It might be almost impossible to imagine now, what with Princess Anne being such a popular and respected royal figure, but her first official visit to the United States apparently didn’t go as swimmingly as she could’ve hoped.
Princess Anne joined her brother, King Charles, for a two-day visit to Washington D.C in 1970. They were branching out on their own after joining their parents, the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, on a trip to Canada beforehand.
After an official welcome to the White House by then-President Richard Nixon, the royal siblings had quite the packed itinerary – but the press focused on Anne’s facial expressions, going as far as to allegedly dub her “Princess Sourpuss”, per the Express, for not smiling more.
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According to the publication, royal author Penny Junor had also commented on the visit in 2021, suggesting the Princess Royal was considered “sulky” and alleging that she snappily told a journalist, “I don’t give interviews.”
Revisiting the ill-fated trip for the Channel 5 documentary, Princess Anne: A Quite Remarkable Royal, journalist Victoria Murphy said, “This trip was actually quite challenging because she got some negative press as a result of this trip from the US media. They were quite quick to pick up on the fact that she wasn’t smiling very often.”
“They thought that she didn’t look like she was enjoying herself as much as they thought she might,” she added.
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In 1970, Princess Anne was only nineteen years old and was relatively new to taking on her own royal duties. This could have contributed to the Princess Royal’s perceived “sulky” behavior, not to mention the fact the brother-and-sister duo had a lot to do during their short visit.
During their summer trip, King Charles and Princess Anne packed in visits to the Lincoln Memorial, Mount Vernon and the Smithsonian Institution’s Space Museum, as well as a barbeque at Camp David.
There was also a baseball game and the visit culminated with a grand White House Dinner and Dance attended by 700 people, hosted in honor of the royals by the President and Vice President’s children, Julie Nixon, Tricia Nixon and David Eisenhower.
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“This was one visit early on in Princess Anne’s royal career and she’s now got thousands of engagements under her belt,” says woman&home’s Royal Editor, Emma Shacklock. “For her, it’s always been about the job and the causes she’s raising awareness for, not the ‘glamour’ of being royal, as many perceive it.”
She adds, “I can imagine that having the scrutiny of the press on her, criticising her appearance, was a challenge as it would be for anyone. She’s certainly put this visit behind her, earning the admiration of so many ever since.”
While Princess Anne might not have won over the press during this visit, President Nixon was much more taken by the royals.
He said of the visit, “The fact that the visit is a personal visit and not an official visit is an indication of the closeness between the United States and Great Britain and the British Commonwealth, and also between the family in this house and the family in London.”
