https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/princess-annes-swipe-meghan-markle-21872248?utm_source=mirror_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Mirror12at23&utm_campaign=daily_newsletterPrincess Anne's 'swipe' at Meghan Markle and Harry 'please don't reinvent the wheel'
In a new interview with Vanity Fair, Princess Anne spoke about how the younger generations including Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, and Kate Middleton are approaching the roles in the Royal Family
By Zoe Forsey Lifestyle Editor
16:05, 15 APR 2020 Updated16:14, 15 APR 2020
Princess Anne appeared to offer Prince Harry and Meghan Marke some advice in a new interview, saying it's sometimes you need to "go back to basics". Princess Royal, who is Harry's aunt, spoke about the younger members of the Royal Family as she opened up about her life in The Firm to Vanity Fair. Anne, who is the hardest-working member of the family and carried out more than 500 engagements last year, expressed concern at younger generations trying to do things in 'new ways' saying "please do not reinvent that particular wheel". She chatted with the magazine a month after Meghan and Harry revealed their plans to step down as senior royals and give up their HRH titles. Although she didn't name any royals in particular, she described the different ways of doing things. She described herself as "“the boring old fuddy-duddy at the back saying, ‘Don’t forget the basics", adding: “I don’t think this younger generation probably understands what I was doing in the past and it’s often true, isn’t it? You don’t necessarily look at the previous generation and say, ‘Oh, you did that?’ Or, ‘You went there?’
"Nowadays, they’re much more looking for, ‘Oh let’s do it a new way.’ And I’m already at the stage, ‘Please do not reinvent that particular wheel. We’ve been there, done that. Some of these things don’t work. You may need to go back to basics.’ "
Anne, who turns 70 in August, also spoke about her decision not to give her children Zara and Peter HRH titles, a choice Meghan and Harry also made after Archie was born. She said: “I think it was probably easier for them, and I think most people would argue that there are downsides to having titles. So I think that was probably the right thing to do.â€Â
In the interview, Anne also revealed the burning ambition she could never achieve because of her gruelling duties as a member of The Firm. She admitted she'd always been interested in a more practical career than the one she was born into, and believes she would have been an engineer had she not been of royal blood. Instead, as patron of Women Into Science And Engineering, she's made a point of encouraging more young women to look into a career in STEM subjects.
