Princess Anne’s head injury only exacerbates the ongoing royal crisis

Princess Anne’s injury, apparently from being kicked or head-butted by a horse at her home, Gatcombe Park in the Cotswolds, would be a source of deep concern to the royal family even in normal times.

But this is no ordinary atmosphere. King Charles III is suffering from cancer and has been forced to cancel a tour of New Zealand, and his daughter-in-law, the Princess of Wales, is also battling the disease. She has withdrawn almost entirely from public life since the start of the year, except for a major appearance on Trooping the Colour, alongside her family, just over two weeks ago.

Prince William has also significantly reduced his public role to support his wife and family. Anne’s absence means that only three individuals remain full-time members of the royal family who are not affected by the disease: Queen Camilla (who has nobly stepped up to the plate to support her husband but never wanted to be queen and does not particularly enjoy the public aspect of things) and Prince Edward and his wife. Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh.

Anne, already known for her incredible work ethic that usually saw her carry out around 500 public assignments a year, was shouldering an enormous amount of the extra burden.

In this context, removing her from active duty — she has already pulled out of a trip to Canada and a state visit by the Japanese emperor to London this week — is the last thing the royal family needs.

Some insiders believe that King Charles only bears responsibility for the recent recruitment crisis.

Toby Melville – Reuters

A royal insider said: “A lot of people, including Anne, have been saying the royals have spread themselves too thin, which is nothing new. Prince Andrew did what he did.” News night interview [about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, that led to his exit from royal duties] in 2019. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle left their senior royal duties in 2020.

“Of course no one expected Kate to become so ill, but you didn’t have to be a fortune teller at the time to see that Charles, Camilla and Anne [Charles is 75, Camilla is 76 and Anne is 73] Everyone was getting older and therefore had less to do. Charles was to attend to Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie [Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson’s daughters] behind. They both made it very clear that they were willing to help, but he didn’t like to admit mistakes.

But a friend of Charles said that characterization was unfair. “Charles decided to reduce the number of working royals because he saw that the days of having dozens of minor relatives living outside the family were over. No European royal family is increasing its numbers. Anne’s hospitalization has absolutely nothing to do with it,” the palace said. This is a simple matter and I’m sure she will be back very soon.

However, the royal writer W YouTube user Lady Colin Campbell, a friend of Princess Diana who wrote a best-selling biography of her, told The Daily Beast: “I’ve been saying for the last 30 years, ever since Charles came up with the idea of ​​treating Britain as if it were Denmark, that it was a crazy idea. Now we have three members of the royal family out of work, and Anne is the busiest of them all.

“Of course, an incident like this is unexpected but hopefully it will make Charles realize that they really need to intervene with Beatrice and Eugenie, and persuade Edward and Sophie’s children, Louise and James, to come forward.

“Unfortunately, William seems to take the same view as Charles, which is that they should keep the numbers of working royals small.”

Samir Hussein/WireImage

Royal bestseller King’s biographer“The Princess Royal is 73 years old and is clearly more physically frail than her brother Charles,” Christopher Andersen told The Daily Beast. However, what is described as a mild concussion is nothing new for Anne, or for Charles, for that matter. They have both been riding horses since early childhood and have suffered all kinds of injuries in the process.

“Charles was a fierce competitor on the polo field, and Anne competed in equestrian events at the 1976 Olympics. Before fox hunting was banned in 2004, Charles and Anne loved to ride hounds. All manner of bruises, fractures, sprains, dislocations and concussions accompany the area.

What makes this different, Andersen said, is that Charles can barely afford to lose even one working member of the royal family — when he and Kate are battling cancer, and Harry and Andrew are out of the picture.

“As senior royals age, there will inevitably be more health challenges,” Andersen said. “But it does seem strange that we are seeing one medical problem after another befall the new king in quick succession. One gets the sense that the royal family is at stake. I think we are all somewhat spoiled by the late Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth II, and Prince Philip, who all avoided illness.” seriously in their 90s.

Looking to the future, Andersen noted William’s plans to reduce the size of the British monarchy further, which may lead Charles to worry that “once he is no longer in the picture, King William V will take his plans for modernization several steps too far.”