Take note, Prince Harry! Princess Anne is the ‘perfect’ example of a spare, royal expert claims

Princess Anne is a ‘perfect’ example of a ‘spare’ to an heir thanks to her ‘sense of duty’ and understanding of the role, a royal expert has claimed.

Speaking of the Princess Royal, 72, author Robert Hardman – who wrote Queen of Our Times: The Life of Elizabeth II – praised the King’s younger sister as being dedicated to the family, amid Prince Harry‘s explosive memoir Spare being released this month.

‘She is an example of how, even if you are clearly earmarked for a peripheral role, it doesn’t mean you can’t make a contribution,’ Robert told The Times.

The journalist also nodded to the fact that Anne’s father – the late Prince Philip – provided her with ‘solid parental guidance’.

Princess Anne (pictured with Prince Harry is 2008) is a ‘perfect’ example of a ‘spare’ to an heir thanks to her ‘sense of duty’ and understanding of the role, a royal expert has claimed

He added that a good spare in particular doesn’t pay too much heed as to what the press is saying about them, nor takes on too many projects, instead focusing on what they can do well and where they can ‘make a difference’. 

Robert remarked that Anne ‘saw the perils of royalty’ and understood the perks to her own situation, making the role her own.

The princess has managed to become a favourite among royal fans, through her work and attitude.

She was born at Clarence House on August 15 1950 and is the mother of silver medal-winning Olympic horsewoman Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips, who runs a sports management firm.

Speaking of the Princess Royal, 72, author Robert Hardman – who wrote Queen of Our Times: The Life of Elizabeth II – praised the king’s younger sister. Anne and King Charles III pictured together at their mother’s funeral last year

The princess (pictured this month) has managed to become a favourite among royal fans, through her work and attitude

Anne was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia in 1990 for her work as president of the charity Save The Children. 

A skilled horsewoman, she won the individual championship at Burghley in 1971, and was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year. The athlete also won a place in the 1976 Montreal Olympics as a three-day eventer in the British equestrian team.

In 1987, Anne was honoured by the Queen with the senior title of Princess Royal, which is traditionally, but not automatically, given by the sovereign to their eldest daughter.

It comes as Prince Harry has this month opened up about the perils of always feeling second to his brother, the Prince of Wales, in an explosive tell-all memoir. 

The athlete also won a place in the 1976 Montreal Olympics as a three-day eventer in the British equestrian team

Writing in Spare, the Duke of Sussex, 38, said he grew up knowing that he was there to give Prince William, 40, an organ donation if he needed it. 

‘I was brought into the world in case something happened to Willy,’ he said, claiming that his parents and grandparents even referred to him and his brother as the heir and the spare as a form of ‘shorthand’.  

He described his life as a ‘mission to offer a source of distraction, entertainment and, in case of need, a spare part’, such as a kidney, blood transfusion or bone marrow.

Harry, who is two years younger than Prince William, explained how this idea of ‘heir’ and ‘spare’ had been reinforced throughout his entire life. 

He said that this idea of only being in the world in case something happened to William was made ‘abundantly clear’ to him from an early age and was ‘regularly reinforced’ throughout his life.