Princess Anne: A Non-Fussy Pillar of the Royal Family

Princess Anne, the Queen's only daughter, has been hailed as an inspiration and credit to the royal family due to her rigorous work ethic.

Despite being third in line to the throne at the time of her birth, the Princess Royal is currently 17th in line, thanks to the male preference primogeniture that was in place then.

This means that her older brother Prince Charles and her younger brothers, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, will succeed her in the line of succession.

Author of Royal Fever, Celie Oatness, describes Anne as a non-fussy pillar of the family, who is extremely pragmatic about her constant shifting position in the line of succession, as further heirs are produced.

Although she admits feeling sad for Britain that Anne will never hold the position of monarch, Oatness explains that the Princess Royal follows in her mother's footsteps in terms of her dedication to duty.

The author also points out that Anne has been involved in very little controversy over the course of her life, and that she has not deviated from the long-standing, never complain, never explain policy of the monarchy.

This attitude is customary for the royal family, who generally take a neutral stance and allow drama to play out naturally, instead of participating in the media frenzy that surrounds certain controversies involving royals.

Miss Oatness, a professor of marketing specializing in the royal family, said, “The Queen's bedrock principle has been duty and, for lack of a better term, don't embarrass the family.

And Anne shares that, and in fact because she's no fuss.

She's the non-fussy pillar of the family, and to the extent where she didn't even want her children to have titles because she wanted them to have a normal life.”

Due to George V's 1917 letters patent, only the children and grandchildren of the monarch, through the male line, are automatically given the title of prince or princess.

This means that despite being in line to the throne, neither of Anne's children have an honorary title equivalent to those of Prince Harry or Prince William.

However, Princess Anne was offered the chance to give her children, Peter Phillips and Zara Tyndall, the title, but she declined.

Speaking to Vanity Fair, she defended her decision, saying she believed they were better off without titles.

“I think it was probably easier for them, and I think most people would argue that there are downsides to having titles.

So I think that it was probably the right thing to do,” Anne said.

Zara also told the Times in 2015 that her lack of a title presented her with opportunities to do things that she might not have been able to do otherwise.

Miss Oatness also brings up the fact that Princess Anne is extremely pragmatic about her position in the line of succession, as the rule that only men could inherit the throne has been corrected for Princess Charlotte, but not for Anne.

“She realistically probably knew she would never probably be a monarch anyway, because Charles has got the same longevity genes as everyone else in the family.

But I'm sort of sad about that for Britain,” the author writes.

Overall, Princess Anne is a stalwart member of the royal family who follows in her mother's footsteps in terms of her dedication to duty.

She is a non-fussy pillar of the family who has been involved in very little controversy over the course of her life.

Despite being in line to the throne, she declined to give her children titles, believing that they were better off without them.