In an intriguing bit of non-coronavirus news this week, noted rock star Princess Anne became one of the first members of the British royal family in years to agree to a magazine profile, in which she talked at length with the Windsors’ hoity-toity outlet of choice, Horse & Hound. Oh no, sorry, it was Vanity Fair. The piece was as as blandly pleasant as you could imagine, with Anne mostly expounding upon her well-documented love of equestrian culture and charitable causes, which have stealthily made her one of the most industrious royals of all-time. (About 500 official engagements a year, Vanity Fair reports.) While we didn’t get an answer if Anne watches The Crown or not, the princess instead gave us a spoonful of sugar for our tea when she admitted that she worries about how the younger generation of royals is trying to innovate philanthropy.
“I don’t think this younger generation probably understands what I was doing in the past and it’s often true, isn’t it?†she explained. “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.’†Anne added that she doesn’t care if she’s labelled “the boring old fuddy-duddy at the back,†because she just wants everyone to remember “the basics†of their duties. Unsurprisingly, she didn’t give any names of the younger royals who are ruffling her fascinators, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle recently announced their new nonprofit organization. Coincidence?