Things You Didn’t Know About The Princess Royal

It is common knowledge that members of the royal family are dedicated to charity work most of their lives. For Princess Anne, her charities are mostly inclined to the welfare of the youth and women, as well as the laborers and the disabled. Besides charity, The Princess Royal is also a Board Member of the International Olympic Committee, after she took part in successfully bidding for London as the host of the 2012 Olympic games—of which she chose to be an unsung heroine. Being 11th in line to the throne, Princess Anne undertakes over 600 official engagements each year.

Princess Anne and her first husband Mark Phillips were returning to the Buckingham Palace when their chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce was blocked by another car. Ian Ball, the suspect, jumped out of his car and fired six shots, injuring the chauffer Alex Callender, the Princess’ private detective Inspector James Beaton, a passing journalist and another policeman. It soon emerged that the shooting incident was an attempted kidnap for ransom. A letter to the Queen was eventually found where Ball demands 3 million British pounds for the apparent release of the princess. Ball was sentenced to life imprisonment and was placed in a mental institution. The incident remains as the closest attempt anyone has ever made on abducting a member of the current Royal Family.

Surprisingly, the only princess of the family is not as girly as you’d think. During the Montreal Olympics in 1976, the equestrienne princess fell on her horse Goodwill, yet insisted on getting back on the horse despite suffering from a concussion, and the fact that she was already out of the running for a medal. Princess Anne is also the first member of the British royal family to join the Olympics. Moreover, she usually wears the men’s version of the military uniform during military events such as the Trooping the Colour.

The Princess Royal is thanked by her two children from her first husband, Peter and Zara, for letting them grow up like normal kids whose grandmother just happens to be the Queen. They both went to the local school near their country home during their childhood years. The Princess Royal also fully supported the two in their pursuit of sports, as Zara is now also a professional equestrienne while Peter is the British Division managing director of the Sports & Entertainment Group, which specializes in career development of talented individuals in more than 15 countries around Europe. And of course, the Princess Royal taught her daughter and her son’s wife how to curtsy to the Queen with grace and perfection even in their casual clothes.

Source: http://www.royal.gov.uk/ | Photos of Princess Anne during the royal visit to the Philippines courtesy of Darren Wu