Princess Anne urges younger royals to ‘go back to basics’: ‘Please do not reinvent that particular wheel’
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Princess Anne, the daughter of reigning monarch Queen Elizabeth II, admitted she’s worried that younger royals may be in a hurry to change tradition.
The 69-year-old Anne, who is 14th in line to the British throne, described herself as “the boring old fuddy-duddy at the back” to royal expert Katie Nicholl for Vanity Fair’s latest issue out on Wednesday.
“Don’t forget the basics,” the royal cautioned. “I don’t think this generation probably understands what I was doing in the past and it’s often true, isn’t it? You don’t necessarily look at the previous generation and say, ‘Oh, you did that?’ Or, ‘You went there?’ Nowadays, they’re much more looking for, ‘Oh let’s do it a new way.’ And I’m already at the stage, ‘Please do not reinvent that particular wheel. We’ve been there, done that. Some of these things don’t work. You may need to go back to basics.’”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The princess, who kept busy last year with more than 500 engagements, is still perplexed by people’s fascination with social media. The outlet reported Anne continued carrying out royal engagements right up until the British government banned mass gatherings in mid-March due to the coronavirus outbreak.
PRINCE WILLIAM, KATE MIDDLETON PIVOT CHARITY TO FOCUS ON CORONAVIRUS RELIEF AID
MEGHAN MARKLE, PALACE AIDES HAD A ‘CLASH OF CULTURES’ OVER HER HOLLYWOOD PAST, ROYAL EXPERT CLAIMS
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“I find it very difficult to understand why anybody gets sucked into screens and devices,” she reflected. “Life’s too short, frankly. There’s more entertaining things to be done. I suppose that puts me in the real dinosaur range.”
Anne also noted that despite her 70th birthday approaching on Aug. 15, she has zero plans to retire, much like her mother, 93. Her father Prince Philip, 98, announced his retirement in May 2017.
“I don’t think retirement is quite the same [for me],” she explained. “Most people would say we’re very lucky not to be in that situation because you wouldn’t want to just stop. It is, to a large extent, the choice of the organizations you're involved with and whether they feel you’re still relevant. But I think both my father and mother have, quite right, made decisions about you know, ‘I can’t spend enough time doing this and we need to find somebody else to do it’ because it makes sense. I have to admit they continued being there for a lot longer than I had in mind, but we’ll see.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}However, Anne isn’t completely opposed to changing things up within the palace. In fact, she doesn’t regret giving her children HRH titles when they were born.
PRINCE HARRY FINDS NEW LIFE IN NORTH AMERICA 'A BIT CHALLENGING,' FRIEND SAYS
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The British royal shares two children with ex-husband Captain Mark Phillips: Zara and Peter.
“I think it was probably easier for them, and I think most people would argue that there are downsides to having titles,” said Anne. “So I think that was probably the right thing to do.”
But these days, duty has been on Anne’s mind. According to the outlet, Anne has planned “pandemic permitting” to be in the United States this fall to visit the New York branch of the English-Speaking Union, an educational charity where she serves as president. In addition, she’s eager to visit the National Lighthouse Museum in Staten Island, which has asked her to be its new patron.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“It was very kind of them to ask,” said Anne, who has always been fascinated by lighthouses. “How [Robert] Stevenson built those lighthouses [along the coast of Scotland] is just phenomenal. They’re very important and need to be maintained, and that’s a part of the maritime sector I’m interested in, and I like trying to raise that profile.”
PRINCE WILLIAM SAYS BRITAIN ‘AT ITS BEST WHEN FACED WITH A CRISIS’ AMID CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
Princess Anne attends day 1 'Champion Day' of the Cheltenham Festival 2020 at Cheltenham Racecourse on March 10, 2020, in Cheltenham, England. (Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
QUEEN DELIVERS FIRST-EVER EASTER MESSAGE FILLED WITH HOPE: 'CORONAVIRUS WILL NOT OVERCOME US'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}When Anne isn’t busy working, she’s perfectly at peace enjoying her rare time off sailing up the West Coast of Britain with just her husband, Vice Admiral Laurence.
“It’s just my husband and I,” she smiled.