Princess Anne suffers memory loss and concussion after horse accident

Princess Anne suffers from memory loss due to head injuries sustained in an accident with one of her horses.

According to the Daily TelegraphThe Queen will spend a second night in hospital following the accident at her Gloucestershire estate, Gatcombe Park, in the United Kingdom.

She was hospitalized after suffering a concussion in a suspected horse-riding accident, putting additional strain on the British royal family as the King and Princess of Wales continue to be limited in their public appearances due to health issues.

The royal’s 73-year-old sister was injured yesterday while taking a stroll around her Gatcombe Park estate in southwest England, Buckingham Palace told NZT today. The cause of Anne’s injuries was unclear, but doctors said her injuries were consistent with impact from a horse’s head or legs.

“The King has been fully informed and joins the entire Royal Family in conveying his deepest love and best wishes for a speedy recovery to the Princess,” the palace said in a statement.

The accident is just the latest health shock for the House of Windsor in recent months: Both Charles and Prince William’s wife Kate are undergoing cancer treatment.

This has limited the royal family’s ability to make numerous public appearances as Anne and Queen Camilla took on more commitments while Charles and Kate focused on their health.

We will especially miss Anne, as she was the hardest working member of the royal family over the past year.

Although she has neither the status of Charles nor the glamour of William and Kate, Anne is known for her no-nonsense approach to a busy schedule of public appearances. Anne attended 457 royal events last year, compared to 425 for the King, 172 for William and 123 for Kate, according to statistics from the Daily Telegraph.

Due to her injuries, Anne was forced to cancel her appearance at a state dinner in honor of the Emperor of Japan tomorrow and a trip to Canada planned for later this week.

“There will definitely be a gap in the royal family over the next few days,” royal expert Robert Hardman told the BBC. “But, you know, of course she needs to get well again.”

Anne has earned her status as a loyal representative of the royal family through decades of work conducting the award ceremonies, ceremonial appearances and building inaugurations that make up the modern royal hustle and bustle.

As President of the British Olympic Committee and a member of the International Olympic Committee, Anne played a key role in London being awarded the right to host the 2012 Summer Olympics, and later brought her experience as an Olympic equestrian to the committee that organised the Games.

Committee chairman Sebastian Coe praised her perseverance, once joking that she would usually have three hospitals opened by the time she showed up for one of the average lunchtime board meetings.

“The crucial thing is that she sees the world through the eyes of a competitor,” he said at the time.

Anne was herself a member of the British Olympic team in 1976 and took part in the three-day equestrian event at the Montreal Games.

She remembers the experience fondly, even though she was thrown from her horse, Goodwill, when it got stuck in the mud. Anne remounted and finished the race, but later said she had little memory of the day.

“The lights went out for me,” she said later.

Anne has always been known for speaking her mind – even in extreme situations, such as a kidnapping attempt in 1974. When the attacker opened her car door and demanded that she come with him, Ann refused.

“I said I don’t think I want to go,” she told an interviewer. “I was embarrassingly polite. I thought, hmm, it would be stupid to be so rude at this point.”

Nevertheless, Britain’s influential tabloids sometimes make fun of Anne’s simple and sober clothing, if they notice it at all. It attracts far less attention than many others.

– Additional reporting, NZ Herald