Voluminous waves and large curls that framed her face was the hairstyle that Princess Anne chose in 1971 during a visit to Tehran.
The style echoed Jane Fonda’s hair in Barbarella, a sci-fi comedy that came out a few years earlier.
Anne, then 21 years old, caused a sensation with her high-top hairstyle.
However, for the past 40 years, the Princess Royal has mostly stuck to one familiar hairstyle: her signature beehive style.
Her favorite style (slicked back in the front and pinned back) has been her signature style since the 1980s.
Princess Anne’s voluminous Barbarella moment at a reception in Tehran in 1971
Jane Fonda portrayed as Barbarella in the 1968 science fiction comedy film.
The Princess Royal with her iconic and elegant beehive combed back in 2013
Princess Anne with her hair slicked back and up, holding her daughter Zara as she leaves hospital in 1981.
It was her favorite hairstyle after the birth of her daughter Zara in 1981, when she was photographed leaving the hospital, and it has remained her favorite ever since. Combed back from the face and pinned in the back, it was perhaps a practical choice for a new mother with her hands full.
However, before that, Anne wore her locks in many different ways.
Anne photographed as a toddler with short, tight blonde curls
The princess had blonde curls since she was a little girl and was often seen with short, unruly curls.
As a child, Anne’s hair resembled her mother’s when she was younger. Both had their wavy hair parted on the side in neat locks.
The royal as a child, around 10 years old, in 1960 holding her Welsh pony called Greensleeves in Windsor.
As a teenager, Anne experimented with different styles and had short brown hair at 17 when the blonde started to fade.
She was photographed wearing knee-high black boots and a baby blue coat with her hair up in a slightly wavy bob.
Anne Short Bob at Liverpool Street Station in 1967, aged 17
Two years later, a photograph was released to mark Anne’s 19th birthday that showed her shoulder-length dark hair in loose curls.
Earlier that same year, Anne opted for a low, slicked-back ponytail when she attended a concert at the Royal Albert Hall, a departure from her younger curls.
By the time the princess turned 20, she had grown her hair long and often wore it straight and down.
She was photographed in 1970 helping Prince Philip grill food at a barbecue and had voluminous, straight hair that reached her shoulders.
A photo released of the princess to mark her 19th birthday in 1969, of Anne with her hair styled in loose curls past her shoulder.
Anne, with her hair tied back, visiting the Royal Albert Hall in 1969, aged 19.
Anne, with long straight hair, having a barbecue with her father, Prince Philip, in 1970.
Around this time, some curls began to reappear and she was photographed with loose curls swept away from her face at the London Palladium in 1971.
She had styled her hair half up and half down, combing the front part back and letting the rest fall loose over her shoulders.
Anne was photographed in this style in 1978 when she visited the BAFTA headquarters in London and met industry experts, including television producer Peter Morley.
In a change from her straightened or beehive hair, Anne wore her hair up in a pompadour to the BAFTA Awards in 1988.
She was photographed with actor David Jason and had her hair styled and the front part styled into a curly pompadour, a hairstyle that was quite popular in the ’80s.
The royal, with her hair pulled back and down in loose curls, at the London Palladium in 1971.
Anne at the BAFTA headquarters in London in 1978 with her hair down. she is standing next to her great uncle Lord Mountbatten
The princess with her son Peter Phillips in 1978 wearing her hair as a precursor to her best-known style.
Princess Anne wearing her signature style in 1982 at an awards ceremony in London
Anne, pictured with a curly ’80s-style pompadour, talks to actor David Jason at the BAFTA Awards in 1988.
But despite all the early experiments, it is their hive that has endured.
In 2022, the woman behind Princess Anne’s hair was honored by King Charles, the Express reported.
Hairdresser, Dawn Murphy, appeared in the first King’s New Year’s Honors List and was awarded a Royal Victorian Medal.
Anne’s different hairstyles are so well known that they had to be meticulously recreated in the television series The Crown.
Actress Erin Doherty revealed it took her an hour and a half to get the royal make perfect.