Princess Anne's Awkward Moments Caught On Camera

For as long as the world has known her, Princess Anne has been one of the most accomplished and devoted members of the British royal family. In her younger years, she led the country on its quest for sporting victory as she became the first British royal to compete in the Olympic Games. Throughout her life, the Princess Royal has also remained one of the hardest-working members of The Firm, attending to more than 300 charities and organizations, including Save the Children U.K., which she has been involved with since 1970.

In her capacity as a senior member of the royal family, Princess Anne has also worked tirelessly to support the reigning monarch. Throughout the late Queen Elizabeth II's life, the princess has remained by her side. Following the queen's death in 2022, she also played a significant role throughout the funeral ceremonies, even becoming the first female royal to take part in the Vigil of the Princes led by her brother, King Charles III. Meanwhile, since the king's ascension to the throne, the princess has also continued to support the monarchy, carrying out several engagements under his leadership.

Indeed, Princess Anne is every bit the perfect royal. Just like everyone else, however, the princess still sometimes suffers from her own gaffes and awkward moments. Sometimes, they are also caught on camera.

Back in 1969, the royal family was struggling to appear relevant. In a rare move, Queen Elizabeth allowed the BBC and ITV to co-produce the documentary "The Royal Family." For the film, the queen granted camera crews unprecedented access to her family's daily lives. During production, the crews captured footage from Queen Elizabeth's tours in Brazil and Chile. They also filmed the royals while they were spending time together at home and traveling onboard the royal train and the royal yacht.

It was also during one of these travels that the cameras captured one of Princess Anne's most awkward moments to date. While onboard the royal yacht, Queen Elizabeth's older children happily participated in a naval exercise. This involved then-teenage Princess Anne donning a life vest that required manual inflation. In the footage, the princess can be seen watching uneasily as a uniformed personnel blew into a tube on her vest. She is then transferred to another boat using a cable line. Thankfully, the exercise went off without a hitch.

Since the documentary's premiere in 1969, there have been reports that The Firm wanted to have "The Royal Family" banned from further release. Despite this, however, the film eventually found its way to social media, gaining an entirely new set of audience on YouTube. As for Princess Anne, she once reportedly said that doing the film was never a good idea, according to Express.

Since undertaking her first tour to Malta in 1954, Princess Anne has continued to do various overseas trips on behalf of the sovereign. And while the royal's itinerary is often carefully planned, some things can still go very wrong, such as when the Princess Royal was on a tour of the Channel Islands in 2007.

During a walkabout with Geoffrey Rowland, the island's bailiff, Princess Anne was all smiles and waving to the crowd when she suddenly slipped and fell. Seeing the princess down, Rowland immediately attempted to assist her in standing up. He soon learned, however, that the princess preferred to get back up on her feet by herself. 

As one onlooker told The Daily Mail, "Princess Anne looked furious. To fall over in public is bad enough but what really annoyed her was being grabbed. The poor bailiff was trying to do the right thing but got a ticking-off." Thankfully, the rest of the princess' appeared to have gone smoothly after the incident. There have also been no reports of the Princess Royal slipping and falling while on royal duty since.

The British royal family has a deep love of traditions and when it comes to royal unions, certain practices are observed in the lead-up to the big day. Aside from having to seek consent to marry from the reigning monarch, royal couples also typically participate in a sit-down interview following the announcement of their engagement. 

Such interviews are supposed to let the British public gain an insight into the couple as they prepare to take their place in The Firm. And while these sit-downs are often lighthearted and full of heartwarming moments, Princess Anne's pre-wedding interview in 1973 alongside ex-husband Mark Phillips didn't go as smoothly as the former couple may have wanted.

During the interview, Princess Anne was asked if she was the boss at home. In response, the princess only managed an uneasy smile while Phillips remarked that she was (via Express). Elsewhere in the interview, the princess was also asked how she would do as a housewife. The interviewer also followed up the question by asking if she could cook. In response, Princess Anne revealed that she liked to cook. The princess also explained helping Phillips get ready for work in the morning was easy since she would only fix him a cup of coffee. The Princess Royal later divorced Phillips and married Sir Timothy Laurence in 1992.

The royals' Christmas Day service of 2019 was memorable for a lot of reasons. For starters, Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, were notably absent from Sandringham after deciding to spend the holidays in Canada. On the other hand, the occasion also marked the debut of Prince George and Princess Charlotte, the two older children of Prince William and Princess Catherine of Wales, as they joined their parents on the annual walk to the church. As it turns out, however, it wasn't just the young royals that would get the crowd talking that day. Princess Anne and Queen Camilla appeared with their own Christmas surprise, too.

As the Prince and Princess of Wales' family made their way into the church, Princess Anne could be seen walking to the church just as then-Duchess Camilla was arriving by car with Queen Elizabeth II. The two women soon stood outside the church together as they followed behind the queen. Upon seeing each other, the princess and Camilla both realized that they were wearing similar purple coats and shared a laugh.

Since then, Princess Anne and Queen Camilla have been caught matching again when both royals attended the Highland Games in Scotland in 2022. It is unclear if they meant to coordinate outfits this time around.

The British royals may have a lot of supporters but for years, they have also faced calls for the monarchy to come to an end. As a result, the family would sometimes encounter protesters while conducting engagements. On the other hand, the subject also makes for an interesting interview, as Princess Anne would come to learn.

In a clip posted on TikTok, the princess is asked what she would do if the monarchy were abolished during an appearance on the "Wogan" show in 1985. After a brief pause, Princess Anne told host Terry Wogan, "I'd have to work even harder on the farm." The farm the princess was referring to is likely Gatcombe Park, one of the officially listed royal farms and estates. Classified as a grade II property that features two small lakes, Queen Elizabeth II purchased the estate in 1976 as a wedding present for Princess Anne and Phillips. 

Following their divorce, the princess has since maintained Gatcombe Park with the help of her second husband, Timothy Laurence. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the interview, Princess Anne also talked about how she needed to become a licensed heavy goods vehicle driver. This is likely due to the extensive work that she does on her estate.

After years of doing all sorts of public outings, Princess Anne must have already seen and experienced it all. Over the years, the royal has encountered angry students and even survived a kidnapping attempt (although her bodyguard was shot). Despite everything she has been through though, the princess was still caught off-guard during one lighthearted encounter with a cheeky young boy on horseback during a visit to the organization Riding for the Disabled (RDA).

Since its founding in 1969, the princess has been closely linked with the RDA, becoming its patron in 1971 before being appointed as its president in 1985. Now, back in 2021, Princess Anne joined the organization for the launch of the Princess Royal Coaching Academy and that was when she encountered Ryder. 

Based on photos posted by the RDA on X (formerly Twitter), it seems the exchange happened while Ryder was out with one of the organization's horses. Upon seeing Princess Anne, the young boy asked if she was the queen. When the princess explained that the queen was her mother, Ryder proceeded to tell her, "You're very beautiful ... and very sexy." As unexpected as the remark was, the princess simply looked amused.

Growing up, the queen's children were bestowed different titles. And while Princess Anne was named the Princess Royal, then-Prince Charles received the title Prince of Wales. It is also with these titles that royals are often introduced when attending public events. Sometimes, however, such introductions can go hilariously wrong. Fortunately, Princess Anne knows just what to say in times like this.

Back in 2012, one of the princess' engagements involved making an appearance at the Young Advocates for Agriculture debate. At the event, David Bolton, the speaker, proceeded to introduce the royal. Instead of introducing Princess Anne as the Princess Royal, Bolton referred to the royal as the Prince of Wales instead. As he realized his mistake, Princess Anne smiled while the rest of the room could be heard laughing.

Later on, the royal also shared an interesting story of when then-Prince Charles made a visit to Scotland while wearing a kilt. "He actually heard when he was engaged in conversation down the other end an old lady say, 'Is that the Princess Royal?'" Princess Anne recalled. "He thought it was quite funny — and I'm not even wearing trousers today, but there you go."

Back in 2019, the NATO Summit made its way to London. But even before Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, and former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson could discuss important matters, they were caught gossiping while attending a pre-summit gathering at Buckingham Palace. Perhaps, even more interestingly, Princess Anne was also huddled with the men while this was happening.

In a hot mic moment that has since gone viral, Johnson could be heard asking Macron why he was late. In response, Trudeau points out, "He was late because he takes a 40-minute press conference off the top." 

By this time, many had already speculated that the group was referring to former U.S. President Donald Trump, who held an unscheduled press conference earlier in the day. And while most of the conversation was inaudible, Trudeau was later heard remarking, "You just watched his team's jaws drop to the floor." Soon after, Princess Anne could be seen making a comment, although her remarks were imperceptible. No one in the group mentioned Trump by name the entire time. Nonetheless, Trump later took a jab at Trudeau but made no mention of Princess Anne. 

Princess Anne may be a longtime horse lover. Nonetheless, the royal wouldn't necessarily rule out promoting horse meat, especially if it could potentially help promote horse welfare. This was exactly her stance when she took to the stage during a 2013 conference for the organization World Horse Welfare where the Princess Royal serves as president to this day.

"Our attitudes to the horse meat trade ... and the value of horse meat may have to change," Princess Anne said in her speech. The comments came just as World Horse Welfare revealed that several horses and ponies throughout Britain may become abandoned or neglected. In addition, the princess also pointed out that there are horses who suffer while in transit due to mishandling. She also suggested that perhaps, horses would receive better care if there was a market for horse meat, therefore bringing up their value.

And while Princess Anne also said that the matter was still up for debate, her comments soon stirred controversy. In a statement to The Guardian, a spokesperson for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals also said that the royal would be better off campaigning to put an end to horse racing.

Gatherings at the NATO Summit rarely go viral, but in 2019, the event was all anyone could talk about for a couple of reasons. Aside from that infamous hot mic moment where Justin Trudeau and company were supposedly mocking Donald Trump, Princess Anne also found herself at the center of social media gossip after a rather odd encounter with the former president at Buckingham Palace.

During a reception for NATO, the late Queen Elizabeth II could be seen speaking with Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, alongside then-Prince Charles and then-Duchess Camilla. At some point, the queen also turned to look at Princess Anne who had been standing by the doorway with another group. Although their exchange was inaudible for the cameras, many assumed that the queen was chastising her only daughter for not greeting Trump.

Later on, however, it was revealed that Queen Elizabeth turned to Princess Anne to find out which world leader was coming in next, according to CNN. That was when the princess informed her that there was no one left, remarking, "It's just me ... and this lot." As it turns out, Princess Anne wasn't snubbing Trump. On the other hand, it's also worth noting that her comments in that viral video with Trudeau remain a mystery to this day.

Amid calls for Prince Harry not to attend King Charles' coronation, the king's second son flew back to London to witness his father's ceremony. That said, he seemingly remained distant from most of the royals, particularly his brother, Prince William. Rumors also surfaced that Princess Anne had her own issues with her nephew and somehow, this led to what has been referred to as "feathergate."

During the coronation ceremony inside Westminster Abbey, Prince Harry sat in the third row alongside cousins Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie and their respective spouses, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi and Jack Brooksbank. Now, King Charles' second son would have been able to see the whole ceremony from the third row under normal circumstances. However, the feather on Princess Anne's hat for the occasion obstructed the prince's view. 

Other than that, however, things appeared to have gone smoothly during the big day. Following the ceremony, Prince Harry immediately made his way back to the U.S. while Princess Anne joined the rest of the royals for a balcony appearance.