Journalist Kate Thornton has opened up about her youthful encounter with Princess Anne, recalling the time when, as a 10 year old, she was overwhelmed with emotion at Gatcombe Park.
On The Royal Beat, Thornton reminisced about how Princess Anne, now 74, offered her consolation when young Kate was tearful during their meeting.
Thornton had the opportunity to meet the Princess Royal after partaking in a sponsored silence to fundraise for Save The Children. Reflecting on the royal’s compassionate response to her distress over feeling overweight in her school dress, the TV presenter shared intimate details of an eventful year for Anne, who has stepped up her Royal engagements amidst health concerns for King Charles and Princess Kate.
Princess Anne has been notably active, stepping in for her brother at big events, such as commemorating the 80th anniversary of Operation Market Garden in the Second World War.
Describing the momentous meeting, Thornton said: “I had the great pleasure as a school girl to meet Princess Anne. I’d raised some money for Save The Children by taking part in a sponsored silence…I don’t think I was more than 10.”
“We get to Gatcombe Park and I was quite chubby as a child and I was bawling my eyes out on the way there in this school dress with a belt that wouldn’t do up and I thought ‘I’m going to meet a princess and I’m overweight’. And the local paper were covering it.
“Anyway, we get to Gatcombe Park, go in and were greeted by Princess Anne who just took one look at me and said, ‘Are you OK? ‘ [as] she could see I had been crying. And I just said ‘I’m just so fat! ‘ and I cried my eyes out and she put her arm around me and sat me down and said ‘You look splendid!’
“And I said ‘And your house smells of dog!’ and she just laughed and she could not have been lovelier so my experience of a real-life princess was really quite maternal.”
Recently, Anne attended a ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands. Royal enthusiasts inundated her with compliments in response.
One fan penned on X: “There is no one more deserving to represent her brother. It’s an overused term, but Princess Anne is a national treasure and a great asset to her nation.”
Another remarked enthusiastically: “Princess Anne works longer and harder than anyone else in the [Royal Family]. She would have made an outstanding Queen like her mother and grandmother.”
During the commemorative event, where she spoke on behalf of King Charles III, Princess Anne highlighted the significance of the military operation and discussed her own service.
Speaking of the historical event, Anne shared: “Eighty years ago, on this very weekend, Operation Market Garden was underway in this region of the Netherlands.
“An ambitious joint airborne and ground forces operation designed to seize crucial bridges to enable the advance into Germany, its ultimate aim was to end the war within a matter of months.
“The friendships made during those difficult days of September 1944 between the Dutch and their liberators continued after the war.
“I saw this for myself five years ago when, as Colonel in Chief of the Parachute Regiment, I attended the 75th anniversary commemorations.”