that she knows more than I do about the horses.
01:00:08And you'd think that would be intimidating, but it isn't,
01:00:10because she puts you at ease.
01:00:12That's true.
01:00:13You seem to have an empty box.
01:00:15You see Colonel Anne go up to soldiers
01:00:18and at first they are really nervous, rigidly nervous.
01:00:22And as soon as she starts talking and talking about something they know,
01:00:25they just instantly relax.
01:00:27Colonel, we've got your own javelin,
01:00:28which is a Colonel's horse.
01:00:30A javelin?
01:00:31Jesus.
01:00:32Or is it Oscar?
01:00:33It was Oscar.
01:00:34I've taken advice from the old riding master.
01:00:37Have you spread the blame already?
01:00:39Yes.
01:00:40I rode javelin yesterday on the drills and she was very good actually.
01:00:43No, very nice.
01:00:45It's not trooping the colour,
01:00:47but the day still has some of the ingredients the princess enjoys.
01:00:50Duty, precision and horses.
01:00:53No, walk on, not backwards.
01:00:56Twelve months on, a virus has made all this a golden memory.
01:01:03Back at Gatcom Park, the farmer princess has work to do.
01:01:08Well, I don't sit still.
01:01:09I mean, that's the advantage of being here is there's always plenty to do
01:01:12and a lot of it is physical.
01:01:14She doesn't go to the gym, but she will always go for a walk or she'll always do something in a day.
01:01:20You know, she's very disciplined in that kind of thing.
01:01:24She still rides every day. She's always walking the dogs.
01:01:27She's not one of these people to sit down and feel sorry for yourself.
01:01:31As soon as travel was legal, she was back visiting testing stations.
01:01:38In time of crisis, representing the queen.
01:01:41In this day and age, there's still an expectation of the monarch for that kind of overall assistance.
01:01:50And I suppose part of it is the experience that we have across the board.
01:01:56It gives you a better idea of the impact that these dramas are having.
01:02:02And I would argue that that spread of knowledge is important, that you're not seen to be a single issue person.
01:02:11Being seen as a role model was never an ambition.
01:02:15One of the oddities about my life is that I never either felt that or was encouraged to be that.
01:02:23Maybe because I liked doing things on my own and I did my own things.
01:02:28So, no, I'm afraid I was a really bad at that sort of role model bit.
01:02:33The princess was born as post-war Britain was being recast.
01:02:37The processes that shaped the nation helped to shape her, a royal for the new age.
01:02:44She's very uncompromising and she is incredibly loyal.
01:02:49I'm sure she would never self-identify as a feminist but, you know, she's a working woman and feminism is as feminism does.
01:02:57I wish I had her energy.
01:03:00There's nothing she's not prepared to tackle.
01:03:02She keeps herself very fit and just gets on with it.
01:03:06Frances Segelman-Petchy has finished her sculpture.
01:03:11This is very much like Elizabeth I. Her hair, the way it goes up.
01:03:16Thanks to Covid-19, the subject herself hasn't seen it yet.
01:03:21We're hoping that Princess Anne will unveil it for her birthday in August.
01:03:26I think it's elegant and I think it's imposing and I think it's her.
01:03:31She is a very elegant, serene, strong lady.
01:03:35At the start of her eighth decade, the Princess Royal could just put her feet up.
01:03:40She won't be spending her weekends at home with her slippers on.
01:03:45She's more likely to be wearing sea boots.
01:03:48Our ideal of a break, if we have a break, is to go up to our boat on the west coast of Scotland, spend a few days sometimes getting wet and cold.
01:03:59It is very nice to be able to do it just together.
01:04:02I navigate, I know how to get from A to B, but she's a better sailor of the boat.
01:04:07She's better at setting the sails and that sort of thing.
01:04:10I'm sure she tells the Admiral what to do.
01:04:12She's also an Admiral.
01:04:13Oh yes, she is.
01:04:15I think she's slightly more senior than he is as well.
01:04:18I'm sure they tell each other.
01:04:21Luckily, you wouldn't go on a boat with them, would you?
01:04:24For this senior royal, senior citizen, stopping is clearly out of the question.
01:04:31But there is another S-word.
01:04:34Slow down, I thought I had slowed down.
01:04:36I think the thing that nags away at you is that after all this time you should have learnt something.
01:04:43And there is an element of responsibility to make sure that you kind of knit that knowledge together and pass that on.
01:04:53Maybe I could ask you each a word that sums up HRH.
01:04:58Well, she told us this at the beginning, then we could have thought about it all the way through.
01:05:02If you'd read your notes, you would have known this question was coming.
01:05:05Well, you haven't got one ready.
01:05:07Well, do you know what?
01:05:08I don't know whether this is the right word.
01:05:11Tenacious, I think, is a pretty good word to sum her up.
01:05:18I don't know if you can sum her up in one word.
01:05:20You can't really, but that's about as good as I can come up with.
01:05:23It's a bit stingy.
01:05:24I'll give you three.
01:05:25Okay.
01:05:27Professional.
01:05:32Caring.
01:05:35Honest.
01:05:36Honest.
01:05:37Honest.
01:05:38Honest.
01:05:39Honest.
01:05:40Honest.
01:05:41Honest.
01:05:42Honest.
01:05:43Honest.
01:05:44Honest.
01:05:45Honest.
01:05:46Honest.
01:05:47Honest.
01:05:48Honest.
01:05:49Honest.
01:05:50Honest.
01:05:51Honest.
01:05:52Honest.
01:05:53Honest.
01:05:54Honest.
01:05:55Honest.
01:05:56Honest.
01:05:57Honest.
01:05:58Honest.
01:05:59Honest.
01:06:00Honest.
01:06:01Honest.
01:06:02Honest.
01:06:03Honest.
01:06:04Honest.
01:06:05You
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