Last Friday, Princess Anne returned to “work” after a weeks-long absence. The absence was due to some kind of incident on Anne’s estate, which the Windsors explained as Anne being kicked in the head by a horse. No one knows for sure because Anne’s head injury and concussion was so bad that she still has no memory of it, and I strongly suspect she has more significant memory loss than they’re letting on. When Anne appeared at that horse event last week, she still had some faint-but-noticeable bruising on her face and you could tell that the swelling had probably only just gone down. Poor Anne looked somewhat frail, and she hasn’t been seen since then. This is how Prince William and Kate’s office welcomed her back:
Super trooper! So great to see you back so soon! W & C x https://t.co/rBk6tQ5Z2G
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) July 13, 2024
It actually felt weird at the time because the Kensington Palace social media people rarely quote-tweet or acknowledge the other Windsors, especially Anne. It felt like the whole family was sort of pushing Anne to get back to work too, before she had even fully healed. Exclaiming that your bruised and concussed 73-year-old aunt is a “super trooper” is pretty tone-deaf. Well, it looks like the Mail’s Ephraim Hardcastle column caught that too:
Did William and Kate give too much away when Princess Anne returned to work? They tweeted: ‘Super trooper! So great to see you back so soon!’ – a message that Aunty Anne mightn’t appreciate.
A mole reports that medical advice was for the Princess Royal to rest up over the summer, the results of head injuries not always being immediately obvious – but Anne isn’t noted for doing what she’s told.
William might have had another reason to see Anne back ‘so soon’. She can share the burden of investitures. So far this year there have been 25, with Anne presiding at 17.
It sounds like the Mail just wanted to point out that William and Kate are lazy layabouts who were eager to push Anne to get back to work. It also sounds like even Anne knows that she needs to recuperate too – the one event last week was her “proof of life” event, and now she’ll get the summer off as well. I hope. She actually needs to recover, that kind of head injury is no f–king joke. Also: Anne canceled more of her upcoming events and the palace says she needs to rest and recover. William and Kate look like a–holes.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- GLOUCESTER, ENGLAND – JULY 12: Princess Anne, Princess Royal visits the Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) National Championships at Hartpury University and Hartpury College on July 12, 2024 in Gloucester, England. The RDA is celebrating its 55th anniversary this year. Her Royal Highness has been the Patron of the RDA since November 1971 and assumed the role of President in March 1986.,Image: 889306124, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Cameron Smith / Avalon
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- GLOUCESTER, ENGLAND – JULY 12: Princess Anne, Princess Royal visits the Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) National Championships at Hartpury University and Hartpury College on July 12, 2024 in Gloucester, England. The RDA is celebrating its 55th anniversary this year. Her Royal Highness has been the Patron of the RDA since November 1971 and assumed the role of President in March 1986.,Image: 889306134, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Cameron Smith / Avalon
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- GLOUCESTER, ENGLAND – JULY 12: Princess Anne, Princess Royal visits the Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) National Championships at Hartpury University and Hartpury College on July 12, 2024 in Gloucester, England. The RDA is celebrating its 55th anniversary this year. Her Royal Highness has been the Patron of the RDA since November 1971 and assumed the role of President in March 1986.,Image: 889306151, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Cameron Smith / Avalon
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- The Prince of Wales, accompanied by the Princess of Wales, answers a telephone call from a customer while on a visit to celebrate Birmingham’s rich Asian culture at the Indian Streatery, an authentic, family run independent Indian restaurant based in the city centre. Featuring: Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Birmingham, United Kingdom When: 20 Apr 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Princess Royal during a visit to the Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) National Championships at Hartpury University and Hartpury College in Gloucestershire Featuring: Anne, Princess Royal Where: London, United Kingdom When: 12 Jul 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Princess Royal during a visit to the Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) National Championships at Hartpury University and Hartpury College in Gloucestershire Featuring: Anne, Princess Royal Where: London, United Kingdom When: 12 Jul 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Princess Royal during a visit to the Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) National Championships at Hartpury University and Hartpury College in Gloucestershire Featuring: Anne, Princess Royal Where: London, United Kingdom When: 12 Jul 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Princess Royal during a visit to the Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) National Championships at Hartpury University and Hartpury College in Gloucestershire Featuring: Anne, Princess Royal Where: London, United Kingdom When: 12 Jul 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Princess Royal and RDA UK Chair Helena Vega Lozano during the Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) National Championships at Hartpury University and Hartpury College in Gloucestershire Featuring: Anne, Princess Royal Where: London, United Kingdom When: 12 Jul 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
How does it work for Anne though? Does she still get money if she isn’t doing appearances? W&K can slack off all they want and still get the duchy money.
Sounds like a question for HR. Oh, right. We know how that went for Meghan. But since it’s Anne, I’m assuming Charles has her covered. But what will William do when he’s king is the question. I’ve had similar questions though. Do they get paid per appearances or get a certain amount per year regardless of event numbers?
Whoa—never thought about how the other working royals earn their salary; this is a good question, Equality. Coming back too soon from a concussion is asking for problems down the line. If Anne is not being a super trooper due to stubbornness but (perceived) necessity, that changes things.
‘Pay per appearance’ is something that’s occurred to me. She might be the hardest working one because she needs the income. The Gatcombe Horse Trials aren’t happening this year as the event wasn’t financially viable.
My understanding is that Anne and the rest of the working royals except for William and Kate are paid from the Duchy of Lancaster, which is run by Charles (the Duchy of Cornwall for William and Kate is run similarly) Both Duchies have annual accounts published which show that they charge all “expenses” related to appearances and other Royal duties (clothes, transport including chauffered cars, helicopters and private jets, etc) to the Duchy and that gets taken off the top before the Duchies pay any (voluntary, arbitrarily defined by the royals) tax.
Security for Charles, Camilla, William & Kate and the kids are paid for separately in the UK Govt finances, not paid for by the Duchies and are 24/7. For the other royals, other than for their residences which have security 24/7 the security is on an individual, appearance by appearance basis and also paid for out of general (taxpayer) funds.
OTOH the amounts to live on I believe are distributed case by case as a lump sum paid yearly. I’m sure someone like Anne gets far more than, say, Prince Michael of Kent but Charles will hand out something to all of them according to rank. Yearly cost of living payments are easier for the Royal Household finance team to manage and easier for Charles to adjust up or down depending on how he’s feeling (Andrew, anyone?) on a yearly basis rather than ad hoc because so many Royals get handouts….
Speaking of which…the annual accounts are due to be published soon which means we’ll finally get a real report on the Duchy of Cornwall!
Didn’t William fail to file a report last year or the report was lacking detail. Maybe I’m remembering something entirely different
William hasn’t filed anything for the duchy yet.
It’s the Wales Way, I will be shocked if we ever see an accounting of the Duchy of Cornwall as long as William is in charge. Then he’ll move on to obscure the Duchy of Lancaster.
Meanwhile, Invictus Games publishes a full disclosure yearly, and there are still derangers who claim that Harry and Meghan take Invictus funds for travel, clothing, etc. and they are paid a salary by Invictus. None of it is true.
I think as long as she’s considered a working royal she gets money from the sovereign grant (not the duchy of lancaster.) I remember reading when Andrew stepped back how much it was – and now I honestly can’t remember. It was either 250k a year or 400k (I know, big difference, lol.) But that’s after their clothing expenses, transportation, etc is all paid which is out of the duchy.
You’re right Becks1, I forgot about the sovereign grant. I don’t believe that Anne or any other royal gets a fee appearance by appearance, though? Otherwise you’d have a lot more royals clamoring to actually work lol…not a bad idea come to think of it!
Also, clearly 400k even if it’s that amount isn’t enough for Anne (not to mention Zara et al) to live on in royal fashion, so I imagine she gets cost of living in an annual lump sum from the Duchy of Lancaster in addition to whatever she gets from the Sovereign Grant, and that’s all at Charles’ discretion.
@LadyEsther oh its definitely not appearance by appearance. I think she, Edward, Andrew all get the same (well not Andrew at this point obviously.) I’m also not sure if Sophie and Edward get one lump sum or two separate amounts?
I can’t remember what else I read (again this was in 2019 with andrew) but that SG money is meant to cover working expenses like staff and such and then living expenses are covered out of the duchy? Maybe?
It all gets very confusing but I tell myself the royals want it confusing so its as hidden as possible.
Before the sovereign grant they used to have the civil list which would specifically lay out how much each royal got from the government. They moved it to the more amorphous sovereign grant for less transparency and more control by the sovereign.
I’m sure QE and Philip would have left Anne $$ in their wills and she probably has savings and $$ coming in from investments etc… Anne continues to work because she wants to preserve the Monarchy and will drop dead doing so; duty and all. What I’d like to know is if there is a ‘working royals’ retirement plan or are they all at the Monarch’s mercy?
Gatcombe Park must be very expensive to run. Anne definitely needs the income and royal protection she gets for doing royal duties. I think she works hard looking after the estate and her horses another big expense. I wonder how many staff she needs? Was she doing something that really a paid staff member should be doing when the horse kicked her?
Left to Anne she would probably prefer to devote all her time to her estate if she could afford to…but she can’t. I would not be surprised if in future we hear about her financial struggles to keep everything going.
The Monarch’s money is all left to the heir to avoid death duties. For some reason it is exempt but if anything is left to anyone else then they are liable for death duties.
William will have worked less than Anne this year, with her in hospital, time off convalescing, canceling events. Willing to bet real money.
Without question. Both in the U.K. and abroad.
What a way to remind everyone who aren’t “super troopers”! The 2 laziest people cheering on someone who was recently, severely injured on her return to work. Can they just not see how bad that looks and how stupid it makes them appear?
Also, Anne isn’t shouldering the burden of investitures, she’s carrying the load alone.
They wasn’t even pictured visiting her in 🏥.
But can say yeah you’re 🔙 to work while I go see England lose at ⚽ and Kate goes to 🎾
The true 👑 Elizabeth was pictured working with bruises a day or two before her death
Make that make sense
Who advises Billy and Katie?
As usual, Kaiser is masterful at choosing the perfect photos for every article. The one of the Dolittles is right on the money! 😁
Truly, Kaiser is a master of photo selection 👩🏽🍳💋🤌🏽
The two lazy ones are just plain clueless.
Lort. Willy is so lazy and out of touch with reality that he isn’t capable of even nominal normality. The odds of her ever being completely 100% again after a severe head injury at her age are small. She needs to grasp that her work isn’t appreciated and willy needs to grow up and stop being coddled.
Investitures are a burden? I feel like that was glossed over. The Wales tone deaf message shows they are insular with little contact with the rest of the family.
Right? Calling it a burden is interesting. And yet Anne’s done 17 of the 25. The wales are gonna have this lady doing everything. It must be galling to do that much and watch as the heir and his wife do f*ck-all. It’s one thing when she was working for the queen or even Charles who both put in the work but to do it for William? That’s gotta build resentment.
We will know how broke Edward, Sophie, and Anne are if they keep working when William is in charge. If I were the three of them, I would have my exit plan laid out in excruciating detail, and I wouldn’t lift a finger when the Wails take over.
I truly cannot imagine how terrible he is going to be when he is king, but I know for sure I wouldn’t wait around to find out.
Yeah, the poor sausages have to stand there and pretend to appreciate other people. I’m sure William especially finds it a burden.
But the interesting thing is that Anne has done 17 of the 25 so far this year?? What on EARTH does William do?
Not a lot!
“So far this year there have been 25, with Anne presiding at 17.”
That is just despicable. This woman is in her 70’s and working more than the lazy heir and his lazy wife. If she feels good enough to go to a tennis match for hours, she must be good enough to go and do a half hour event. She can even do them at home through zoom. The heir doesn’t have a cancer excuse, but obsessed with “school runs”.
It also underscores the real reason why Peggy is mad that Harry left. No Sussexes to fill in the gaps fully exposes the Wails’ as lazy do-nothings. And the Sussexes would have had to do that without much compensation either. No way Peggy would have provided the Sussexes with any money from “his” reserves. KFC brought this on himself. He’s so short sighted and only thinks about Camzilla. I’m sure Peggy said he would be nice to her if KFC backed him on pushing out Harry. Anyway no sympathy from me for Anne or the others who didn’t stick up for Harry. They are reaping what they sowed.
William and Kate ARE a-holes.
It’s been pointed out by royal reporters in the past that even ‘hard working Anne’, really means a lot of under 30 min visits, where she’s often rude., and 6-8months of nothing. She can do 4 ‘events’ in a day without any trouble. She gains a lot for all her ‘work’. Obviously more than the wails but let’s not pretend she’s fingers to the bone.. She’s rich as f and does what needs to be done.
It’s been estimated that Anne works 60 days a year. The narrative that she’s hardworking is a myth.
So true Wagiman. Anne doesnt exactly light up a room on her visits, she’s often surly and brusque. She’s a bit less lazy than the others but let’s face it that’s hardly a glowing endorsement.
I think your last sentence is key: “she does what needs to be done.” The monarchy is all about appearances. Anne appears to be hard-working because quantity over quality. W&K are so lazy they can’t even appear to work; they just don’t bother or care.
I don’t think anyone assumes she is working like you and me. She is just working more than the freaking heir.
Charles as heir always had similar numbers to Anne and sometimes had the most in a year. That William does so little where minor royals like the Gloucesters are doing more really shows how messed it is. Especially since William gets a chunk of the sovereign grant too.
I’ve never looked at Anne’s engagements, is she including things like phone calls with staff, like the Wails do to pad their numbers?
I think we looked at what Charles put in the circular a few years back when discussing the juiced up numbers for the lazy ones. Charles did not have calls with staff listed or meeting with staff. I suspect Anne would have been similar to him.
William and Kate though have been juicing up numbers for years with mysterious meetings and calls.
They are truly idiots!
I thought it was wicked for the Palace to push her out there when it was obvious that she wasn’t ready to return to work and William and Kate cheering her on looks cruel and selfish rather than supportive. The tweet from KP was just off considering they’ve never shown any support to other members of the royal family before on social media, not even Charles when he returned to work.
I don’t care for her, but I was really shock to see her appearance. That injury was more serious than I had imagined. I just couldn’t understand why she was out there so soon after what could have been a life threatening accident. But apparently she was influential in the eviction of H&M, two workhorses. So, get out there Anne, ‘cuz Will and Kate sure won’t.
You are believing the tabloids lies. The first reports all said H&M got evicted because Harry spoke badly about Camilla. After some time, they leaked it was Anne, probably to protect Camilla’s reputation. Omid reported before that both Anne and Edward went to Charles together and asked him to stop the leaks against H&M before they left UK.
I thought the excuse was because they weren’t living in Britain any longer. So what is the real truth.
Has Charles paid back all that money they spend doing it up. If as landlord he has the right to kick them out then he should have paid for the renovations himself like any other landlord.
@sunnyside up, the eviction happened right after the book came out and Harry wrote about Camilla’s PR games. So, all the reports said that Charles did it to protect Camilla. The empty house was the official excuse. The unofficial briefings were about Camilla.
I will never get over royal reporters like Camilla Tominey scoffing and saying the Sussexes can’t expect to have a house that they would purely use for visits. How dare they think they can just let the house sit empty. Of course, the house now sits there empty. And many people have second homes purely for visits and holidays. How many do Charles and William have? Everything about the frogmore eviction was petty and vengeful and had nothing to do with any of the excuses given.
Funny you accuse me of believing tabloid lies while qouting tabloids. Your guess is as good as mine.
Anne had input when her mother was queen but Charles is not listening to her when it comes to his own kids. Camilla is the only person who has influence on him, and it’s quite likely he decided to evict Harry and Meghan in his own.
Anne has been the only one to be decent to Harry and Meghan when others were not. Anne welcomed Harry at balmoral and she was laughing with him at the coronation. She also was seen speaking with Meghan at church when Kate and the rest were not.
Anne may not be perfect, but she’s focused on her own family.
RE her injury and recuperation
A friend who got a bad concussion after a fall heard this from the doctor treating her head injury:
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Yourbrain is going to require LOTS of cognitive rest to heal. You can take a solid block of time off now and give it that time all at once, hopefully getting back to “normal” in 3-6 months.
Or you can try to push on, rest when you can, giving your brain the same amount of cognitive rest, but in little bits over time and being confused, have memory issues, exhaustion the whole time, and maybe bet back to “normal” after a couple of years.
Your choice (but I don’t advise you choose the second one)
Oh and “normal” will probably be different, less cognitively nimble, powerful than you were before
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Sounds like Anne did a Proof of Life appearance and is now going back to rest and recuperation. If she’s smart.
One that doesn’t take enough time off and one that takes too much time off.
I’ve been around hockey and football players who get concussions, that lady is so bruised she had her bell rung hard and it shows. I hope she takes it easy closed head injury’s are very serious.
That one picture of her looks like the whole side of her face was bruised. I can’t believe she was back at “work.”
When do William and Kate NOT look like a**holes though ?
On a day that does not end in “y”.
LOL! Good one!
Whomever is handling their “x” account is a hoot, an imbecile but a hoot! I don’t believe those words came from either W or C – No freakin way – First off it’s acknowledging her work ethic with humor. Second, it’s acknowledging her work ethic which neither of them share. So I cannot fathom them saying yes to printing those exact words. It is definitely the work of a staffer, who may at this time be a former staffer.
Maybe their SM person isn’t an imbecile, but is getting back at them for mistreatment. I don’t think it was Meghan who was rude to staff.
I think they are counting on the fact that besides this little corner of the internet, no one is scrutinizing the Wails’ workload. The average person on the street has no idea how insanely hypocritical and stupid it was for them to bring up Anne’s workload at all. Yes, do draw attention to the fact that the elderly woman is back at work within 3 weeks, while you are still crying “school run” or “school break” after 7 months.
Anne might not be a Suzy Sunshine at her appearances, but she is there. Of course it’s little to pay for her lifestyle, but she could probably have that same lifestyle without making any appearances at all. Sort of like W&K.
Did that tweet count as an event on the CC? Because they are *that* lazy…
For the future Zoom king? I think he’s going to figure out a way to make social media count as engagements, just like he will with his Zoom monarchy.
Hey those investitures are hard, William had to pull himself out of a bender to do one
W&K’s lack of self-awareness is cringe-inducing.
Seventy-three year old Anne making appearances a few weeks after a major injury. Contrast to the Princess of Keen who isn’t seen for months or the Prince of Keen with no health issues but who also feels entitled to disappear.
It might be a real but tone-deaf expression of support, if that’s how Anne sees herself. She might be the one doing the pushing to get back to her usual activity level. She was knocked out while competing in the 1976 Olympics and she literally got right back on the horse. She had no memory of that incident either.
Brain injuries are cumulative and we’ve only recently realized how serious that can be. I wonder how many she may have suffered over a lifetime of daily riding and stiff-upper-lipping. I hope she’s not being pushed by her family and I hope she can avoid pushing herself and really recuperate.
These two have zero shame . Anne is an old lady who went through something serious and has still not recovered fully . Yet she is to get out there and do the work. William has been through nothing and he is young, yet he needs time to come to terms with having a young family and the burden of being the prince of wales and oh yeah, my wife is sick and how am I to cope . Then the wife only has strength to attend men tennis matches and basked in the praise and glory and birthday parties that get live coverage. She isn’t well enough for zoom calls or phone calls because they won’t be televised live. These two make my stomach turn. Just abhorrent people
All I can say is thank god Harry and Meghan got out now they can take a deep breath of sigh of relief they can’t be used by the 4 Charles cam, Willy and Katie for their advantage.
I think William is mocking Anne for her work ethic, since he and Bones get away with doing so little. Will is such a wanker.
Saying Will and Kate ‘look like assholes’ is sort of unfair to them.
After all, they sound like assholes and act like assholes, too.
Wouldn’t it be fairer to give them full credit and just say they are assholes?