Not b***** likely! How straight

It’s hard to imagine now, but half a century ago the reputation of the late Queen’s only daughter had all but hit rock bottom, and she was unpopular with press and public alike.

Dismissed as arrogant and entitled, Princess Anne had nothing like the reputation for diligent hard work that makes her, today, one of the most popular figures not just in the Royal Family, but the country. 

It is quite a turn-around in esteem. And it all started with an extraordinary kidnap attempt 50 years ago this month to bring it all about.

The lowest point in Anne's relationship with the public came in July 1970, one month before her 20th birthday.

The 1970 visit to the United States made jointly by Prince Charles and Princess Anne. A youthful Anne, right, told one journalist he was 'talking absolute tripe'. But her language could get much worse than that

Anne remains a gifted equestrian. But in her early days, she loathed the ever-present photographers - and made her feelings known. Here she is pictured at the Eridge Horse Trials in 1971

The aftermath of the kidnap attempt on the Mall 50 years ago this month. A lone gunman tried to abduct Princess Anne - but she resisted with the words 'not bloody likely'

Princess Anne visits police officer Michael Hills at St George's Hospital in London. He was shot in the stomach while intervening during the attempt to kidnap her

The Princess had accompanied her brother Charles on a two-day visit to Washington to meet President Richard Nixon at the White House. 

Designed to launch the princess on the world stage instead it ended up as a PR disaster. 

She told one journalist he was 'talking absolute tripe', and snapped, 'I don’t give interviews' to the rest of them. 

To be fair the American press pack was far less deferential than the Fleet Street ones she grew up with, but the damage was done, and she was dubbed ‘Princess Sourpuss.’ 

Her brother tended to fare better as she acknowledged: 

'Charles seems to be able to ignore the cameras. I can’t ever forget they are there,' she said in self-defence.

Unfortunately, she fared little better at home. She found the newly invented royal walkabouts, designed to bring royalty closer to the people, a difficult chore, allegedly telling one little boy he was 'a silly bugger'.

A noted equestrian, she also hated the ever-present photographers at horse trials. If they came to close for comfort she was famed for telling them to 'Naff off' or 'sod off' often adding a few other 'offs' for good measure. 

For most of the 1970s she became the royal whipping boy for the press. Legendary Daily Mirror agony aunt Margery Proops once compared the royal siblings in an article headlined: ‘Love Him: Hate Her!’ 

As late as 1982 the same paper commented: ‘ A tradition of the Badminton Horse Trials is that during at least one of the three days Princess Anne will lose her temper.’ 

That same summer The Times gave a scathing account of another of her visits to the USA under the ominous headline: ‘Haughty Princess puts Americans in place.’

Gradually she turned this negativity on its head and her popularity increased in three phases. The first came fifty years ago this month when a lone crazed gunman tried to abduct Princess Anne in a bizarre kidnap attempt.

Just four months after their wedding at Westminster Abbey, Anne and her first husband Mark Phillips were returning to Buckingham Palace, along the Mall, following an engagement in the City. 

Suddenly their Austin Princess limousine screeched to a halt when Ian Ball, a 26-year-old unemployed labourer, swerved his Ford Escort in front of the royal car. Ball shot four people including Anne’s chauffeur and her protection officer.

The shocking event not only led to increased security for the royals, but it also helped redefine Princess Anne’s public image.

When details of the Mall shooting emerged, Anne’s calmness in the face of danger, impressed her critics. 

She recalled the events a decade later to chat show host Michael Parkinson. Ball “said I had to go with him. I said I didn’t want to. I was scrupulously polite.' (Although in fact no-nonsense Anne had said 'not bloody likely'.) 

She remembered him shooting at the back window as the glass hit her on the head 'I thought that was a good start' and crouching on the car floor 'I literally put my feet over my head and did a backwards somersault onto the road'. 

Rather than giving an ‘oh poor me’ account, the princess had Parky’s audience in stitches when she revealed that when the gunman grabbed her arm 'the back of my dress split from top to bottom, all the shoulders went actually. That was his most dangerous moment.' 

As she also told author Brian Hoey 'it was a good new dress.' 

Clearly the would-be kidnapper had met his match. As Prince Philip joked later: 'If the man had succeeded in abducting Anne, she’d have given him the hell of a time while in captivity.'

The second phase of Anne’s popularity developed slowly during the 1980s. It was partly because in Diana, Princess of Wales the monarchy finally had its first fairy tale princess since Margaret thirty years earlier, so the press pack concentrated on the new royal star. 

Anne was left to concentrate on her own projects, making gruelling tours of Bangladesh, India, Beirut, and many parts of Africa on behalf of the Save the Children Fund. 

Rather than relying on photo opportunities to improve her image, Anne adopted a slower, more dedicated approach, until finally the press woke up to the fact that she had been doing these unglamorous, though worthy, projects, year after year.

In the 1980s Anne was left to concentrate on her own projects. She made gruelling tours of Bangladesh, India, Beirut, and many parts of Africa on behalf of the Save the Children Fund

Rather than grabbing headlines, Anne adopted a slow and steady approach to her work

Princess Anne boards a plane in Gambia, where she had been working as President of for Save The Children

Princess Anne was judged to be the most successful guest ever to appear on a Terry Wogan chat show. 'I never would have thought of her as a total natural,' admitted Wogan at the time, 'but she is a young woman who in my humble opinion has developed enormously in confidence over the last couple of years'

Princess Anne's most memorable TV appearance was on Question of Sport in 1987. She stands with the late David Coleman and Emlyn Hughes, and former England Rugby Captain Bill Beaumont

The edition was the most watched episode in the show’s 53-year history with 19 million viewers

She also revealed a warmer side to her personality on prime-time TV shows. Two years after appearing on Parkinson in Australia in 1983, she was a guest on Wogan in the UK.

Probably her most memorable TV moment was as when she joined Emlyn Hughes’s team as a panellist on A Question of Sport. 

It was the most watched episode in the show’s 53-year history, with nineteen million viewers.

The third phase rise in Anne’s popularity is the current one. Now aged seventy-three she is at a time of life when previous generations of princesses had faded out of the limelight. 

Her incredible dignity and stoicism in the days after the death of the queen, only a year after the death of Prince Philip, was widely commented on. Who will ever forget her curtseying as the late Queen’s coffin was carried into the Palace of Holyroodhouse? 

She has publicly endorsed Charles in his new role: 'You know, he is committed to his own level of service, and that will remain true,' as well as praising Camilla as queen consort. 

Last May Anne was given a starring role at the Coronation, leading 6,000 members of the armed forces from Westminster Abbey back to Buckingham Palace in her ceremonial role as Gold-Stick-in Waiting. 

A month later she was again on horseback alongside her brother Edward and nephew William at the Trooping the Colour ceremony.

The Princess Royal curtsies as she is carried into the Palace of Holyroodhouse in September 2022

This spring her contribution to the family firm has been highlighted time and again. Along with Camilla she has unexpectedly been the public face of the monarchy at a whole range of engagements in the absence of Charles and Kate, and for a time, of William too.

Anne’s never sought praise but she must be delighted when family members publicly voice their admiration for her. 

Zenouska Mowatt, Princess Alexandra's granddaughter, has said: 'Ask anyone about the Princess Royal and there would be a resounding show of support for the dedication and hard work she puts into her role. She does it with such ease; she is an inspiration and a superhero figure, really.'

More importantly for Anne’s legacy is how she was won a new set of royal fans. Generation-Z has developed an obsession with her. 

Princess Anne arrives at Westminster Abbey for the Coronation on May 6, 2023. Princess Alexandra's granddaughter, Zenouska Mowatt, has said: 'Ask anyone about the Princess Royal and there would be a resounding show of support for the dedication and hard work she puts into her role. She does it with such ease; she is an inspiration and a superhero figure, really.'

Born after Anne had already been a working royal for three decades the TikTok generation adores the princess’s deadpan sense of humour, her fondness for wearing outfits older than both them and their parents, and her no-nonsense approach to royal duties. 

Her blunt response to the Mall attack, 50 years ago, is also in their list of Anne likes.

'I nearly lost my temper with him,' she had later said. 'But I knew that if I did, I should hit him, and he would shoot me,' 

One Gen-Z fan recently responded with: 'She really slays me!'

Which, for those of us from the 20th century, means she’s now a bit of a legend.