Princess Anne Makes Triumphant Return Following Injury to Present Medals
Princess Anne has been honoured with a new title following her involvement in the Paris Olympics, where she continued her royal duties by presenting a silver medal to GB swimmer Adam Peaty.
The Princess Royal's appearance delighted her supporters, marking a graceful return just weeks after she was rushed to hospital with a head injury from being kicked by a horse.
Speaking about her return, Michael Cole told GB News: "She's a trooper. She's 73 at the moment, and she was an Olympian herself.
"She competed at the Montreal Olympics, which I think was in 1986, and she fell off a horse and was quite badly injured, but she got up and got back on. She also had a similar experience at the World Championships in Kiev."
He added: "I think that it gave the late Queen a tremendous amount of pleasure to see her daughter following in the equestrian footsteps of many other members of the Royal Family.
"It was only June 24 that she had this accident at her estate in Gloucestershire. We don't know how it happened because she says that she has no recollection of it.
"She certainly collided with a horse and sustained a concussion. Now, concussion is never a trivial matter. It's a serious matter. Your skull gets beaten up and your brain gets shaken up. She was in the hospital for four or five nights."
"She came out and said to people she was walking around her estate, and a horse and she came into collision. But she's back there doing her job."
Talking about the princess's personality, he added: "People warm to her. You know, they accept that she's very much her father's daughter.
"She's very plain-spoken. She doesn't put up with idiots."
The Princess Royal, a former Olympian herself, is in the French capital for the 142nd International Olympic Committee (IOC) session, convening to select the 2030 and 2034 Winter Olympics.
Both Zara Tindall and her brother, Peter Phillips, were on the estate when Anne was injured, though it is not known who raised the alarm.
During her stay in the hospital, it emerged that Anne would only listen to three family members in a sensational reveal by a medical worker who treated her at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary when she sustained a chest infection in 2016.
"The best advice is to keep her husband, Sir Tim Laurence, or one of the children [Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall] on hand... They're the only people who can tell her to behave," the staff member told the Daily Mail.
