JEALOUS, DISPLANTS AND TENSION: THE TURBULENT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRINCESS ANA AND DIANA DE WALES, "THAT SILLY GIRL"
"Ana from England did not pass one to Diana ... she did not like the way she fulfilled her duty to her and how she used the cameras and the media to promote herself," says an expert.
England's Princess Anne, played by Erin Doherty, was the smash hit of The Crown's third season: a refreshing and no-nonsense royal woman walking through Buckingham Palace in riding boots, scolding Prince Philip (Tobias Menzies ) and horrifying the queen with his frank conversation. But in the fourth season of The Crown, Ana finds in Diana (Emma Corrin) the competition for the title of her favorite princess.
“It is not easy working in the heat and misery of a third world country doing real work for real charities. But do I even get a mention in a newspaper? "Princess Anne laments in the episode" Favorites. "" And yet, all [Diana] has to do is put on a dress, and it's on every cover. , and everyone is impressed by how wonderful it is. "
Ana complains that she is constantly compared to Diana in the press, considering that there are only two young women in the royal family. "She is adorable, I squat," Ana complains. "She was smiling, I was moody. Charming her, detestable me ”.
In real life, however, the dynamic between royal sisters-in-law was even more tense. Royal biographer Ingrid Seward has explained, “Ana was indifferent towards Diana from the beginning… she called her 'silly girl'.
The two women couldn't have been more different. Ana, who was 11 years older than Diana, is an avid open-minded and hardworking woman focused on the equestrian world, who is not at all interested in frivolity. Diana, however, is a fun-loving and fragile young woman who was seeking attention and having a good time. Seward explained that the tensions between Ana and Diana "came to a head at the end of Ascot week in June 1981, just a month before Diana's marriage."
“Sensing Ana's apathy towards her and wanting to ingratiate herself, (Diana) ventured up to the nursery in Queen's Tower where Anne was settling in with her three-year-old son Peter and four-week-old daughter Zara "Seward wrote recalling the Windsor meeting." Diana, still only a lady, gave the princess the benefit of a full bow and declared, 'Ma'am, how wonderful to see you.'
"Ana despises pretense at best," Seward added. “When she was dealing with two young children, she didn't have time for that. She looked at Diana, right through her. Diana, confronted by the searing force of Ana's contempt, fled the room ”.
More awkward encounters followed, including an embarrassing Christmas gift exchange later that year. Diana, unaware that royalty exchanging joke gifts, presented Ana with a cashmere sweater, receiving only a toilet seat from her sister-in-law.
Royal reporter Richard Kay confirms that Ana “didn't pass one to Diana… She didn't like the way she did her duty and the way she used the cameras and the media to promote herself, in her eyes… Ana he had a much more traditional idea of monarchy and royal duty. "
But Diana was not the only sister-in-law that Ana denied. "She was very upset when Diana became the center of attention and then Sarah Ferguson (Prince Andrew's ex-wife), became the focus for a while," according to the Royal Daily Express photographer Steve Wood. He pointed out that Ana thought that both women - whom she had less valued as "those girls" - were "lowering the height" of the royal family. "Too tabloid for her."
As a result, Diana began to actively avoid her sister-in-law, according to Kay. "I remember Diana saying 'if Ana goes, I won't,'" Kay said, "because Ana always said something curt towards her."
In 1984, Diana's most notable slight to Anne was that the now-late princess refused to invite Anne to be Prince Harry's godmother. In return, Ana decided not to attend Harry's christening, although the official palace excuse for the princess's absence was that she was hosting a shooting party at Gatcombe Park and she was unable to leave her guests.
According to biographer James Whitaker, the palace statement "did not fool anyone." And he continues: “there was no affection between the two women. They had very little in common and Ana was irritated by Diana and the constant press coverage of her clothes and her charm. When it was suggested to Diana that she could have Ana as a godmother to any daughters she might have, she replied: 'I just don't like (Ana). She may be wonderful doing her charitable work for Save the Children and other foundations, but I can do it too. "
Although Anne was not Harry's godmother, the princess supported the prince at a critical moment. Tina Brown wrote in her biography of Diana that, after Diana's death in 1997, “Princess Anne was especially kind to Harry, whose fragility was manifest. She would take him alone to explore the Balmoral countryside on foot and on horseback. "
