PRINCESS ANNE “I've never been a city girl”

In a rare interview to celebrate her upcoming 70th birthday, HRH Princess Anne talks to Juliet Rieden about life as a farmer away from the royal beat, memories of Australia, riding with her grandchildren and why she chose not to give her children titles.

- Juliet Rieden

It’s a sunny morning in Gatcombe Park, Princess Anne’s estate in the heart of Gloucestershire, a two-and a-half-hour drive west of London. The 500-acre patch of outstanding natural beauty is not a palatial pile with a manicured garden attached, as you might expect, but a rugged working farm ruled largely by the livestock, with expert managing from their hands-on owner. This is the Princess Royal’s private home, both a haven from the scrutiny of public life and the place where she carries out the other half of her life’s work, and probably the part she likes best – being a farmer.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh’s only daughter rarely allows media into this sanctuary, so we were honoured when Princess Anne agreed to celebrate her upcoming 70th birthday in the pages of The Weekly. The plan was for the Princess Royal to show me around the estate, meet her long-horned rarebreed cattle, gleaming racehorses, pigs roaming through natural woodlands and sheep grazing. But COVID-19 threw a spanner in the works, with my flight from Australia grounded.

It was also touch-and-go as to whether The Weekly’s UK-based photographer, Hugo Burnand, would be able to visit Her Royal Highness, but in the nick of time British internal travel restrictions were lifted. The Princess Royal pivoted like a pro. I would interview Her Royal Highness on a video call and she would then head out onto the estate for our shoot.