Princess Anne, the younger sister of King Charles III, was released from hospital on Friday, five days after suffering a concussion and other injuries in an accident at her country home northeast of Bristol, England.
Anne, 73, was hospitalized on Sunday after the incident, Buckingham Palace said, which announced her release. Officials have been vague about what happened but have said they believe it was related to a collision with horses on the estate, Gatcombe Park. It was not clear whether Anne remembered the incident or whether there were any witnesses.
On Monday, the palace said Anne would make a “full and rapid recovery” and was being treated at Southmead Hospital as a “precautionary measure for further observation.” But her husband, Timothy Laurence, who visited her a day later, acknowledged that her recovery, while steady, had been “slow.”
In a statement on Friday, Mr Laurence said: “I would like to sincerely thank the entire team at Southmead Hospital for their care, expertise and kindness during my wife’s short stay.”
The palace said Anne would return to public duties based on her doctors’ recommendation, but it did not give a timeline. She postponed a trip to Canada and did not attend a state dinner for Emperor Naruhito of Japan and his wife, Empress Masako, at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday.
The palace’s decision to provide few details about Anne’s condition or prognosis was in line with its approach to health issues for other senior members of the royal family, and it begged the news media to allow her to recover privately. An official said she would undergo standard rehabilitation for someone who has suffered a concussion.
Anne is an accomplished equestrian who competed for Britain at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. The palace said her injuries were consistent with hard contact with a horse’s legs or head.
Anne’s sidelining is another blow to the royal family, which is dealing with the illnesses of two of its most visible members, Charles and Catherine, Princess of Wales, both of whom have been diagnosed with cancer.
Anne is considered one of the hardest-working senior royals, routinely covering more than 400 official events a year. Her workload has increased as the family’s ranks have been thinned by the deaths of Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip; the illnesses of Charles and Catherine; and the bitter family rift with Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, who moved to California.
