Princess Anne delivered stern instructions before undertaking an iconic royal duty and her no-nonsense approach is so *her*.
Princess Anne is famously never afraid to share what she thinks and this approach to life isn’t limited to behind palace doors. Throughout the years fans have been treated to some iconic responses from the Princess Royal and she certainly didn’t disappoint at a recent engagement. The King’s sister visited Wormwood Scrubs Pony Centre on 8th February to commemorate its 35th anniversary. Like all good celebrations this one called for a delicious cake and who better to cut some slices for the attendees than Princess Anne?
However, before she began her royal task she issued some pretty stern instructions. The moment was captured by the Daily Express’s Royal Correspondent Richard Palmer who shared a clip of it on social media.
Buckingham Palace has given representatives of the national press a rare opportunity to cover Princess Anne at one of her official engagements today. At Wormwood Scrubs Pony Centre she read instructions for everyone to eat the cake if she cut it. Who was going to argue with her? pic.twitter.com/EtTgltWBLJFebruary 8, 2024
He revealed that Buckingham Palace had given members of the national press the chance to cover Princess Anne’s visit to the Pony Centre. Readying herself to cut the cake Princess Anne, who is Vice Patron of the British Horse Society, held the knife and addressed everyone.
“I hope you’ve all had a chance to see this cake because it really is stunning,” she declared, before later adding, “But the instructions are that you will eat it if I cut it.”
Amid an outbreak of laughter from those around her, the Princess Royal continued to showcase her dry sense of humour as she reflected that it would be a kind of unwarranted “vandalism” if they were to ignore her express instructions.
“Otherwise it’s just legalised vandalism,” she said, “OK? Good, enjoy the cake!”
Princess Anne’s hilarious instructions to avoid “legalised vandalism” are brilliant and the reaction of those around her showed it went down well in person too. The Princess Royal is known for her witty quips and this particular moment might well remind some fans of another equally hilarious cake-cutting moment with her mother, the late Queen Elizabeth.
In 2021 Queen Elizabeth, the now-Queen Camilla and now-Princess of Wales attended the Eden Project's ‘The Big Lunch’ initiative where Her Majesty was presented with an impressive cake. She was given a sword to cut it with by the Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall and then said briefly, “I don’t think this is going to work.”
An aide then informed the Queen that there was a knife ready for her use instead, to which Queen Elizabeth hilariously responded, “I know there is, but this is something that is more unusual”.
The reaction delighted everyone there and she did cut through the cake with the sword - with a little assistance from Queen Camilla. It seems bringing a sense of humour to cake cutting is something that Princess Anne has in common with Queen Elizabeth.
As Richard Palmer put it in his post, “Who was going to argue with her?” after Princess Anne gave her instructions. This hilarious moment will likely become just as iconic as many of her other witty reactions and it's definitely one of our favourite royal cake-cutting moments.
