This week, some royal gossip sort of got buried. Over the weekend, the Times of London published a semi-authorized profile on Princess Anne ahead of her 75th birthday. Anne does not want any fuss for herself or her birthday, but some “royal insiders” spoke on her behalf to the Times. It’s very common for the palace to authorize these kinds of birthday profiles, which is why it was fascinating to see those “sources” criticize Prince William within Anne’s b-day profile. The Times noted that while Anne is “fond of her nephew,” several sources told them that Anne wants to see William do more “bread and butter” royal engagements, especially hosting investitures at Windsor Castle. Per a source close to Anne: “She’s still doing most of the investitures [at Windsor] even though William lives there. It annoys her.” Well, funny story. Anne had to shlep all the way over to Windsor Castle this week to host another investiture. While William, Kate and the kids were lounging on a superyacht in Greece.
Princess Anne is holding an investiture at Windsor Castle after a report claimed that she thinks Prince William should be leading more of these ceremonies. On July 22, the Princess Royal, 74, hosted an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle, where she presented medals to a group including actress Sarah Lancashire. Investitures are services in which a working member of the royal family presents insignias to individuals recognized for outstanding contributions in honors lists, which are released twice annually.
Currently, just three royals can host the events. The royal family’s website outlines that only King Charles, Princess Anne and Prince William can conduct the honor, leaving the small group responsible for about 30 investitures a year.
So far in 2025, Princess Anne has held the most investiture ceremonies. According to a tally from Gert’s Royals, she has hosted 10 of the events including Tuesday’s, while King Charles has done six and Prince William has done five.
Over the weekend, The Sunday Times published a new profile on the Princess Royal ahead of her 75th birthday in August, where a source said that Anne would like to see William, 43, partake in more “bread-and-butter” royal duties.
“She’s still doing most of the investitures [at Windsor] even though William lives there. It annoys her,” a source told the Sunday Times.
While the Prince of Wales and his wife, Kate Middleton, live minutes away from Windsor Castle at Adelaide Cottage with their children, his calendar already had a commitment on July 22 — his son Prince George’s 12th birthday.
For a moment, consider a world where no parent ever has to work on their kids’ birthdays? What the hell kind of excuse is that from People Mag? “It was George’s birthday, how dare you expect William to work!” They use a similar excuse for the kids’ school holidays too, like it would be a fate worse than death for parents to work at all while their kids are out of school. Anyway, it’s just funny, it’s almost as if Anne set it up on purpose, knowing that William and Kate were going to be squirrelled away on an Arab prince’s superyacht while Anne was trudging through her tenth investiture of the year.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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Princess Anne, Princess Royal, and Prince William, Prince of Wales attend the recording of a special episode of The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast, in the Green Drawing Room at Windsor Castle, on September 06, 2023 in Windsor, England. The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast included TRH The Prince and Princess of Wales, and The Princess Royal, in their respective roles as Patrons of the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), the Rugby Football Union (RFU), and the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU), to mark the start of the Rugby World Cup. The podcast is co-hosted by Mike Tindall, James Haskell (to the left of Mike in the images) and Alex Payne.
NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS,Image: 804353203, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon [email protected] London 44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles 1 310 822 0419 Berlin 49 30 76 212 251 Madrid 34 91 533 42 89, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- Camera Press Rota 04734696. The 80th Anniversary of VE Day. Members of the royal family watch the VE 80 Parade flypast at Buckingham Palace. 05/05/2025,Image: 995422576, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Camera Press Rota, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Joanne Davidson/Avalon
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- Britain’s Anne, Princess Royal and Britain’s William, Prince of Wales arrive for the Order of the Garter service at Windsor Castle in Windsor, Britain, June 16, 2025.,Image: 1011415756, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Carlos Jasso/Avalon
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- The Princess Royal (left) and Emmanuel Moulin at the State Banquet for President of France Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron, at Windsor Castle, Berkshire, on day one of the French President’s state visit to the UK. Picture date: Tuesday July 8, 2025.,Image: 1019896834, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Aaron Chown/Avalon
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Day one of Royal Ascot, Ascot Racecourse.
Featuring: Princess Anne and Lady Gabriella Kingston
Where: Ascot, United Kingdom
When: 18 Jun 2024
Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages**NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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The Princess Royal during a visit to the Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) National Championships at Hartpury University and Hartpury College in Gloucestershire
Featuring: Anne, Princess Royal
Where: London, United Kingdom
When: 12 Jul 2024
Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages**NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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The Princess Royal in the stables during a visit to the South African Riding School for Disabled Association (SARDA) while on her two-day to trip to South Africa.
Featuring: Princess Anne
Where: South Africa
When: 21 Jan 2025
Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages**NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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The Princess Royal makes a speech during a service to officially open the new Labour Corps Memorial at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWCG), Company’s Garden in Cape Town during her two-day to trip to South Africa. The memorial honours over 1,700 members of South African labour units, predominantly black South Africans, and is the first memorial on the continent of Africa honouring those who served in non-combat roles in the military labour units during the First World War.
Featuring: Princess Anne
Where: Cape Town, South Africa
When: 22 Jan 2025
Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages**NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
