Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall have praised their mother Princess Anne for being a dream grandmother who looks after their children every Sunday to give them a much-needed break.
- Princess Anne sounds like the grandmother of dreams as her children Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall reveal how she likes to spend time with her grandchildren.
- The Princess Royal 'loves having' her grandchildren 'round for Sunday lunches and taking them for walks.'
- In other royal news, Princess Beatrice’s baby Sienna shares this 'bossy' personality trait with Princess Charlotte.
Princess Anne may be kept busy extremely with her royal engagements, with The Princess Royal being named the hardest working royal in 2022, but she always makes sure to keep some time free to spend with her grandchildren.
The royal, who sits 17th in the royal line of succession, is the proud grandmother of five children. Her son Peter Phillips' two daughters, Savannah Phillips and Isla Phillips, and her daughter Zara Tindall's two daughters, Mia Tindall and Lena Tindall, and her son Lucas Tindall whom she shares with husband Mike.
The royal youngsters live close by to their grandma with both Peter and Zara living on Anne's Gloucestershire estate, Gatcombe Park. Their close proximity means the family get to spend a lot of time together and, as Peter and Zara have previously revealed, Anne isn't shy about taking her grandchildren out and about to give their parents a break.
In ITV's 2020 documentary Anne: The Princess Royal at 70, Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall revealed, "She loves seeing them ride, she loves having them round for Sunday lunches and taking them for walks. Doing all the things that we would do as kids.
"We quite like leaving them on Sundays. We'll say, 'We'll pick them up later, bye'."
So what is Princess Anne like as a grandmother? According to body language expert Judi James, she is 'relaxed and fun-loving' but can also be 'a rather stern granny.'
She told The Express, “Princess Anne clearly had to adopt a more formal approach to parenting with Zara and her brother when she was in the public eye. But her behaviour with her grandchildren looks almost as relaxed and fun-loving as her daughter’s.
“Her facial expressions might sometimes suggest she can be a rather stern granny. But it’s also clear her playful side is triggered with the young children. She looks doting and delighted to spend time in their company.”
Similarly to Judi, Angela Karanja, an Adolescent Psychologist, told The Express, "I feel Princess Anne would be that grandmother that encourages her grandchildren to reach for the stars and not hold back.
“She would say they don’t have to follow a predetermined route, and this doesn’t make them rebellious, a term that most people use to describe children or people who do not follow what was expected.
“Just as Princess Anne has in her own relationships and decisions - such as not giving her children royal titles. It’s evident that even though she was born into royalty, she refused to keep pace with her companions."
Princess Anne's once surprising decision not to give her own children royal titles, meaning her grandchildren also don't have them, is a choice that her kids are now thankful for.
Talking about the decision, Peter said in the ITV documentary, "We were always brought up on the understanding that we were going to have to go to work. We were going to have to go out and earn our, earn our living. Regardless of the fact of who our grandmother was or who our mother was."
Zara added, "I think it made us fight harder as well, to try and be as successful as we could be. So we're very grateful to her not giving us a title anyway."
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