Retirement ‘isn’t really an option’ – says Anne
The Princess Royal carried out her first public engagement in 1969 aged 18 when she opened an educational and training centre in Shropshire.
The Princess Royal has said retirement “isn’t really an option” for her – a woman regularly dubbed the hardest working royal.
Anne completed the royal family’s first foreign tour of the year – a visit to South Africa – when she described how stepping down from her role was not a consideration.
Her father, the late Duke of Edinburgh, did retire from royal duties in 2017, but he was 96 when he took the decision and had supported Queen Elizabeth II for more than 65 years at the time.
After a whirlwind two-day tour of Cape Town that ended on Wednesday, the King’s sister was asked about her future and whether retirement was an option and replied “It really isn’t written in, no. It isn’t really an option, no, I don’t think so.”
Commenting on her accident last June, when she was concussed after it is thought she was struck by a horse, Anne said: “You’re jolly lucky… if you can continue to be more or less compos mentis and last summer I was very close to not being.
“Take each day as it comes, they say.”
Anne is known for her busy work schedule and as she approaches her 75th birthday in August, the royal will likely lead the monarchy in the number of engagements carried out.
She told the PA news agency: “I don’t think there’s a retirement programme on this particular life.”
During her Cape Town visit Anne laid a wreath at a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) memorial, the first to recognise the sacrifices of black South Africans and other races who died working as First World War labourers helping Britain’s war effort in east and south-west Africa.
She performed the task as CWGC president, a role that had been carried out by the Duke of Kent, 89, since 1970 with Anne taking over in 2023 due to his advancing years.
The princess said: “I’m very lucky to take on from the Duke of Kent the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, but he’s been doing that for a very long time, he did it very well and has covered the globe in support of them.
“And I’m perfectly certain he was really reluctant to give that up, but in the end he felt physically that he couldn’t travel as much, and he couldn’t be as efficient in supporting – and I was lucky enough to be asked.
“On the one hand you go for as long as you can, but you have to accept there are some things you can’t do anymore, and he did that, and I’m the beneficiary of that which has allowed me to take that on.”
Anne is a key member of the King’s slimmed-down working monarchy and has played an important role as she stepped up in support of Charles amid his cancer diagnosis
The princess is also known for her no-nonsense approach and her commitment to royal duty.
She carried out her first public engagement in 1969 aged 18 when she opened an educational and training centre in Shropshire and a year later began her longest association with a charity, becoming president of Save the Children and later patron.
