Princess Anne’s reputation as the hardest-working royal was on full display during her flying visit to our shores.
WATCH: Princess Anne visits the Royal Sydney Easter Show in 2022
Hours after arriving, the 71-year-old formally opened the 200th Sydney Royal Easter Show.
Joined by her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, Anne also paid a heartfelt visit to the NSW Rural Fire Service headquarters.
There, she spoke to the families of the volunteer firefighters who were among 34 people killed in the Black Summer bushfires.
Anne’s visit Down Under follows whispers that Prince William and Kate Middleton may be making a trip to Australia following the bad press they received off the back of their trip to Belize, Jamaica and The Bahamas.
“William and Kate have never put a foot wrong in Australia, so it would be a smart move to recapture the public’s goodwill towards the monarchy, especially if they time it for right after the Queen’s Jubilee in June,” a palace insider told New Idea earlier in the month.
Talks of becoming a republic are stronger than ever in the Caribbean realms, and the royals are worried it could soon be the same for countries such as Canada and even New Zealand.
“Wills and Kate are anxious to keep the warm relationship with Australia and New Zealand, and the only way to do that is to get boots on the ground,” added the source.
“The couple has been wanting to do a tour Down Under for ages, but Buckingham Palace overrode them and had them visit the Caribbean instead – which is now being viewed as an error in judgement.”
Anne’s three-day trip was the first royal visit to Australia since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s 2018 tour.
The duo spent 16-days in Australia, New Zealand, Tonga and Fiji in October, just months after their wedding.
In Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah Winfrey, the couple revealed it was this trip which ultimately triggered the royal family to turn on the duchess.
“It really changed after the Australia tour,” Harry told the talk-show queen during the explosive sit-down. “It was the first time the family got to see how incredible she was at the job. And that brought back memories. To see how effortless it was for Meghan to come into the family and be able to connect with people.”
The memories the duke was referring to was those of his mother Princess Diana who had joined Prince Charles for a six-week tour of Australia and New Zealand back in 1983 with baby William in tow.
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