Princess Anne Reportedly Has No Plans to Do This Anytime Soon as She Turns 76
Princess Anne Reportedly Has No Plans to Do This Anytime Soon as She Turns 76
Rachel BurchfieldSun, August 16, 2026 at 1:20 PM UTC
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Princess Anne at Royal Ascot on June 17, 2026.Credit: GettyThe Gist -
Princess Anne turned 76 years old on August 15.
Long known as the hardest working member of the royal family, the Princess Royal—who has 400 patronages to her name—doesn’t show signs of slowing down her work anytime soon.
“I don’t think the word ‘retirement’ is in her vocabulary,” Queen Elizabeth’s former press secretary Ailsa Anderson told Hello!.
Princess Anne—long known as the royal family’s hardest working member—turned 76 years old on August 15. While that marks retirement age for many, when it comes to the Princess Royal, don’t expect that to happen anytime soon.
“She does not pause for breath,” Ailsa Anderson, Queen Elizabeth’s former press secretary, told Hello!. “Think about how many other 76-year-olds are putting their feet up, watching TV, and she just carries on. It’s all about duty.”
Anderson added, “She inherited that sense of duty and service from both of her parents. I don’t think the word ‘retirement’ is in her vocabulary.”
Princess Anne on July 8, 2026.Credit: Getty
It has been a big summer for the princess both personally and professionally. On June 6, she welcomed a new daughter-in-law, Harriet Sperling, into the family when she married Anne’s son, Peter Phillips. Professionally, Anne—who carried out an impressive 478 royal engagements in 2025—has already racked up more than 290 royal engagements, just by mid-August. In 2026 alone, she’s so far traveled everywhere from Italy to Greece, France, South Korea, and Thailand—with more trips in the works by the end of the year.
Perhaps, though, Anne is happiest at her Gatcombe Park home in Gloucestershire, where she lives with her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence. Anne is extremely close with Phillips and her daughter Zara Tindall, as well as their spouses and children. When Phillips married Sperling earlier this summer, she welcomed Sperling’s daughter from a previous marriage, Georgina, “with open arms,” a source told Hello!.
“She is an amazing mother and grandmother and has a natural talent for putting people at ease, much like her mother, the late queen,” the insider added.
Princess Anne at Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling’s wedding on June 6, 2026.Credit: Getty
Her Gatcombe estate, Anderson said, is a place “where she is not the Princess Royal—she is Anne. It’s a lot less formal. She has Zara and Mike [Tindall] still living on the estate, and Peter and Harriet nearby.”
Anne is “a pragmatist, a divorcee herself—and I think, like every parent, she just wants to see her children happy,” Anderson added. “She adores them, and it’s touching to see her with her grandchildren at horse trials, showing them things and looking relaxed in her jeans.”
Royal biographer Robert Hardman agreed that “Gatcombe is her happy place,” as “she’s fundamentally a country person.” Her relationship with her children and grandchildren is “very no-nonsense,” he added, explaining, “It’s very normal.T here isn’t any standing on ceremony, and she’s the only one with a title.”
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“She’s a very good grandmother,” he continued. “She’s hands-on, but like all grandchildren, I think they can get away with things. She dotes on them.”
Gatcombe Park.Credit: Getty Images
On Saturday, King Charles and Queen Camillawished the Princess Royal a happy birthday on social media, sharing a photo of Anne back in March as she shook hands with Scotland’s rugby captain, Sione Tuipulotu, at the Six Nations. Anne, who has been patron of the Scottish Rugby Union since 1986, wore purple tartan as she appeared at the stadium in Edinburgh. Prince William and Kate Middleton also sent well-wishes along to her on social media.
Anne quietly rang in her 76th birthday over the weekend, an understated celebration likely due to a rule she’s long held for herself when it comes to birthdays. Royal commentator Roya Nikkhah said that the Princess Royal has a “no-frills” approach to celebrating her big day, adding (per Hello!), “Anne’s policy is, ‘I will do things for my birthdays that have a zero, but I won’t do things for my birthdays that have a five.’”
Last year, as she turned the milestone age of 75, Anne opted to keep the focus less on herself and more on her patronages—after all, she has more than 400 of them (!).
Princess Anne on July 25, 2026.Credit: Getty
“This personifies what Her Royal Highness cares about,” a palace source told Hello!. “She didn’t want to do anything for her birthday but bring her charities together to hear more about their work and how she can help them.”
As for a potential retirement? A source said when she turned 75 last year (per The Mirror), “I was told that she’s told her team, ‘I’m going to start winding down a little bit at 80, in five years’ time, and then I want to step back completely at 90.’” The insider suggested that Anne will likely follow in the footsteps of her late father, Prince Philip, who retired from official royal engagements at 96 years old.
That said, the Princess Royal has previously expressed that retirement “was not an option” for her.
Princess Anne at the Commonwealth Day Service in March 2026.Credit: Karwai Tang/WireImage
“She has spoken about how the working royals are now stretched pretty thin, and she doesn’t see an opportunity to retire, even if she wanted to,” former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond told The Mirror. She added, though, “I’m sure no one would begrudge her some time to herself.”
“As she turns 76, though, I think the princess should be quietly pleased that her contribution to public life is now far more appreciated than ever before,” Bond continued.
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
