King Charles makes 'decision' on birthday gift for Princess Beatrice, former butler claims
As Princess Beatrice gears up to celebrate her 37th birthday on August 8, a former royal butler has spilled the beans on how King Charles is expected to mark the occasion.
Grant Harrold, who was part of the Royal Household at Highgrove from 2004 to 2011, reveals that Beatrice holds a special place in the royal family — especially with her uncle, King Charles.
Speaking on behalf of Fruity King, he shared that the monarch will be keen to make his niece's day memorable, even if the celebrations are likely to be low-key.
'King Charles will be eager to celebrate Princess Beatrice,' Harrold commented.
'King Charles and Queen Camilla remain close to both Beatrice and Eugenie. Beatrice is well-liked within the royal family and often steps in to help. While the celebrations may be a private affair, a celebration is anticipated, reflecting her quiet but valued presence within the Firm,' reports Gloucestershire Live.
Although Beatrice isn't a full-time working royal — she currently works as a strategist for tech firm Afiniti — she has quietly taken on more responsibilities over the years.
Her ability to step in when needed has led some royal commentators to dub her a 'secret weapon' for the monarchy.
Despite her popularity, Harrold doesn't believe Beatrice will receive an official promotion when Prince William ascends to the throne.
Concerning her birthday celebrations, Harrold anticipates they will be intimate and understated. 'I don't see any big celebrations, as it's not a major birthday,' he explained.
'I think Beatrice will go for a quiet and private affair with best wishes from the whole family, and a nice gift from King Charles. He doesn't tend to give money, so I imagine he would give Beatrice a piece of jewellery.'
Princess Beatrice and her family were among the thousands who assembled to witness the England women's football team's victory parade in central London last month.
The Princess, joined by her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, their daughter Sienna, and Edoardo's son Christopher from a previous relationship, stood among the crowds along The Mall near Buckingham Palace to commemorate the team's Euro 2025 triumph.
The King's niece, who is Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson's daughter, unofficially represented the royal family at the parade following England's victory over Spain in the Women's European Championship.
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Reuters
3 hours ago
- Reuters
Britain's Princess Anne celebrates her 75th birthday
LONDON, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Princess Anne, the late Queen Elizabeth's only daughter and a former Olympic equestrian, turns 75 on Friday, with little fanfare planned in keeping with the royal's disdain for making a fuss. To mark the occasion, Buckingham Palace is releasing a new photograph of the horse-loving princess, who is often credited with being the hardest-working member of the British royal family. Born in 1950, two years after her brother, now King Charles, and two years before her mother would become monarch, Anne became renowned as a young princess for her rather brusque, plain-speaking public demeanour - reminiscent of her late father Prince Philip. But she went on to gain acclaim for her horse-riding triumphs, becoming Britain's first royal Olympian when she competed at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games. More recently she has been lauded for her campaigning for domestic and international charities. A YouGov poll last week showed Anne was the third-most popular of the royals, just behind heir Prince William and his wife Kate, with 70% of those surveyed having a favourable view of her. While other members of the Windsor family have become staple tabloid fodder, Anne has eschewed the limelight although she was involved in one of the most dramatic royal events of modern times when an armed man attempted to kidnap her near Buckingham Palace in 1974. She said her calmness in dealing with the incident - she told her would-be assailant "Not bloody likely!" when he demanded that she get out of her car - was due to her experience with horses that had helped make her prepared for the unexpected. Last year, she spent five nights in hospital after suffering concussion from an incident which involved a horse, but was back at work three weeks later. "She just keeps her head down the whole time, keeps working away and leaves others to worry about column inches," her son, Peter Phillips, said in a TV interview last year.
The Sun
3 hours ago
- The Sun
Buckingham Palace makes embarrassing error about Princess Anne in fact list to celebrate hardworking royal's 75th bday
FALSEHOODS surrounding Princess Anne have mistakenly been issued by Buckingham Palace in celebration of the royal's 75th birthday. An article was published on the official royal website to mark King Charles's sister's special occasion on Friday. 10 It was headlined 75 facts about the Princess Royal, with a list of trivia that followed. But number 14 revealed Princess Anne had two stepchildren from her second marriage to Sir Timothy Laurence, called Tom and Amy Laurence. In reality, the Princess Royal was Sir Tim's first wife when they tied the knot in 1992 - and he did not have any kids. Meanwhile Anne has a son, Peter Phillips, and a daughter, Zara Tindall, with her first husband Mark Phillips. Mark and Anne, who were married for 19 years, divorced the same year she wed Sir Tom. The falsehood was taken down from the website shortly after royal fans were quick to point it out. It's not known exactly where the information came from, although the same error was published by Woman & Home magazine a few years ago. There's speculation whoever wrote the royal website article may have used AI, which found the info from this 2023 piece. A palace source told the Daily Mail: "The facts were checked, and that one was a late addition, sourced from a reputable publication online, which unfortunately wasn't put back through the checking process. "There was no AI sourcing on our part." Buckingham Palace has been contacted for comment. Meanwhile, other facts published in the list ranged from the royal's birth to memorable public engagements. "Her Royal Highness was born Princess Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise at Clarence House on 15 August 1950, VJ Day, at 11:50 am," read one fact. It was shared alongside a heartwarming photograph of the late Queen Elizabeth holding the royal baby. 10 10 10 10 The article went on to explain how Princess Anne was a proud member of the first Buckingham Palace Company of Brownies and Guides. It also highlighted her honourable charity work, with more than 400 organisations worldwide. And, she has made a staggering 562 overseas trips, visiting every continent. It has seen her become Colonel-in-Chief of more than 20 British and Commonwealth regiments. Royal fans may have been intrigued to learn Princess Anne was even nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by the President of Zambia in 1990. The Princess was also the first in the Firm to appear on a TV quiz, BBC's A Question of Sport. And, the first to hold an HGV licence - seeing her get behind the wheel of a double-decker London bus and a police vehicle. She was also the first member of the British Royal Family to compete in an Olympic Games, when she entered as part of the British Equestrian team at the 1976 Montreal Games, the list revealed. Other facts included her being the Patron of the Scottish Rugby Union. Sister to the king, she set to spend her birthday next month as she always does - sailing with her husband around Scotland for just ten days. After this brief period she will return to her work as a senior member of the royal family. This comes royal fans have also theorised hard-working Anne could now prove vital in Harry and Charles' peace talks. The Princess Royal is thought to have some useful advice to offer Harry on life as a "spare" in the Royal Family. A source close to the Royal Family told The Times that Anne could offer some words of wisdom to her nephew. The source said: "She often talked about how, as children, she was treated so differently from Charles. "She was second to him and kicked further down the line of succession as a woman, but she forged her own path. "In her twenties she was bolshy and upset about a lot of things, but she came through that. "He should talk to her about her experiences. She is shrewd. She could tell him a lot about what she went through.' Anne reportedly doesn't plan to retire until her tenth decade, following in Prince Phillip's footsteps. A dutiful and hard working member of the Royal Family, Anne overcame an injury just last year and returned to her duties just a few weeks later. The Princess Royal was admitted to intensive care last June with head injuries and a concussion after reportedly being kicked in the head by a horse at her Gatacombe Park estate in Gloucestershire. She was taken to Southmead Hospital in Bristol for tests and treatment before returning to her duties that July. Anne has been almost unstoppable for more than seven decades now, working nearly without pause. She is reportedly notorious among her aides for resisting attempts to create downtime for her. Shying away from attempts to celebrate her 75th birthday, Anne instead opted to celebrate more than 100 of the 400 charities she is a patron of. The Princess Royal hosted more than 100 of her charities at a Buckingham Palace reception last month as part of her birthday celebrations. Aside from the reception, Anne has accepted the issuing of a silver coin to commemorate the momentous occasion. Released last week the coin features the Princess Royal's face and the words "The Princess Royal. Celebrating 75 years. Duty and devotion.' Peter Phillips has announced his engagement to girlfriend Harriet Sperling. Peter, 47, will marry Harriet, 45, after dating the NHS paediatric nurse for the past year. the King and Queen today of their engagement. 10 10 10
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Red-faced Buckingham Palace inserts a VERY embarrassing falsehood into its '75 facts about Princess Anne' for her birthday
Royal watchers might have expected Buckingham Palace to celebrate Princess Anne 's 75th birthday with a gun salute, the release of an official photograph or an equestrian event. What they definitely didn't expect was the palace to mark Friday's milestone by announcing that King Charles 's sister had two secret stepchildren. Yet, remarkably, that is exactly what did happen when the official royal website published an article on Wednesday under the headline '75 facts about the Princess Royal'. The 14th 'fact' was that 'Her Royal Highness also has two stepchildren from her second marriage to Sir Timothy Laurence, Tom and Amy Laurence'. In fact, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, 70, had never married before he exchanged vows with the princess at Crathie Kirk, near Balmoral, in 1992 and does not have any children, let alone ones named Tom and Amy. Anne has two children, Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall, with her first husband, Mark Phillips. They divorced in 1992 after 19 years of marriage. It's not clear who first spotted the glaring error on the royal website but the article had been taken down by Wednesday evening. On Thursday, there was a notice on the site stating: 'The requested page could not be found.' Anne has two children, Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall, with her first husband, Mark Phillips. Pictured: Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips attend the Tusk Ball 2022 at the Natural History Museum in honour of African conservation on May 19, 2022 The mistake seems to have been made by a member of staff using incorrect information published in an article online by Woman & Home magazine in 2023. There are suspicions that Artificial Intelligence software, such as ChatGPT, may have been used to write the Woman & Home article. A palace source told the Daily Mail Thursday: 'The facts were checked, and that one was a late addition, sourced from a reputable publication online, which unfortunately wasn't put back through the checking process. There was no AI sourcing on our part.' Social media users were quick to spot the mistake, with one commenting: 'Tom and Amy Laurence? Either I've gone crazy or Sir Tim Laurence has secret children.' The user added: 'Pretty sure this is an error, but how did that happen? I can't think of any Tom & Amy siblings in the extended royal family.' Another posted: 'That would be the best hidden royal secret ever.' Someone else asked: 'That is so odd? Could it be an AI mistake? Someone at BP made that list with ChatGPT but didn't check it? Otherwise that would be one heck of a plot twist.' A third user stated: 'This is not true. Sir Tim does not have children from a previous relationship.' A Buckingham Palace spokesman declines to comment. No one at Woman & Home was available to comment. The fact series was also published on the Royal Family official Instagram channel. It revealed details of Anne's birth, explaining, 'Her Royal Highness was born Princess Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise at Clarence House on 15 August 1950, VJ Day, at 11:50 am.' Anne at the coronation of her brother in May 2023. Anne shows no sign of slowing down just yet and she holds the title of the hardest working royal, having taken on 474 engagements last year Anne with Queen Elizabeth II in June 2019. To mark her 70th birthday in 2020, Anne enjoyed a socially distanced lunch with her mother The fact was accompanied by a black-and-white photograph of the late Queen Elizabeth holding Princess Anne as a newborn. The second fact read, 'Princess Anne joined the 1st Buckingham Palace Company of Brownies and Guides in 1959. 'This group had first been created in 1937 for her mother, then Princess Elizabeth, and was reinstalled for Princess Anne.' The following fact revealed insight into Anne's charitable pursuits, explaining that she supports over 399 charities, organisations, and military regiments in the UK and beyond. The post also explained Anne's sporting talents, writing, 'Princess Anne was the first member of the British Royal Family to compete in an Olympic Games, when she participated as a member of the British Equestrian team at the 1976 Montreal Games.' Elsewhere in the post, Anne was seen carrying out charity work, with the fact, 'The Princess Royal was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 by President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia. 'She was nominated for her work as President of Save the Children across two decades.' The next fact read, 'In 1994, The Queen appointed The Princess Royal to the Order of the Garter. However, The Princess Royal requested to be installed as Royal Knight of the Order and not a lady.' Anne was seen stepping out of a vehicle in the slide explaining that she's the first member of her family to have a HGV licence Anne and her father Prince Philip at the 2012 Olympics. Anne, like Philip, is reportedly planning to wind down her royal duties as she approaches her 80th and then 90th birthday The impressive list didn't stop there, with the post also adding that Anne was the first member of the Royal Family to appear as a contestant on a television quiz show when she competed on the BBC panel game, A Question of Sport. Anne's diligent nature was also mentioned in the fact list, explaining that she's completed a total of 562 overseas visits and has visited every continent, making it unsurprising that she's often dubbed the hardest working in her family. The following fact said, 'Her Royal Highness has been Patron of the Scottish Rugby Union since June 1986, regularly attending matches and visiting team training sessions.' In another image, Anne was seen stepping out of a motor alongside the text, 'The Princess Royal is the first member of the Royal Family to have a HGV license. Her Royal Highness has also driven a double-decker London bus and a police car.' 'Her Royal Highness is Colonel-in-Chief of more than 20 British and Commonwealth regiments,' the next fact read. The post concluded with an image of Anne in her famous shades, writing, 'The Princess Royal is often seen sporting Team GB sunglasses, including at high-profile events such as the London 2012 Olympics and Royal Ascot in 2021.
