Just the week prior, Zara Tindall stole the show at Royal Ascot—but then, on Sunday, June 23, her mother, Princess Anne sustained an injury at her home, Gatcombe Park, that hospitalized her for five days—an incident that left Tindall “shaken to the core,” OK reports.
“This is exactly what Zara’s been worried about happening for years now, but her mom hasn’t had a chance to slow down with everyone else falling apart,” a source said, referring, presumably, to the cancer diagnoses of King Charles, the Princess of Wales, and Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, this year—and Anne, as ever, carrying the workload for the royal family.
The Princess Royal’s concussion resulted in amnesia, they said, and “It’s really shaken Zara to the core, and she’s desperately hoping this memory is temporary. This has been a huge wake-up call for everyone in the family, and they’re rightfully distressed.”
Anne, 73, was reportedly struck by a horse, and is now home from hospital “and expected to make a full recovery,” The Daily Express reports, adding that Anne’s husband, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, said his wife is “recovering slowly” after being discharged from Southmead Hospital. (In addition to her husband being on hand with her at the hospital, Tindall also visited her mother while she was there.) The Princess Royal “is expected to return to public duties when doctors advise that it’s safe to do so,” The Daily Express reports.
Tindall—who is married to former rugby player Mike Tindall and is a mother of three—is “very close” to her uncle, King Charles, a source speaking to The Mirror said; they added that she “might become more involved in this side of things, and that Charles is keen to support such an interest by bestowing on her the title of princess,” which Anne chose not to do when Zara was born in 1981. (She made the same decision—to not give a royal title—to her son, Peter Phillips, when he was born in 1977; it’s a decision Tindall has praised in the past.) The King, apparently, believes his eldest niece should have been given the title “all along,” they said.
It’s not clear if the title was offered if Tindall would even accept it—she said recently she was “obviously very lucky that my mother didn’t give us any titles, so I really commend her on that.”
Columnist Angela Mollard said that Tindall and her cousin, Prince William, are the “best of friends,” and said if she were in William’s shoes, it would make sense for the Prince of Wales to start “pulling in” someone as “trusted” and “faithful” as Tindall.
The Princess Royal, for her part, is home and recovering, and shared her “deep regret” at being forced to cancel a planned trip to Canada last week, which The Independent reports was in commemoration of World War I.
“It is with deep regret that I am unable to be with you today, as you commemorate the brave efforts and sacrifices of the members of the Newfoundland Regiment who went into battle on the first day of the Somme,” Anne said. “I have fond memories of joining you in 2016, on the 99th occasion that the people of this Island commemorated the Battle of Beaumont Hamel, and I am deeply saddened that I’m unable to join you again, and I send you my warmest, best wishes on this special day of commemoration.”
It remains unknown when Anne—who has long been known as the hardest-working member of the royal family—will resume public duty.
