An artist opened up about her encounters with Princess Anne and the Prince and Princess of Wales, including an awkward moment that left her red-faced
Princess Anne is said to have abandoned royal protocol during her first sitting with contemporary portrait artist Louise Pragnell. The artist has established a reputation through her artwork, producing works ranging from private commissions to large-scale group portraits.
Louise’s first meeting with the Princess Royal occurred in 2010 when Anne unveiled her painting, the Officers of the Household Cavalry. Reflecting on the meeting, the artist confessed to a huge blunder she made.
“She was the first royal I met and I got my curtsey all wrong. It was so embarrassing,” she revealed to Hello! Magazine.
According to the publication, the Princess Royal abandoned formal royal protocol during her first sitting with Louise.
“She walked in and waved and said, ‘Hello’,” Louise remembered. “She’s a seriously impressive person. She had to stand in heavy robes for two hours.
“Halfway through, I said, ‘Ma’am do you need a break?’. She was like, ‘No, do you need a break Louise?’.”
Princess Anne has subsequently sat for Louise on two occasions. In 2025, the artist completed a 2.5-metre portrait of the royal, commissioned by the Worshipful Company of Saddlers.
The work shows the 75-year-old wearing formal Intelligence Corps Mess Dress, with every shade selected for its historical importance.
In the same interview, Louise also described another awkward encounter with royalty.
In 2023, she presented her portrait of the Irish Guards to the Prince and Princess of Wales. However, moments before the Royal couple’s arrival, she noticed the easel starting to lean forward precariously.
“We had people lying on the floor with screwdrivers [to fix it with minutes to spare]”.
Looking back on her royal encounters, Louise said she noticed that they are particularly good “at putting people at ease”.
“They’ll want to feel that I’m going to get what I need,” she continued.
Dame Joanna Lumley has similarly praised Princess Anne’s composed and comforting demeanour in the past.
Remembering the occasion she was awarded her damehood at Buckingham Palace in 2022, for services to drama, entertainment, and charitable causes, the actress confessed she started to “choke up”.
“It was only a small ceremony, hardly any people, 24 people there,” she recounted on Chris Evans’ Virgin Radio Breakfast Show.
“So it wasn’t like the big ones where they have the whole ballroom there and bands playing and everything – this was really quiet.”
Upon meeting the Princess Royal, Dame Joanna shared the compassionate words Anne offered to comfort her.
“There was the Princess Royal smiling so sweetly and giving such a grin and I choked up and I couldn’t say a word and I said to her, ‘I can’t speak,’ and she whispered, ‘Never mind, never mind’.”
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