Princess Anne admits ‘large-scale rewilding isn’t necessarily a good idea’ – as she reflects on her friendship with ‘entertaining’ conversation partner Gerald Durrell

Princess Anne has admitted she is not sure that ‘large-scale rewilding is necessarily a good idea’ as she celebrated the 30th anniversary of a conservation charity she has supported for 24 years.

The Princess Royal, 73, is known as Britain’s most hardworking royal for good reason; she is involved with more than 300 charities, organizations and military regiments.

One of these is the Whitley Fund for Nature, which was launched in 1993 as the Whitley Awards and has since raised £20 million for around 200 conservationists in 80 countries.

Anne’s involvement with the charity is indicative of her great passion for nature, a passion she brings home to her 18th century estate in Gatcombe Park, Gloucestershire.

She said The Telegraph that she’s not sure that “rewilding at scale is necessarily a good idea – probably in the corners, but if you’re not careful you’ll rewild all the wrong things because those are the things that are more successful at growing.”

Rewilding is the process of returning an area to a wilder or more natural state. This is largely done by bringing back native plants and not disturbing their growth.

The princess said her problem at home is ragwort, which many people think is ‘absolutely brilliant because butterflies love it, but it’s not good for horses’ – it is in fact poisonous.

Anne is an accomplished equestrian – a talent she shares with her daughter, Zara Tindall – and she keeps a number of horses on her estate in Gatcombe Park.

She told the newspaper: ‘I would say don’t take out all the groundsel, just where the horses are – but it’s quite a delicate balance.’

Anne has been a patron of the Whitley Fund for Nature for 24 years and credits her involvement with her brother, Prince Edward, and author and conservationist Gerald Durrell.

She grew up reading the late author’s books about his life in Corfu, and later became patron of his zoo in Jersey – part of what is now the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust – in 1972.

The royal family said: ‘He and I had similar beliefs about what Gerald did. Apart from the fact that Gerald wrote very good books, during his travels he seemed to understand better than most the impact on the populations in which animals lived and the relationship between them and their animals.

“If you’re told to save this, that and the other, that’s all fine, but have you been there? Have you ever tried living in that environment to find out what that means for them? Because the fundamental point is that unless conservation comes from the local area, it will not be sustainable.”

The Princess Royal, 73, is known as Britain’s most hardworking royal for good reason; she is involved with more than 300 charities, organizations and military regiments. In the photo: Anne in Gambia

The princess said her problem at home is ragwort, which many people think is ‘absolutely brilliant because butterflies love it, but it’s not good for horses’ – it is in fact poisonous.

Anne has been a patron of the Whitley Fund for Nature for 24 years and credits her involvement with her brother, Prince Edward, and author and conservationist Gerald Durrell (above)

Anne described Durrell as ‘as entertaining as you would imagine’.

She said his “humor, but also his understanding of the relative importance of things in other people’s lives was absolutely fascinating – and he was spot on.”

Durrell died in January 1995 at the age of 70. He was an alcoholic and successfully received a liver transplant, but later died due to complications from the surgery.

Anne’s far-reaching interview with The Telegraph comes as she paid a moving tribute to her mother as she wore Queen Elizabeth II’s Admiral’s Cloak for Choral Evensong at London’s Temple Church.

Dressed in the stunningly elegant cape that the late monarch wore in several portraits – including a famous series of photographs by Cecil Beaton – the Princess Royal read a Bible passage from 1 Corinthians.

Anne described conservationist Gerald Durrell as ‘as entertaining as you’d think’

Durrell died in January 1995 at the age of 70. He was an alcoholic and successfully received a liver transplant, but later died due to complications from the surgery.

The queen, who died last September, can also be seen in an iconic portrait by Annie Leibovitz from 2007.

Anne seemed moved by the evening service in the Temple Church, which is a royal feature – meaning it falls under the direct jurisdiction of the monarch and not the province in which it lies.

Her voice sounded confident as she read the text, which began with the words, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, yet I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.”

“And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, yet I am nothing.”

A passage from 1 Corinthians was also read during the queen’s funeral.