It's been a year since Princess Anne experienced a mysterious horse-related accident that left her with a concussion and memory loss. The incident caused her daughter, Zara Tindall, to be "shaken to the core," as OK! reported at the time—and as one source close to the princess recently shared, the Princess Royal's accident was "much worse" than the public ever knew.
In June 2024, Princess Anne was hospitalized for five days after suffering what a palace statement called "minor injuries and a concussion" from an "incident" at her home, Gatcombe Park. The Princess Royal returned to duties that July, sharing that she had absolutely no memory of the accident—which doctors described "as being consistent with the type of impact from a horse's legs or head," per the BBC.
Although Anne—who is often hailed as one of the hardest working members of the Royal Family—swiftly went back to business, it seems her injuries were substantially more serious than the palace "let on" last year. In a July 19 piece from the Times reflecting on Princess Anne's upcoming 75th birthday, a friend of the royal's stated, "Her accident was so much worse than anyone let on and it took quite a while for her to feel herself again."
Per the BBC, Anne—a lifelong equestrian and former Olympic athlete—claimed she was "jolly lucky" to still have her wits about her after the incident. "It just reminds you, shows you—you never quite know, something [happens] and you might not recover," she said. "You are sharply reminded that every day is a bonus really."
During the same visit to South Africa, she also reflected on her royal role, telling the Press Association, "I don't think there's a retirement program on this particular life." However, a source told the Times, "She has said her plan is to push on [with work] until she is 80, then start winding down a bit, and then copy the [late] Duke of Edinburgh and wind down completely at 90."
While King Charles "has to go on," the insider added, "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."
