Princess Anne married Timothy Laurence after she got divorced from her first husband Captain Mark Phillips. In 2001, Lynda Lee-Potter, a newspaper columnist wrote that Princess Royal was in a foul mood because of her arguments with Laurence, who looks “pathetic.”
Lynda Lee-Potter, a Daily Mail Columnist allegedly made a jibe at Princess Royal and her husband Sir Timothy Laurence in one of her articles published in 2001. The reporter mentioned that Queen Elizabeth’s only daughter was in a bad mood on Christmas Day 2000 and admonished one of the royal well-wishers.
The columnist pondered whether the Princess could have been short-tempered because she had a quarrel with her husband Timothy. She mentioned in her article that Princess Anne’s bad temper could be because of a row with her husband Timothy Laurence, "who increasingly looks pathetic.”
According to her, the explanation offered by the Princess that she was worried about her daughter’s car crash some weeks back sounded lame. However, Zara Tindall, Anne’s daughter did meet a road accident only some days before Christmas that year. She had also suffered some facial injuries.
Lee-Potter’s somewhat cynical assessment of Princess Royal and her husband was perhaps after a not so pleasant interaction between her and a royal follower on Christmas Day. Incidentally, the entire Royal Family gathers in Sandringham, Norfolk to attend a church service every Christmas.
As the royal members come out of the church, well-wishers wait for them with gifts and flowers. On 2000 Christmas Day, an elderly lady called Iris Halfpenny offered a basket of flowers to the Princess. The lady told: “I’ve arranged them myself.”
However, Anne had supposedly snubbed her by saying: “What a ridiculous thing to do!” The lady was quite upset with the comment and a fellow royal fan mentioned that she did not come out to watch the royals for many weeks afterward, Daily Express reports.
The columnist mentioned that the Princess’s behavior “was rude and unkind.” She also wrote that Anne’s behavior was a reflection of her character and views.
The writer feels that Her Majesty’s daughter could have taken a little effort to give “huge pleasure” to the adoring public. A spokesperson of Buckingham Palace defended the Princess Royal’s behavior by insisting that Anne meets so many people each year. “It is clear that today has been a misunderstanding of some kind.”
Meanwhile, in related news, Princess Anne had to face an awkward moment in an interview on television in 1985 when Terry Wogan, the interviewer had asked about her equation with Princess Diana.
According to another report by Daily Express, the host did not stop there and asked Princess Anne to mention how she did not attend Prince Harry’s christening. The Princess said: “It was a great shame that we missed the christening.” However, they had some prior commitments on the same date.