Princess Anne's touching nod to her late father in moving video

Princess Anne's touching nod to her late father—video message to Olympians pays tribute to his support of her equestrian career

Princess Anne leaves after attending a 41 Royal gun salute to mark the 93rd birthday of Queen Elizabeth II at Hyde Park on April 22, 2019 in London, England.
(Image credit: Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images)

Princess Anne's touching nod to her late father, Prince Philip, recognizes how proud he was of his daughter's equestrian career.


During the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Princess Anne reflected on her Olympic past in a heartfelt message. Now, ahead of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, in her role as President of the British Olympic Association, the Princess Royal has sent a message to TeamGB.

The video shows the Queen's only daughter addressing Team GB along with photos of Princess Anne's Olympics experience. One of the images, which features the late Prince Philip, has tugged at the heartstrings of royal fans across the globe.

As time goes on, it's increasingly clear that HRH is a bit of a royal rebel. Not only did Princess Anne’s engagement rings both break royal protocol, but her decision to pursue a career as a professional equestrian was also revolutionary.

The Princess Royal made history as the first member of the Royal Family to compete in the Olympics. Back in 1976, she competed in the Montreal Olympic Games.

As one might expect, she rode one of the Queen's horses when she took part in the three-day equestrian event at the games. Sadly for British fans, TeamGB, and the Royal Family, Princess Anne did not go on to win an Olympic medal.

Despite this she certainly made a name for herself as an impressive equestrian and subsequently, in an interview with Vanity Fair, she explained that it was important to her to have her own path.

"I thought if I was going to do anything outside of the royal family, horses were likely to be the best way of doing it,” she explained. 

It looks as though having a way with horses is a right of passage for the female members of the Royal family as the Queen and Princess Anne's daughter Zara Tindall also share a natural flair and passion for all things equine.

Aoife Hanna
Junior News Editor

Aoife is an Irish journalist and writer with a background in creative writing, comedy, and TV production.

Formerly woman&home's junior news editor and a contributing writer at Bustle, her words can be found in the Metro, Huffpost, Delicious, Imperica and EVOKE.

Her poetry features in the Queer Life, Queer Love anthology.

Outside of work you might bump into her at a garden center, charity shop, yoga studio, lifting heavy weights, or (most likely) supping/eating some sort of delicious drink/meal.