Today Princess Anne celebrates her 75th birthday – but one royal who sadly will not be able to attend is her beloved father Prince Philip.<\/a><\/p>\n Anne and Philip were known to share a very close bond, with many friends of the family going as far as to claim the Princess Royal was the late Duke of Edinburgh<\/a>‘s favourite child.<\/p>\n This close bond between the two royals was endearingly exemplified in season three of the hit Netflix<\/a> series The Crown when an adorable nickname Philip had for Anne was revealed.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the scene, from the fourth episode of the season,\u00a0Philip is seen sitting at his desk speaking into a tannoy asking for a member of the Royal Family<\/a>.<\/p>\n Philip, played by Tobias Menzies, can be heard calling out ‘sweetie’ into the intercom.<\/p>\n One of Queen Elizabeth II’s advisors assumes it is her he is trying to reach and so goes into her office to let her know.<\/p>\n ‘I’m not sweetie, I’m darling or cabbage. Someone else is sweetie,’ Elizabeth replies.<\/p>\n It is then revealed that it is in fact Anne that the doting father is trying to reach as Erin Doherty makes her debut in the show as the Princess Royal<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Princess Anne and Prince Philip, pictured at the 2012 Olympics, were known to share a very close bond – with many friends of the family going as far as to claim the Princess Royal was the late Duke of Edinburgh’s favourite child<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Anne and Philip at Ascot.\u00a0‘Sweetie’ was reportedly a real nickname that Prince Philip had for Anne and an unsurprising one considering their special father-daughter relationship<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Philip in July 2020. The late Duke of Edinburgh sadly died in April the next year\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n ‘Sweetie’ was reportedly a real nickname that Prince Philip had for Anne and an unsurprising one considering their special father-daughter relationship.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mike Parker told the Daily Mail<\/a>\u00a0in 2017 that their close bond was because ‘Anne is very much like Philip’ while ‘Charles is more like Elizabeth’.<\/p>\n Indeed, the pair were remarkably similar, with both sharing a love of sport and being among the hardest-working members of the family.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Anne is also known to have leaned on her father for support during the breakdown of her marriage to Mark Phillips.<\/p>\n Writing in his biography of the late prince – titled Philip: The Final Portrait – broadcaster Gyles Brandreth said: ‘When Princess Anne<\/a>‘s first marriage foundered, the Queen and Prince Philip<\/a>\u00a0were saddened, of course, but as the Duke put it to me, “What can you do? It isn’t easy. She tried to make it work. She really did.”‘<\/p>\n Anne then married her second husband, Tim Laurence, in 1992 but then went on to confide in her father about a ‘rocky patch’ the couple were enduring.<\/p>\n Brandreth wrote: ‘A few years later, when Anne had remarried, the Duke told me that she and her new husband were having a “Rocky patch – you’re married, you know how it is?” “I do,”\u00a0I said.<\/p>\n ‘”I don’t know what to do to help,” he said. He shook his head.’\u00a0<\/p>\n A young Princess Anne and King Charles III with their mother, Queen Elizabeth II and their father Philip\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Erin Doherty played Princess Anne in the hit Netflix series The Crown\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The surprisingly candid admissions came while Philip was attending a meal at the Cabinet War Rooms.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n ‘He made no attempt to hide his distress and concern. It clearly weighed on him quite heavily. It must have done because this conversation was taking place in public: at a charity fundraising lunch in the Cabinet War Rooms,’ Brandreth recalled.\u00a0<\/p>\n ‘We had only just taken our places: food was being served. I was seated one place away from the Duke. He turned to the middle-aged woman who was seated between us.<\/p>\n ‘”As a rule, I try to keep out of these things,” he explained,’ Brandreth continued.<\/p>\n ‘”But you want to help,” said the woman, who had married children of her own.<\/p>\n ‘”Yes,” said the Duke, contemplating his starters, “but I don’t know what to say except, keep it going, it will work out. With good will on both side, it usually does.”<\/p>\n ‘He sighed: “Children.”‘<\/p>\n![\"Anne](\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2025\/08\/13\/14\/101178371-14983573-image-a-46_1755090912267.jpg\")
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