Princess Anne is famous for her no-nonsense attitude and her steadfast dedication to duty. But just like any mother, her children have joked about her ‘most annoying’ habit, which they revealed in a documentary to celebrate her 70th birthday in 2020.

Queen Elizabeth II’s only daughter has represented many important causes over the years, whether that be Save The Children, helping those with disabilities or supporting carers. She also raised her two children, Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall, to understand that they would have to work in the future regardless of who their grandmother was.

Peter and Zara previously paid tribute to their mother in an interview to mark her 70th birthday in 2020. The interview saw them joke about being too afraid to ask her to slow down, as well as reveal the one trait she has that they find “annoying”.

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The pair joked about their mother’s “most annoying” habit -Credit:Getty
Sitting next to one another, Zara – who celebrates her 43rd birthday on Wednesday 15 May – said: “She’s like a sponge, it’s unbelievable, the information that’s stored in her brain. It’s incredible. Quite annoying, as well.” Peter then replied: “It is quite annoying, yes.”

The pair then spoke of their own children and how they enjoy dropping them off with their mother.

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Princess Anne is also a doting grandmother to Savannah, Isla, Mia, Lena and Lucas -Credit:Getty Images
Peter has two daughters, Savannah and Isla, with his ex-wife Autumn Phillips and Zara has three children, Mia, Lena and Lucas with husband Mike Tindall.

“She loves seeing them ride, she loves having them around for Sunday lunches, doing all the sorts of stuff we used to do as kids. She now takes them to do this sort of things,” Peter said. “We quite like leaving them on Sundays. We’ll say ‘We’ll pick them up later, bye’,” Zara joked.

Princess Anne’s daughter has spoken before about her thoughts on not having an official title like her other cousins. She said: “I’m very lucky that both my parents decided to not use the title and we grew up and did all the things that gave us the opportunity to do.”

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Zara has praised her mother’s decision -Credit:2022 Sebastian Frej/MB Media
Other famous faces to feature in the documentary included Lord Sebastian Coe who praised The Princess Royal’s instrumental effort in securing London’s bid to host the 2012 Olympics. He said: “The Princess Royal was on the big committee and her contribution was seismic and it was always to the point, she doesn’t always suffer fools gladly and she doesn’t speak for the sake of speaking.

“I do remember after a rather long-winded interjection by one of the committee members she had actually forgotten to turn her microphone off and she did manage to utter the immortal words ‘I think this person is probably the most stupid person in world sport’.

“This echoed absolutely around the room and she never flinched, it was as though it had never happened and we just moved on but it is probably one of my favourite moments.”