Princess Anne's accident last June was far more severe than publicly known, a source close to the Princess Royal has revealed. The hardest-working royal was hospitalised with a concussion after being struck by a horse at her Gloucestershire home, spending five nights in intensive care at Southmead Hospital in Bristol.
The source told The Times: "Her accident was so much worse than anyone let on and it took quite a while for her to feel herself again." Anne, 73, returned to public duties just three weeks later, nursing a bruised left eye and face concealed with heavy makeup. Prince William and Kate Middleton praised her as a "super trooper" in a rare personal message.
In an interview in January, Anne admitted she "can't remember a thing" from the incident and described a stark realisation: "You never quite know, something happens and you might not recover." She added: "Last summer I was very close to not being."
The princess returned to horseback riding in public at Trooping the Colour last month, riding Noble—a horse with a reputation for being 'naughty'. Earlier this year, she revisited the ICU to thank medics and fill in blanks about her memory loss. She told staff: "Whatever you did, it seemed to work… the recovery has been relatively straightforward."
