Why Princess Anne chatted with Prince Harry at the Coronation, despite being "furious" with him: royal expert

She was being diplomatic

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex speaks to Princess Anne, Princess Royal during the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey on May 6, 2023 in London, England. The Coronation of Charles III and his wife, Camilla, as King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the other Commonwealth realms takes place at Westminster Abbey today. Charles acceded to the throne on 8 September 2022, upon the death of his mother, Elizabeth II.
(Image credit: Photo by WPA Pool / Getty)

Prince Harry and Princess Anne made headlines after the Coronation, when they were pictured seemingly having a lovely chat and laughing together before the ceremony began.

But according to one royal expert, the aunt and nephew pair might not be on especially wonderful terms despite being able to have a pleasant conversation with each other.

"Princess Anne is is a very straight down the line and blunt sort of person," Jennie Bond explained to OK!.

"She says what she thinks she doesn't pretend anything."

With that said, of course everyone who attended the Coronation was on their best public-facing behaviour — Harry and Anne included.

"The Coronation was a very public event and Harry was there where she was going to be sitting right in front of him with that red plume in her hat that was going to obscure his view," Jennie explained.

"It was entirely natural to stop and chat with her nephew with whom, I think, she got on pretty well over the years, rather than cause some kind of public public scene."

Unfortunately, Jennie believes that there are still some hard feelings on the Princess Royal's end.

"It was better to be amiable but I am quite sure that deep down Anne has been absolutely furious with Harry for upsetting her mother, his grandmother, so much in in her last years," she said.

"And for all the allegations he's made, I'm sure she'll be very unhappy with them, but this was neither the time nor place to to discuss all that, so ... they look very relaxed together.

"She would have just put things on one side a little bit but I'm sure she is angry at the damage he's done to the royal reputation because she works so hard."

What Jennie is referring to here is Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle's decision to step back from royal life and move to California, after which both of them made many shocking revelations about the Royal Family via interviews and media projects.

Most recently, Harry shocked the world when he published his memoir Spare, which contained a whole load of stunning allegations about his father, brother and sister-in-law in particular.

Iris Goldsztajn
Iris Goldsztajn is a celebrity and royal news writer for Marie Claire. As a London-based freelance journalist, she writes about wellness, relationships, pop culture, beauty and more for the likes of InStyle, Women's Health, Bustle, Stylist and Red. Aside from her quasi-personal investment in celebs' comings and goings, Iris is especially interested in debunking diet culture and destigmatising mental health struggles. Previously, she was the associate editor for Her Campus, where she oversaw the style and beauty news sections, as well as producing gift guides, personal essays and celebrity interviews. There, she worked remotely from Los Angeles, after returning from a three-month stint as an editorial intern for Cosmopolitan.com in New York. As an undergraduate at the University of California, Los Angeles, she interned at goop and C California Style and served as Her Campus' national style and LGBTQ+ editor. Iris was born and raised in France by a French father and an English mother. Her Spotify Wrapped is riddled with country music and One Direction, and she can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.