Princess Anne is a royal who doesn't mince her words and amongst all her legendary quips is the exceptionally *her* response to Prince William's birth in June 1982. The Princess Royal was undertaking an engagement in New Mexico and was seemingly unaware that she'd just become an aunt for the first time.
Asked for her reaction to Princess Diana having a son, Princess Anne replied, "I didn't know she had one". Another journalist then quizzed her on if she felt everyone was making "too much fuss" of the royal baby, to which the Princess said simply, "Yes".
Royal tours are no doubt exhausting and at the time it was suggested that Princess Anne was also feeling the pressure of stepping up her workload whilst King Charles and Diana focused on their family. If this was the first she'd heard of her nephew's birth that's also quite a way to find out, though she's famously no-nonsense anyway.
Whilst the Princess Royal was likely excited to meet baby Prince William, work was still there to be done and a flurry of questions about personal matters instead of her engagements were probably not what she'd hoped for. Her father Prince Philip was similarly convinced that working royals were there to represent The Firm and not to be viewed as celebrities.
In Philip: The Final Portrait Gyles Brandreth wrote that Philip thought, "If you believe the attention is for you personally, you're going to end up in trouble. The attention is for your role, what you do, what you're supporting. It isn't for you as an individual. You are not a celebrity. You are representing the Royal Family."
Princess Anne takes her work very seriously, though behind the scenes she enjoyed fun, sporty moments with her nephew as he grew up.
Prince William revealed this in a special episode of Mike Tindall's The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast that they used to race around at Balmoral and she was "quite quick". They are understood to have a close bond and the Princess Royal's focus on getting on with her job has been described as one of her "successes".
"One of her biggest successes is that she's never tried to overshadow Charles," royal expert Katie Nicholl said earlier this year. "She has always just been there by his side as a pillar of strength, and she's like a hybrid of Elizabeth and Prince Philip in being no-fuss, not overly emotional and just getting on with the job."
It's not just the questions surrounding Prince William's birth that prompted a "no-fuss" response, as there have been plenty more over the years.
This includes her reply to her would-be kidnapper's request to get out of her car in 1974 - "Not b***** likely!" - as well as her response to a line of questioning in her and her first husband Mark Phillips' engagement interview. Surprising as it sounds to us nowadays, the then-22-year-old was actually quizzed on whether she'd "make a good housewife" and if she could sew or put on a button.
"Yes, I'm not totally useless. I was quite well educated, one way or another," she replied curtly.
