Queen Elizabeth II's daughter, Princess Anne's, response to a question about Princess Diana in 1982 has gone viral on social media after archive footage from a royal tour was uploaded to TikTok this week.
Anne and Diana's relationship was the subject of intense speculation during the 1980s, in a way that echoed the rumors surrounding present-day royal sisters-in-law, Meghan Markle and Kate, the Princess of Wales. Unlike the latter pair, Princess Anne and Princess Diana never publicly acknowledged that there was any animosity between them.
Anne is the only daughter of the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip and was born just two years after her eldest brother, King Charles III. In her youth, Anne's movements, style and romantic prospects were closely followed by the popular press. This continued after her first marriage to Captain Mark Phillips in 1973 up until Charles' marriage to Lady Diana Spencer in 1981.
From her introduction into royal life, Diana became the main focus of royal press attention. The demand for photographs of the princess eventually contributed to her death at the age of 36 after a Paris car crash while being pursued by members of the paparazzi.
In the viral video clip, uploaded to TikTok by user the.royal.watcher on July 20, a journalist is seen asking Anne for information on Diana while she was undertaking a visit to the United States.
Captured in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Anne was asked "Any word about Diana?" to which she responded: "Any word about Diana? I don't know. You tell me."
The clip has been viewed over 145,000 times in 24 hours and received more than 2,500 likes and numerous comments, many of which have voiced conflicting opinions on the princess' reaction.
"Sorry but Diana>>>Anne," wrote one TikTok user. "I feel like this is an indirect jab at the press bc [because] we ALL know the press hounded Diana," posted another, with a further comment reading: "Princess Anne is a natural savage. Love how she bit back at the press. They're seriously annoying."
Not seen in the TikTok clip is a secondary question asked by the journalist in Santa Fe, which provides context to the comment. After having the initial question redirected by Anne, the journalist said: "Your reaction to her having a son?"
At the time, Diana had just delivered her first baby, Prince William, and the British and international press were all covering the birth of a direct heir to the throne.
"I didn't know she'd had one," Anne replied, going on to add, "Oh good," when told Diana had given birth that morning.
In the years following Diana's marriage into the royal family, rumors of a rift between her and Anne became so well circulated that both princesses were asked to address them in television interviews. They vehemently denied any bad blood.
In a 1985 interview with her husband, the then-Prince Charles, at their home of Kensington Palace, London, Diana was asked about Anne by British television interviewer Alastair Burnet. He questioned whether there was "any sense of living in a state of rivalry with Princess Anne as is said time and time and time again"?
"None at all," Diana said. "Princess Anne has been working incredibly hard for the Save the Children Fund, and I'm her biggest fan because what she crams into a day, I could never achieve."
Diana then added: "We've always hit it off very well, and I just think she's marvelous."
In the same year, Anne was similarly asked about the "tales" that she didn't get on with her sister-in-law by Irish TV broadcaster Terry Wogan. The princess said the stories were one of the tabloid media's "better fairy stories."
Despite their rumored fued, Anne and Diana were photographed a year later at the Epsom Derby in Surrey, England, laughing together in the royal box. The pair do not, however, appear to have had a close relationship, with Anne reportedly being a close confidante of her brother, Charles, throughout his divorce from Diana in the 1990s.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
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About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more
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