No-nonsense, practical and more popular than King Charles: Princess Anne’s busy royal life
There was a moment in February this year when Princess Anne stepped out in a familiar purple checked coat.
It was a regular day for the Princess Royal, back-to-back engagements including visits to a therapy group and a shawl factory in Nottingham in England’s Midlands.
The velvet coat — the hue of Scottish heather — had belonged to her late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, a favourite worn in private and twice in public. It’s not a dressy piece, Her Majesty was seen teaming it with trousers and her trademark headscarf, while Anne opted for a skirt and knee-high boots.
Of course, this is the sort of thing we all do. A poignant way to keep a loved one close while also recycling old and, in the late Queen’s case, extremely well-made clothes (the piece was designed by Elizabeth II’s dressmaker Angela Kelly). It’s also very Princess Anne, quietly respectful, no-nonsense, practical — and one reason she continues to poll as the UK’s most popular royal from the King’s generation.
The 2024 Ipsos poll, which annually measures attitudes to the Royal Family in Britain, showed Anne three percentage points ahead of her brother the King, with the Wales family members topping the poll. This was one percentage point higher than Anne’s figures the previous year and a recognition of how vital she is to Charles’ reign.
