“It’s well known that Princess Anne and her ex-husband and father of their children, Captain Mark Phillips, rejected titles for their children,” McMahon says. “So they do not put HRH before their names. They are still in line for the throne, but the late queen’s offer of titles was firmly rejected.
Anne is Queen Elizabeth II‘s second child and only daughter, known for her sharp tongue, sense of duty, and ability to stay (mostly) scandal-free.
The 72-year-old princess is not as high profile as some of the other royals, and despite being the queen’s second-born child, she’s now far down the line of succession on the royal family tree. Yet she’s been a dutiful daughter, undertaking hundreds of official engagements a year.
“One reason why titles may have been rejected is that Mark Phillips was a commoner, and even though attitudes have changed, the ancient tradition was that children could only be designated princes and princesses if their father was a bona fide royal,” McMahon says. “The queen tried to override that, but her daughter, Anne, decided to stick with tradition.”
Koenig says that although there were reports that Mark Phillips was offered an earldom and turned it down, Princess Anne’s son said he wasn’t offered one—and didn’t want it anyway.