My previous post to mark her 75th birthday is \u201c<\/span>Why Princess Anne is my fave royal<\/a>,\u201d August 8, 2025<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n I enjoy how author Craig Brown creates perceptive biographies through assembling a series of small and large snippets into a coherent narrative that reveals who the subject really was without having to write a traditional profile. In particular, his <\/span>Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret<\/em> is one of the best royal biographies published in recent years because of that esoteric range of events, diary entries, and interviews. <\/span><\/p>\n The big British media outlets have nice odes to the Princess Royal, so I decided to adopt Brown\u2019s technique for this post, including an opinion piece I wrote for the Toronto Star for her birthday. And yes, there are graphics. Enjoy!<\/p>\n <\/a> The princess was second in line of succession when her mother came to the throne in 1952. Now, <\/span>she\u2019s No. 18<\/a>. To show how her position has changed over the last 75 years, I plotted it in Excel.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/a> What\u2019s also clear is how it accelerates as the families of those ahead of her expand:<\/p>\n It took 53 years for her to land in position No. 9 (in 2003, with the birth of Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor to Prince Edward).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n It took only 22 years for her to fall another nine positions to her current No. 18 position (with this year\u2019s birth of Athena Mapelli Mozzi to Princess Beatrice)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n That accelerating trajectory down the line of succession follows that of other royals, such as Princess Alexandra of Kent, cousin of Elizabeth II. When she was born in 1936, she was No. 6 in line of succession behind the sons of George V and their children:<\/p>\n George VI and his two children, the future Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The Duke of Gloucester<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Her father, the Duke of Kent<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Her brother, Prince Edward of Kent<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Today, the 88-year-old princess is No. 58 (<\/span>Ed note: I\u2019ve fixed the error in my list of those ahead of Alexandra at the time of her birth on December 25, 1936.<\/em>)<\/span><\/p>\n <\/a> There have been two more \u2018spares\u2019 since Princess Anne. Her younger brother, Prince Andrew, moved ahead of her into second spot when he was born in 1960 because of the rules of succession favoured sons over daughters. Then, in 1984, Prince Harry was born to the heir to the throne, Prince Charles and his late first wife, Diana, Princess of Wales. He famously used the name of \u201cspare\u201d for the title of his memoir. (In 2013, the rules regarding order of succession switched to birth order.)<\/p>\n To see how each of the three royals have fared when it comes to the line of succession, I first plotted their position by year, then translated that data into ages (at birth, Anne was second, Andrew was second, and Harry was third, behind his father and older brother, William).<\/p>\n Thanks for reading WRITE ROYALTY by Patricia Treble! This post is public so feel free to share it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Share<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n What\u2019s noticeable is that Anne has fallen faster down the line of succession than Andrew and Harry, in part because she has three brothers, each of which have children, with two having grandchildren. Still, their paths echo that of the Princess Royal and offer a harbinger of what is to come as younger royals ahead of them in the order of succession eventually have children.<\/p>\n On her 20th birthday in 1970, Princess Anne became the president of Save the Children UK. In 2017, she became its patron. Now, 55 years later, her connection to the charity remains one of the strongest of the 300+ organizations that she works with. <\/p>\n For her 70th birthday, a Princess Anne fan account on Twitter\/X called <\/span>PrincessAnneHRH<\/a> (I\u2019ve added upper casing for clarity) created a rather phenomenal thread illustrating a part of her life as a working royal that many today know little about \u2014 that she spent decades travelling to some of the most dangerous places on Earth to see the work of Save the Children and draw attention to crises in which their staff were working (I\u2019m truly <\/span>not<\/em> exaggerating the dangers, as you\u2019ll see when reading the thread). <\/span><\/p>\n As the <\/span>charity noted<\/a>: <\/span><\/p>\n The Princess Royal has supported us for 55 years and continues to champion the lifesaving support we provide for children around the world. During her time, Princess Anne has visited over 30 countries to see our work and met with over 27,000 supporters.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n <\/a> When it comes to official portraits, Princess Anne likes one photographer above all others: John Swannell.<\/p>\n He started<\/a> at Vogue Studios and with David Bailey before striking out on his own. Some of the most iconic images of the royal family in recent years have been taken by John Swannell, including <\/span>famous studio images of Diana with her sons<\/a> in 1994, as well as Elizabeth II\u2019s official portraits for her Golden and Diamond Jubilees.<\/span><\/p>\n The latest portrait of the Princess Royal was taken last week at her private estate of Gatcombe Park.<\/p>\n 1990: <\/span>40th birthday<\/a><\/p>\n 2000: <\/span>50th birthday<\/a><\/p>\n 2010: <\/span>60th birthday<\/a><\/p>\n 2020: <\/span>70th birthday<\/a> (and <\/span>more<\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!r8oJ!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff31a05f7-9d5c-4a3c-8d96-f200b4d06798_1024x512.jpeg)
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