Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Princess busiest royal – thanks to her fishy diet
PRINCESS Anne’s fondness for an old-fashioned dish is helping her stay fit and healthy enough to maintain her title as the busiest member of the royal family, says an expert.
Despite being well over retirement age, the Princess Royal carried out more engagements than any other member of the Windsor clan last year.
And many who met her on the 387 official engagements she attended last year, marvelled at how the 71-year-old managed to stay so trim and energetic at the age of 71.
An expert says it is her diet, which includes a fondness for kippers, and her busy lifestyle that keeps her going at an age when many others would be putting their feet up at her Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire.
“We know that the Princess is also a fan of smoked herring - a great protein-rich dish,” Charlotte Norton, medical director at The Slimming Clinic told The Express.
“As we grow older, we are in danger of losing muscle mass protein helps with weight loss efforts since it keeps you fuller for longer.
Anne, who had to self isolate over Christmas after her husband Sir Timothy Laurence tested positive
The fact that Princess Anne exemplifies good health shows that she must lead an active and healthy lifestyle CHARLOTTE NORTON
for Covid-19, clearly chooses wisely when attending official banquets and dinners.
She is also careful when at home in Gloucestershire and is known to enjoy blackened bananas at breakfast.
Her fondness for the oily fish, which is high in Omega 3, was revealed when a complimentary letter she sent to Fortune Kippers, a 140-year-old company based in Whitby, was made public.
The quintessential British kipper, a whole herring split in a butterfly fashion and smoked, was popular in the Victorian and Edwardian era but fell out of fashion in the 1970s.
Anne’s taste for them should not come as any surprise because the Queen is also known to be partial to kippers and smoked haddock for breakfast and supper.
But Ms Norton believes the royal does more than just cutting the calories by avoiding sugary foods to stay so healthy.
“At any age, maintaining a healthy weight is always important; however, as people get older it does get more difficult,” she said.
“The fact that Princess Anne exemplifies good health shows that she must lead an active and healthy lifestyle.”
But it’s clear that she isn’t a foodie. The MailOnline once claimed that at dinner parties she serves whatever “defrosts the quickest,” with boiled potatoes and either peas or green beans, followed by a choc ice.
But when she guest edited Country Life in 2020 she said one of her favourite supper dishes is devilled pheasant, which is a little more grand.
Whatever she eats is clearly working for her because Princess Anne won back the crown for the hardest-working royal in 2021 after Prince Charles pinched it from her in 2020.
According to an analysis by The Times she carried out two more engagements than her big brother who was runner-up.
Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, had 235 official engagements, Prince Edward 204 and his wife, Sophie, Countess of Wessex, carried out 194.
The Queen, who will be 96 in April, carried out 184 engagements, many of which took place virtually or over the phone.