The other side of Princess Anne
She's the royal family's 'understated style icon'
Hello Royal Clubbers,
It's Ainhoa here with my weekly newsletter.
This week we're celebrating the birthday of one of our favourite British royals – Princess Anne!
The Princess Royal turns 74 on Thursday and in honour of her special day, I wanted to dig out an interview I did with one of her go-to designers, Ruth Guise, who owns a boutique just down the road from Anne's home in Gloucestershire.
I'm not sure about you, but when I think of the British royal family's style icons, I immediately think of the Princess of Wales (both current and former), the Duchess of Sussex, the Duchess of Edinburgh, and the like.
We know Anne is constantly crowned the hardest-working royal, but I never quite appreciated the other side of her – just how much of a fashionista she is, until I came across archive photos of her, where a young Anne's wardrobe is absolutely on point. She is, after all, the only daughter of the late Queen Elizabeth II, who was a trend-setter of her time.
It was a real delight to talk to designer Ruth, the founder and creative brains behind label Shibumi.
Ruth, who has also dressed Queen Camilla and Lady Jane Fellowes (Princess Diana's sister actually wore Shibumi to Harry and Meghan's wedding in 2018), has been working with Anne since 2019. The Princess' dresser first came into the store to have a look at Ruth's collections, before organising an appointment back at Anne's royal residence.
"She's very real," Ruth told me of the King's sister. "She doesn't feel like a 'celebrity'. She pays for everything, she doesn't expect any special treatment, and I think she likes to support small local businesses. And probably also because I'm a single mum. She feels like a woman's woman."