How Princess Anne will play a vital role as King Charles’ confidante
With their relationship having become closer over the years, the Princess Royal stands ready to advise her big brother whenever he needs.
The King is never short of wise counsel. From the moment he acceded to the throne, he has been surrounded by a team of trusted advisers, many of whom have worked for him for years. But there is one person to whom he will turn for guidance and support that he has known very nearly all his life – his sister, the Princess Royal.
Princess Anne was often seen as a rival to Charles when he was Prince of Wales, vying with him to be the hardest-working member of the family. Away from the public eye, however, they have a warm relationship that has grown closer in recent years.
Anne, 72, who despite her dedication to duty is a sometimes-overlooked member of the royal family, has played a pivotal role in the past few days. She and Prince Charles, as he still was, were the only two members of Queen Elizabeth’s immediate family to have been at her side during her last hours at Balmoral Castle. On Sunday, in accordance with her mother’s wishes, she was in a car directly behind the Queen’s hearse during the six-hour journey from Balmoral to Edinburgh.
Anne and Charles are much closer to each other than to their other siblings. Although the Queen had four children, there was a ten-year age gap between Charles and Anne and then Andrew and Edward. Anne is 21 months younger than Charles and they grew up the closest of siblings, even though they were very different characters. While Charles was a sensitive child, Anne was always a much more rumbustious figure.
It was not always easy. Sally Bedell Smith, a royal biographer, said: “As children they spent an enormous amount of time together. Anne was a bit of a bully, even though she was two years younger. She was very much her father’s daughter and gave him a hard time from time to time.”
Anne has also disagreed publicly with Charles. She differs from him on the subject of subjects such as genetically modified food, to which Charles is strongly opposed. She also publicly disagreed with the portrayal in Jonathan Dimbleby’s biography of the King, which portrayed their parents as cold and distant.
Dimbleby wrote: “Though he was too proud to admit it, the prince still craved the affection and appreciation that his father and his mother seemed unable or unwilling to proffer.”
Anne swiftly denied it, saying in an interview: “I simply don’t believe that there is any evidence whatsoever to suggest that she wasn’t caring. It just beggars belief … I don’t believe that any of us, for a second, thought she didn’t care for us in exactly the same way as any other mother did.”
One source who knows the King well said: “The King and his sister have a close relationship, perhaps closer than people may realise. When you see them together, while they are very close, she absolutely respects his position – previously as Prince of Wales and now as King. And she recognises that there is a really important role for her if called upon to support him.
“My sense is that he will want to continue to have her around as a working member of the royal family, not least because, with the passing of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, before her there is a significant amount of work which is to be redeployed or will have to stop. There is a real need for her support.”
As well as being a hardworking member of the royal family, who shares Charles’s energy and work ethic, she has a unique bond with him. “She can also provide him with a unique supporting role as a sister, someone who has grown up with him, is almost the same age as him, with similar experiences to him. There is almost no one else who can fill that experiential role. She provides a trusted sounding board from someone he knows has absolutely no agenda other than the greater good. They share a sense of duty and service. And, as a brother and sister, they will probably give each other a bit of comfort at this time. She is a totally trusted adviser.”
Penny Junor, the royal writer, believes they may have become closer over the years. “They live in the same part of the country, but I think they have different friends and move in different circles. And they are two very different people. I remember being told that Camilla was terrified of Anne.
“And with good reason. Anne can be very sharp. She can also be lovely. She is also a marvellous worker and really pulls her weight. But she is quite a tricky character. I think Camilla has lost her fear of Anne now.”
Anne does not share Charles’s passion for the arts and music, “but they are brother and sister. They have had the Andrew thing to get through together. And the chances are that now they are older and mellower they may very well be close. And without either of their parents, I would have thought they are even closer. The relationship is probably closer now than it may have been over the years.”
The Times
