Why Princess Anne, 'the hardest working' royal, keeps her life private: royal expert

Princess Anne, Queen Elizabeth II’s only daughter, has been deemed the hardest working royal while simultaneously staying out of the public eye over the years, according to one royal expert. 

The values of keeping her personal life to herself trickled down to how she even chose to raise her two children, whom she opted to not give royal titles to.

Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliam told Fox News Digital that Anne, 72, does not like the royal spotlight, and it's why she has kept her life private over the years.

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"One of the reasons that not much is known about Princess Anne, is because that is the way she likes it," he shared. "She is the hardest working member of the Royal Family but doesn’t like the publicity. It’s her style, she has always stunned us."

However, after the passing of her mother Queen Elizabeth II on Sept. 8, Anne has increasingly been front-and-center in the events paying tribute to the late monarch. 

On Wednesday, Princess Anne was joined by her brothers, King Charles III, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward in walking the queen’s casket from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall to lie in state until her funeral on Monday.

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"The fact she was with The Queen’s body is significant because it was a symbol of how valuable she is to the Royal Family," Fitzwilliam explained. "She is very supportive of King Charles. She won’t being doing more because she couldn’t possibly do more, she is already doing so much for the family."

Anne had previously shared in a statement following Queen Elizabeth II’s death that she had also spent the last 24 hours of her mother’s life with her at Balmoral Castle.

"I was fortunate to share the last 24 hours of my dearest Mother’s life. It has been an honour and a privilege to accompany her on her final journeys. Witnessing the love and respect shown by so many on these journeys has been both humbling and uplifting," the statement read.

"We will all share unique memories. I offer my thanks to each and every one who share our sense of loss," Anne continued. "We may have been reminded how much of her presence and contribution to our national identity we took for granted. I am also so grateful for the support and understanding offered to my dear brother Charles as he accepts the added responsibilities of The Monarch."

The princess signed her statement, "To my mother, The Queen, thank you."

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Anne will attend Her Majesty's state funeral on Monday along with the rest of the senior royal family members. Anne's kids, Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips, are also expected to attend.

Much like herself, Anne also wanted to give her children the opportunity to live a private life out of the public eye.

She did not give her two children, Peter, 44, and Zara, 41, royal titles after their birth, meaning they are private citizens. Anne made this decision in an effort to give her children a chance at a "normal" life.

Royal expert Shannon Felton Spence explained to Fox News Digital why Anne’s children could have never been a prince or princess. 

"The letters patent says that the grandchildren of a sovereign but through a male heir so Princess Anne's children do not have titles," Spence shared. 

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"Their father was granted a title when he married Princess Anne, so they have a title and Anne obviously has the Princess Royal title by birth. Their children were then eligible for titles, but they wouldn’t have been Prince and Princess they would have been Duke and Duchess or Lady and Master, for example."

Though Anne keeps her life private – as well as her children's – like other members of the royal family, scandal did not escape Anne as she tried to navigate the public eye. The Princess Royal allegedly had an affair with her private bodyguard while married to her first husband Mark Phillips.

Anne has been infamously tied to her affair with Peter Cross since rumors began in the 1970s. Cross was a police officer for the Scotland Yard until he was assigned to Anne’s protective detail in 1979.

Netflix's hit series "The Crown" covers the alleged affair, with the Queen confronting her daughter in a private picnic about the "talk" she’s heard around the rumors.

In the episode, Elizabeth II tells Anne that Scotland Yard was considering transferring Cross to "desk duties," in which Anne responded, "Don't do that to me. You can't. He's the one thing that makes me happy."

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Anne has been married twice. She was first married to Captain Mark Phillips in 1973, who is the father of her two children, Peter and Zara. The couple split in 1992.

She married her current husband Vice Admiral Timothy Laurence in 1992. The couple did not have any children.

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During her first marriage, she was allegedly intimate with Cross, who reportedly confirmed the affair to reporter Harry Arnold, for The Sun. Anne has never commented on the affair.

According to The Sun, Cross told Arnold, "When you wrote that story I was still married and I couldn’t admit it, but yet it was true and I can now tell you that it was true because I am now divorced." Cross ended up selling his story to The News of The World in 1984.