This article is a couple of years old, but I'll post it anyway:

The best king we never had: Why Princess Anne is more man than her brothers and a lot more interesting too | Mail Online

"Sometimes a woman's deepest thoughts are best left unsaid, but the Princess Royal has never regretted once describing herself as 'not everyone's idea of a fairytale princess'.
It was a deliberate message and the moment she laid the ground rules for her life as a professional royal.
But everyone knew what she was getting at all those years ago."

Come to think of it, I'm more man than my brothers, too, and I talk to my dad about practically everything.

And just LOOK at those eyes!

she seems to have a tough look like Queen of Scots and Queen Elizabeth the virgin queen

She is tough! Like the time she screamed "Not bloody likely!" during the kidnapping attempt, and the time she told the press to naff off.

Oh my yes, I remember this. I *loved* Anne for that. She became my instant hero and remains so.

I don't know about her being the best King (lol) but I think if she was called to duty to serve as Queen, she would do an excellent job.

I think for Anne being the only girl in the family and her surroundings also helped her develope a tough exterior. She work so hard within the family and have taken on so much that I get tierd just watching her on official engagements.

I'm going to try and style my hair the way Anne's is in the first photograph in the article, the one taken for her 21st birthday. I'll have to look for a "waving iron" (like a curling iron but gives you wavy hair instead). My hair is the same length as in that picture of the princess, but straight and more like the colour hers is now. Same eyes though!

My problem with all of this is we don't know how she would have reacted had she been raised to be The Queen. She was always given an upbringing to suit her position as a supporting cast member and not someone who would have to be front and centre. She may have turned out the same way but she may not have done so.

True enough. That's a big question, nature versus nurture. All in all, she's pretty perfect for what her role is, really. Although they have different ways of showing their independence, Anne is the Harry of her day. Both a little iconoclastic. which I think is a very good thing. It's the human face of the Monarchy that lets us peek inside a little better.

But she's not a party girl like her aunt Margaret or Prince Harry. She doesn't smoke two packs of cigarettes a day, and she doesn't play strip billiards and the pictures later go viral.

I don't agree that Anne would be the best sovereign.
Yes, she is a real workhorse, but she has very little tact and she has no diplomacy.
She is too much like her father; while she is respected, she isn't always liked.

I somehow feel Anne would not feel "best" if she were sovereign, either. Not that she would not rise to the challenge, but...

As to the British royalty with LIKING as a pre-qualifier, the LIKING tends to go up and down with events and years.

Anne is like her father; she even has his looks. It's unfortunate she's only 10th in line. Male primogeniture should have been scrapped long ago. If it was, Anne would be fourth in line. She shouldn't be so far back just because she was born a girl. Anne's the tough one out of the royals; she learned that by being the only girl in the family sandwiched between three brothers. I'm in the same situation. I'm one of 8 grandchildren in my dad's family; and all of the others are male. The only grandchildren that are younger than me are my two brothers; all 5 of my (paternal) cousins are between 3 and 15 years older.

I don't remember the time she told the press to 'naff off', but both situations are common sense. It took courage to stand up to a kidnapper but I hardly thing she's tough.
Her exterior seems impenetrable, I doubt she'd e a woman easy to get along with.


It's unfortunate, but it's not going to change. We don't know what the world would be like of Anne has been raised to be Queen. I imagine we'd see a very different person who'd have to wait 60+ years to see her time on the throne. Anne's done what any girl in an all boy family does, muscle through and find your own thing.

I agree that we do not know if Anne would still be the way she is if she were the next in line to the throne. She would have been raised very different, and she would never have been allowed to participate in the Olympic's; she would never have been allowed to pursue her dream of Equestrianism as she would have had too much responsibility. I agree that she is a stern woman, who would "take no prisoners", but that is not necessarily a good trait for a Monarch to have. I could never seen Anne leaning over and smiling at all the children she has to greet at Christmas as they line up to give her flowers, nor could I see her smiling at every engagement she does. Anne does of course smile and look enthused at her engagements, but she always comes across as a quite a serious woman, whereas her mother appears to be quite open and smiling, particularly to ward children. Anne never appears to me to be very maternal toward young children. If you look at images of the late Diana, or even Sophie; they bend down to the child's level, they smile with them and engage with them and make the child think they are the most important person in that person's life for those few seconds. That has never been Anne's style, though I suppose it was never the Queen's style in later years. It is hard to know how Anne would be if the Succession had changed and put her ahead of her brothers. Even then I think she would not be that bothered as she would probably know she would never likely be Queen, though the idea of a Princess Zara does sound lovely. Again, if she were closer in line to the throne I doubt she would have been allowed to give the name Zara to her daughter. It's not "Royal" enough.

One thing that does bother me is that the press always harp on about her not giving her children Royal titles and praising her for this choice, Edward did the exact same thing. In fact, Edward's children are seen less frequently than Peter and Zara were seen as children.

I think the difference being, Mark Phillips had no title to give his children. I assume Anne and Mark made the decision together not to accept a title. Whereas Louise and James are titled as children of an Earl not a Prince, but they still have titles.

I was watching an interview of Princess Anne with David Frost, and she said she doesn't remember when she realized life wasn't going to be ordinary for her. She said "How the hell was I supposed to know it wasn't ordinary?" For her, there was no way of telling it wasn't ordinary.

I think there are similarities between Anne and her paternal grand-aunt queen Louise of Sweden, in their seriousness and duty when it comes to doing royal duties, and also her no-nonsense approach to being a royal. Louise Mountbatten - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I don't see what that has to do with titles?

I am guessing this is the Louise who Anne was given one of her middle names for? I like that Anne is serious and stern, but I just don't think they are traits of a good Monarch. Wasn't there an article about Anne upsetting a young girl who wanted to give her flowers? I am not 100% sure what the article stated, but it was something related to the girl being quite upset. Having said, in one of the video's filmed by a member of the public at Christmas 2011 you can see Anne taking a bunch of flowers from a person and giving them to Tim who in turn gives it to Lady Louise. That was a sweet gesture.