Princess Anne's 'testy' comment sparked unexpected Christmas Day 'upset' - but she learnt her lesson
She ended up apologising for her remark and the next year made a special effort to make up for it
Princess Anne's iconic no-nonsense remarks are part of the reason she's so popular but there have been a few occasions in the past when they've landed her in hot water too. Of all the times for this to happen, Christmas Day is particularly unfortunate and in 2000 she ended up causing quite an "upset" during the Royal Family's celebrations.
The royals traditionally walk from Sandringham House to St Mary Magdalene Church for the Christmas service and the route is lined with excited fans. Mrs Halfpenny was one of them and in his new memoir, Cup of Tea, Arthur?, long-time royal photographer Arthur Edwards recalls that the 75-year-old travelled all the way from Leicester with "home-made flower bouquet."
She wanted to give it to Anne's grandmother, the Queen Mother, but "the Princess Royal took the flowers instead". He goes on to add that when she "told her she'd spent hours making the flowers, Anne told her bluntly, 'What a ridiculous thing to do.'"
According to the photographer this "testy reply" upset Mrs Halfpenny, who'd not only made the trip and been waiting for hours, but later explained that she spent around three hours putting the flower basket together. It's totally understandable that she'd be hurt by the response and Arthur notes that the Princess "did apologise later".
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson declared, "The Princess Royal meets thousands of people every year and it is clear that today there has been a misunderstanding of some kind."
The photographer, who has taken pictures of the royals for over 50 years now, notes that the "following year" Princess Anne did her best to make up for this awkward moment. She reportedly "accepted every bunch of flowers with a smile and said, 'I don't want to upset anybody'.
Everyone is allowed an off moment and it sounds as though Princess Anne felt genuinely awful about upsetting Mrs Halfpenny and made sure a similar situation wouldn't happen again. She's typically beloved amongst fans, though her relationship with the media hasn't always been easy.
Arthur Edwards never used to photograph her on Christmas Day as "she was always in a hurry to get back" and he expressed his belief that she "didn't like the media". To be fair to her, Christmas Day is a time for family and the royals' private celebrations could only really begin when they were back at Sandringham.
Walkabouts have changed a lot over the years too and accepting flowers and shaking hands didn't used to be as much of a thing. The Princess doesn't even try to shake everyone's hand - and it's for a practical reason.
"We never shook hands. The theory was that you couldn't shake hands with everybody, so don't start. So I kind of stick with that, but I noticed others don't," she said on the 2018 Queen of the World documentary.
Princess Anne's approach as a senior royal is quite direct, but it seems like it comes from a place of wanting the focus to be on her work rather than the other aspects of royal life that she sees as less unimportant.
"She sets an amazing example with her work ethic," her daughter-in-law Harriet Phillips said to Hello! in her first interview. "What I've seen is her tireless attention to local charities and her genuine interests."
