Princess Anne is a royal family icon.
The senior working royal is the only daughter of the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. Through the years, Anne has made a name for herself as being one of the hardest working royals in England — she’s also hilarious.
Anne famously replied “not bloody likely” during her 1974 kidnapping attempt. She uttered the words to Ian Ball when he tried to force her out of the car. Ball was eventually arrested and convicted following the incident but still maintains his innocence.
“We had a sort of discussion about where or where not we were going to go,” she quipped about the kidnapping attempt during a public appearance after it went down. “I was scrupulously polite because I thought it was silly to be too rude at that stage.”
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Keep scrolling to read Anne’s most iconic quotes over the years:
She’s Not a Horse Girl
“When I appear in public people expect me to neigh, grind my teeth, paw the ground and swish my tail — none of which is easy,” she once said, alluding to her history as an equestrian.
Clapping Back at Photographers
Anne did not hold back when it came to telling photographers how she really felt over the years. She once told photographers to “naff off,” which is how the British tell someone to go away.
“You are a pest, by the very nature of that camera in your hand,” she also said.
Talking About ‘The Crown’
Anne was very aware of actress Erin Doherty’s portrayal of her in The Crown — and even commented on it.
“Actually, I read an article the other day about Netflix and The Crown, but the actress was talking about how long it took them to do their hair like I did,” she said in the 2020 documentary Princess Royal: Anne at 70. “And I’m thinking, ‘How could you possibly take that long?’ I mean, it takes me 10 or 15 minutes.”
Some Thoughts on Social Media
“I mean, I know what Twitter is but I wouldn’t go anywhere near it if you paid me frankly,” she said in the same documentary. Anne also made her thoughts on technology very clear.
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“I find it very difficult to understand why anybody gets sucked into screens and devices,” she said. “Life’s too short, frankly. [There are] more entertaining things to be done. I suppose that puts me in the real dinosaur range.”
Say No to Retirement
She said retirement “isn’t really an option” for the royal family in a January 2025 interview with the Press Association.
“I don’t think there’s a retirement program [in] this particular life,” she said. “It really isn’t written in, no. It isn’t really an option, no, I don’t think so.”
