Royally burned? Princess Anne didn’t hold back when sharing advice for the younger members of the royal family.
The 69-year-old daughter of Queen Elizabeth II sat down with Vanity Fair and opened up about growing up as a royal and her feelings toward the “younger generation” of dukes and duchesses. While Anne teased that she felt like the “boring old fuddy-duddy at the back” of the family, she shared a serious piece of wisdom for those who will be taking over the throne.
“I don’t think the younger generation probably understands what I was doing in the past and it’s often true, isn’t it? You don’t necessarily look at the previous generation and say, ‘Oh, you did that?’ or ‘You went there?’” Anne explained. “Nowadays, they’re much more looking for, ‘Oh let’s do it a new way.’ And I’m already at the stage [of], ‘Please do not reinvent that particular wheel. We’ve been there, done that.’ Some of these things don’t work. You may need to go back to basics.”
Anne’s bold statement comes shortly after the official royal exit of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who announced that they would be stepping down from their senior royal duties in January. The prince, 35, and the former Suits star, 38, initially planned to split their time between the U.K. and Canada following their departure from the royal family, but recently made the move to Los Angeles in order “to be closer to the deal makers and are setting up calls and virtual meetings with agents, studio heads,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly.
While Meghan and Harry led an unconventional life as royals, Anne also broke tradition by deciding not to give her children, Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall, HRH titles when they were born.
“I think it was probably easier for them,” Anne told Vanity Fair. “I think most people would argue that there are downsides to having titles … So I think that was probably the right thing to do.”
After beginning his new life outside of the royal family, a source told Us that Harry is “not planning to officially drop his Mountbatten-Windsor title legally,” but doesn’t want to actively use his royal surname. Earlier this month, he ditched his surname while registering his new Travalyst initiative.
“The bottom line is, he prefers to keep it casual and be known as ‘Harry,’” the insider added, noting that the choice was not intended to be a “personal dig” at his family.
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