It has been claimed that Princess Anne had ‘sex appeal’ as a younger woman and did not like the restrictions that came with her life as a senior royal.
The princess royal, now 72, was described as having ‘it’ in an ITV documentary about the royal family as the love lives of the Queen’s children were put under a microscope.
Speaking of The Real Crown: Inside The House of Windsor, interior designer Nikki Haslam, 83, revealed that he once danced with Princess Anne at a party in Belgium and was blown away by her charms.
He said the princess “hated the trappings that come with being a princess” but added that he admired her taste and free spirit.
The first episode of the five-part docuseries explored Anne’s fondness for polo player Andrew Parker Bowles, who was deemed an unsuitable partner for the Princess Royal because he was Catholic.
Princess Anne (taken in Kiev in 1973) has been described as having “sex appeal” in a new ITVX documentary, The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor
Speaking to the programme, Hassan, who was one of Lord Snowdon’s male lovers, said: ‘I danced with her once at a party in Belgium and she got it.
I will tell you, it exudes sex appeal. It’s very unusual, it just smacks of it. She’s got a huge sex appeal.
A clip from the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year appeared next and showed Princess Anne revealing her sultry side.
Being questioned by the presenter about how to keep fit, she jokes about her “late night” training sessions.
Nikki Salaam claims he once danced with the Princess Royal (pictured at a reception in 1968) in Belgium and was blown away by her charms.
Interior designer Nicki, 83, who previously claimed he had a brief romance with Lord Snowdon before his 1960 marriage to Princess Margaret, was a keynote speaker at the episode.
The episode, titled Love and Duty, explores how members of the royal family were bound by strict rules imposed on their love lives that required them to choose suitable partners.
While playing a clip of a young princess chatting up Andrew Parker Bowles, a polo player, it was made clear that the pairing was inappropriate because Parker Bowles was Catholic.
“Even when their romance eventually came to an end, they remained friends for life,” King Charles biographer Sally Biddle-Smith wrote in his autobiography.
The episode then explores the relationship between King Charles and Queen Camilla when they first met and fell in love when they were young.
Elsewhere in the episode, Nikki Haslam reveals his shock that the marriage between Antony Armstrong-Jones and Princess Margaret lasted 18 years.
The documentary briefly explored Princess Anne’s close relationship with Andrew Parker Bowles, who was considered an unsuitable partner because he was Catholic.
He had previously claimed in his memoir Redeeming Features (2010) that he had a “very brief romance” with the late Earl a year before his 1960 marriage to Queen Elizabeth II’s younger sister.
“Tony was an amazing seducer,” he said, “who could seduce that leg of the table. He was so much fun, Tony, devil incarnate but charming in every way.
“He was a brat but a wonderful one, I mean a brat in the sweet sense,” says the social worker, before admitting: “I was quite surprised that it went this far, as far as the marriage (between Anthony and Margaret) is concerned.”
Lady Anne Glenconner, the late Princess Margaret’s mistress, also appears in the episode – but she has no positive words to say about the royal pair.
She says: OhAnd once the marriage started to go wrong, I was there for her when she was going through a rough time. I saw the way Tony treated her, which I didn’t like at all.
It was in Tony that he was so spiteful – and he did these terrible things. He used to leave little notes,” claims Lady Glenconner.
The socialite, 90, who was a maid of honor at Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, tells the show how one of the letters to his wife apparently read “I hate you.”
“I don’t know why he really acted like that,” admits Mrs. Glenconner, “I felt so sorry for her.”
The full series is available on Thursday 20th April on ITVX
