Princess Anne’s VERY relaxed country compound, where ex-husbands and wives are welcome to live!

She was recently voted the most popular member of the Royal family for her ferocious work ethic, dedication to duty and ‘keep calm and carry on’ attitude.

Princess Anne follows the example set by her late mother, the Queen, performing her public role uncomplainingly while carefully protecting her personal life behind the scenes.

It is in the privacy of her home in Gloucestershire that she relaxes, enjoying time with her loved ones and horse riding – a place where, she says, ‘it’s really nice to come back and just be yourself.’

Although she maintains a residence at St James’ Palace for use when in London, the rest of the time she can be found ensconced at her country home, the 700-acre Gatcombe Park in the Cotswolds.

At Gatcombe, located between the villages of Minchinhampton and Avening in Gloucestershire, the Princess Royal is surrounded by everything she loves: her extended family – complete with more than one former royal spouse – horses and bull terriers.

Where Highgrove, the home of her brother King Charles in nearby Tetbury, boasts immaculately manicured gardens and carefully curated decor, the glimpses we’ve seen of the Princess Royal’s Grade II listed home reveal it as refreshingly cosy, even cluttered. 

Her living room, seen in a photograph posted to Instagram during lockdown, is a comfortable jumble of family photographs, glass cases filled with animal ornaments, dog beds, distinctly 1970s-patterned floral sofas and garish lime green curtains.

Decidedly more rural than royal. 

And while the divisions within the King’s family are all-too-well documented, Anne’s family ties are so close that her son and daughter, Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall, still live with their children on the estate.

Even her former husband, Captain Mark Phillips, spent many years living at Gatcombe’s Aston Farm following their split and is still often to be found there.

Following Peter’s divorce from Autumn Phillips in 2021, both he and Autumn remained living in the grounds for a number of months to make it easier to co-parent their two children, Savannah and Isla.

Gatcombe has been Anne’s since 1976, when it was bought as a wedding present for her and her then-husband Captain Phillips by the Queen. Its previous owner, the former Conservative home secretary Lord Butler, sold it for between £500,000 and £750,000 – equivalent to almost £6million today.

The 18th century manor house comprises five main bedrooms, four secondary bedrooms, four reception rooms, a library, a billiards room and a conservatory, as well as staff accommodation.

Gatcombe Park, with its acres of land, was the ideal home for two dedicated equestrians. Anne won medals at the European Eventing Championships and, in 1976, became the first member of the British royal family to compete in the Olympic games, while her husband won an Olympic gold.

However, the couple’s marriage was plagued by infidelity on both sides. Phillips reportedly had ‘semi-public’ affairs with ‘society call girl’ Pamella Bordes, a Canadian public relations executive and with an anchorwoman from a British television show. In 1985, he fathered a love child with a New Zealand art teacher, Heather Tonkin.

Princess Anne, meanwhile, was romantically linked to the actor Anthony Andrews as well as her bodyguard, Peter Cross.

She and Phillips separated in 1989 and eventually divorced in 1992, the Queen’s ‘annus horribilis’ in which three out of four of her children’s marriages ended. 

That year, Princess Anne remarried to Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, a former Royal Navy officer with whom she had been involved for years.

Today, Sir Timothy helps the Princess maintain the estate, which is run as a working organic farm with a range of livestock, including breeding horses and cattle.

‘Being able to take on a place like this – for me, I’ve got to make it work,’ she has said. ‘This is not something that comes for free, this has got to pay its way, otherwise I can’t stay there.’

No wonder the back of her Range Rover is said to be full of hedge-cutting equipment.  

The princess has said she is devoted to her flock of Scots Dumpty hens and her cultivation of White Park cattle has helped an endangered breed survive.  

 

The couple enjoy watching the Scottish rugby team together and Sir Timothy has said of their similarities: ‘We are both map and chart people. We like to know where we are and see where we are going.’ 

However, Sir Timothy admits he does not share his wife’s passion for horses. ‘She grew up with horses, horses have been part of her life, but it’s not something I share with her,’ he said. ‘Sadly I’ve never been bitten by the horse bug.’

It’s perhaps their shared love for all things equestrian that has helped Anne and her first husband, Mark Phillips, to remain civil since their separation. Zara has said: ‘When they separated it was obviously sad, but the way they did it was not.’

Phillips moved to Aston Farm, the seven-bedroom farmhouse next to the Gatcombe Park estate, where he continued to live for many years with his second wife Sandy Pflueger and their daughter Stephanie, who grew up there.

Phillips has continued to be the subject of several scandals, including when he moved in with a woman 28 years his junior, showjumper Lauren Hough, after splitting from Pflueger in 2012.

Throughout it all, however, he has remained a central figure at Gatcombe. During Zara’s competitive career, he was often spotted supporting his daughter with his former wife at equestrian events.

To this day, he organises the annual Festival of British Eventing with Anne in the grounds of the Park – an event which attracts the world’s top equestrians, over 40,000 paying spectators and coverage on the BBC.

Last year, the Princess Royal made the magnanimous gesture of accompanying Zara, 41, and Peter, 44, to the wedding of Phillips’s daughter Stephanie to William Hosier at a church in Tetbury.

The Princess Royal offered another glimpse into Gatcombe when she made a broadcast during lockdown. The study seen in the background was another illustration of her practical taste, with off-white wallpaper, soft watercolour paintings and solid wood furniture. 

Just the odd small touch – a large, ornate mirror, for example – hint at a grander royal setting.  

When Zara, an Olympic equestrian – and silver medallist – married rugby player Mike Tindall, they initially lived in a £1.2 million home in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, but in 2013 they moved into Aston Farm after Zara’s father moved out. They have carried out extensive renovations and now have an impressive home gym, as well as adjoining stables for Zara’s horses.

Mike is known to get along famously with his mother-in-law, whose sharp wit is well documented. He recently revealed that he once did a ‘slut-drop’ in front of her, ripping his trousers to reveal boxer shorts with the slogan ‘Nibble my nuts’. ‘As I’ve turned around, she’s gone, “I’d rather not”,’ he said.

The Tindalls now have three children, Mia, Lena and Lucas, who was born in 2021 at home. Princess Anne helps to teach her grandchildren, including Savannah and Isla, to ride in their very own paddocks and is often seen cuddling them or holding their hands.

Autumn Phillips now has a new partner, Donal Mulryan, and Peter has a new girlfriend, Lindsay Wallace, but they all appear to be on good terms. All four were all seen attending Stephanie’s wedding last year.

Despite the clamour of children, grandchildren, an ex-husband and his partner, there is one surprising absentee from the family gatherings: Anne’s older brother and neighbour King Charles, who royal watchers suggest is not a regular visitor.

(Not that Anne spends much time at Highgrove). 

Perhaps that is due to change – as Anne’s position grows ever more prominent in the slimmed-down monarchy.

Will her careful older brother brave the dog hair and the mud at the surprisingly relaxed court of the Princess Royal?