Princess Anne has given a rare interview as the Royal Family navigates a turbulent period marked by the Sussexes’ return to Britain, renewed controversy surrounding Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and explosive claims about King Charles in Earl Spencer’s new memoir.
The 76-year-old Princess Royal, who rarely sits down for public interviews, opened the doors of her Gatcombe Park estate for Horse & Hound to discuss a subject close to her heart: the preservation of rare horse breeds.
Anne, who is patron of the Suffolk Horse Society, keeps a small herd of Suffolk horses at Gatcombe Park Stud and has long championed the critically endangered breed.
“My passion for the Suffolks really comes from an annoyance that we forget at our peril just how good they were at working,” said the Princess.
Anne argued the historic heavy horses still have a valuable role to play today, including in estate work and logging, where their strength and ability to operate in confined spaces can prove advantageous.
“There are places where having horses working makes a difference,” the Princess added.
“They make less mess, they’re neater and can work in smaller places.”
The unusually candid interview comes as Anne’s older brother, King Charles III, faces a particularly delicate period for the monarchy.
The 77-year-old monarch has become embroiled in an extraordinary public row with his former brother-in-law Charles, Earl Spencer, following the release of explosive extracts from the latter’s new memoir about his sister, the late Princess Diana.
Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, which is due for release on Tuesday, contains a series of claims about Diana’s troubled marriage to the then-Prince Charles and the bitter fallout following her death in a Paris car crash in 1997.
Among the most incendiary allegations is Spencer’s claim that Charles told him, “We’ll forget Diana soon enough,” during a heated phone call in the days after her death.
Buckingham Palace took the unusual step of quickly responding to the allegation, saying: “His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason”.
The Palace’s full response said the pain of grief could “affect judgement and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss”.
Spencer has since stood by his version of events and escalated the war of words during a sit-down interview with the BBC.
“I know lots of things about the King which I chose not to include in the book,” he said.
Put to him that the statement sounded like a threat when it involved potentially damaging information, the Earl said: “No, not at all a threat, it’s just the reality.”
He added: “If I was a salacious writer and wanted to write that sort of thing I have plenty of other things I could have said.”
The 62-year-old father-of-seven also addressed his nephews Prince William and Prince Harry, whose own fractured relationship has remained the subject of intense scrutiny.
Asked what he believes the brothers would make of the claims in his memoir, Spencer said: “Well, I don’t like to talk about what I’ve been speaking about to William and Harry, but this will not be a surprise to them.”
William, 44, and Harry, 42, have endured a years-long rift following the Duke of Sussex’s decision to step back from official royal duties and relocate to the US with his wife Meghan Markle, 45, in 2020.
However, Harry and Meghan made the bombshell decision last month to return to the UK with their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, for what has been described as an “extended period of time”.
Earl Spencer told the BBC that “as an uncle” he hopes his nephews will eventually resolve their differences, saying it is what their late mother would have wanted.
“As an uncle I hope one day it’s resolved. But I certainly don’t know what’s been done in the finer detail,” he said.
“And so I’d feel intrusive if I got more involved (other) than to say of course a mother would want her two sons to be happy together and love each other.”
Harry and Meghan are believed to be based in the Cotswolds following their return, putting them in the same picturesque region where Anne’s Gatcombe Park estate is located.
Their arrival has created another headache for the monarchy, with the couple’s status outside the working Royal Family once again thrust into the spotlight.
The King recently reaffirmed that Harry and Meghan remain non-working royals and are effectively private citizens, while a source close to the Sussexes pushed back against that characterisation and described the couple as public figures.
Charles has simultaneously been dealing with the continuing fallout surrounding his disgraced younger brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, following the release of the Epstein Files by the US Department of Justice in February.
The files, which shed light on the extent of ex-Prince Andrew’s relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, saw him arrested by Thames Valley Police on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
Mountbatten-Windsor has strenuously denied wrongdoing and has since been released under investigation.