HEIR SHE IS
How Princess Anne’s shrug and laugh to The Queen was all perfectly innocent
PRINCESS Anne shrugged and laughed as she was beckoned over by The Queen while meeting Donald Trump - but it was all in good humour.
The Queen's only daughter at first appeared to be having an awkward moment with her 93-year-old mother as the monarch greeted Donald and Melania Trump at a Buckingham Palace reception.
However, the hardworking Princess Royal was merely telling Her Majesty that she was the last one of the dignitaries queuing to meet her.
Her Majesty appeared to say something to her 69-year-old daughter, who shrugged in response as the other royals chuckled.
It appears that the Princess Royal joked: "It's just me" as the Queen looked to see who was next in line but lip reading experts were unable to decipher exactly what Her Majesty said.
It had earlier been thought that the Queen was expecting Anne to move forward in the line to keep things moving - and the royal didn't want to interrupt Trump who was chatting to senior royals.
Meanwhile body language expert Judi James said the Queen appeared to "wave" at her daughter, as if signalling she should come over and join in or move the procession along.
And she said the encounter between mother and daughter appeared to be "pretty good-natured".
She told The Sun Online: ";Once her greeting ritual with the Trumps is done she does appear to use a hand sweeping gesture to move the President and his First Lady along the line and Charles seems to grab his hand in a shake but the couple look keen to stay and chat with the Queen, prompting a second ushering gesture from her.
"HM is adept at quietly herding and ushering to ensure Palace events run like clockwork and her ‘shake-and-push’ handshakes are a legendary technique for getting guests to move along.
"Anne appears to be watching and laughing in the doorway and the Queen does seem to turn to her to beckon her in.
"This could be an invitation to join the group but it could also be a request to come in as the next people in the queue.
"Either way Anne just shrugs with her hands out."
HEIR AND GRACE Princess Anne - How the Queen's daughter became one of the hardest working royals
PRINCESS Anne was born in 1950 and is the Queen's only daughter.
She is known as one of the hardest working royals, but reguarly shuns the spotlight to concentrate on her role.
In 2018 alone, she completed 518 engagements, more than Prince Charles at 507 and the Duke of Cambridge at 220.
She married Olympic equestrian Mark Phillips in 1973, and suffered an unhappy marriage where they were both linked to other people.
The low point came later on, however, in 1985, when Mark fathered a love child with an art teacher from New Zealand. Predictably, the pair split four years later.
In 1974, shortly after her wedding, Anne was involved in a terrifying kidnap attempt.
The princess' limo was driving down the Mall when a car swerved in front of it, driven by desperate Ian Ball.
Ball, who was wearing a mask, shot at Anne's car as protection officers returned fire. One officer, James Beaton, was shot three times.
The attacker then got in Anne's limo and told her to get out. The ballsy princess' response? "Not bloody likely".
Eventually, Anne did get out, with Ball following close behind. However, he was then punched by a passerby, and police were able to arrest him.
He had planned to abduct the princess and demand £2m ransom from the Queen, but ended up being sentenced to life in prison and detained in a mental hospital.
Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told the Sun Online he was "fascinated" by the encounter between the Queen and Princess Anne last night.
He said Princess Anne wouldn't have been expected to be part of the official line up by the Queen or Prince Charles and Camilla.
But Mr Fitzwilliams said the royals might be considering giving the Princess Royal a higher profile.
He said: "She is one of the most hard-working members of the Royal Family.
"We have had the catastrophe with Prince Andrew and the Sussexes who have decided to give thought because they are so pressurised.
"Whether there's a plan to heighten Anne's profile, I don't know." And he said the Queen's gesture to her daughter was "charming".
He said: "Princess Anne is such a stable hand, perhaps it's time for us to see more of her.
"The royals have got to pull together in the crisis."
Princess Anne is one of the hardest working members of the royal family, carrying out 179 days of engagements in 2016 - far out numbering those conducted by other family members.
She was last night part of the reception dinner at Buckingham Palace - seen standing quietly as French President Emmanuel Macron and Canada's Justin Trudeau appeared to gossip about Donald Trump.
The hot mic moment caught the leaders joking about a "40-minute press conference"
MOST READ IN NEWS
Several NATO leaders including France's Macron and Germany's Angela Merkel are in town to celebrate 70 years of the historic alliance, which keeps millions of people around the world safe.
The world leaders last night posed for a photo with the Queen to mark the occasion.
Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle were not at the event last night, currently taking a six week break over Christmas.
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
Justin Trudeau, Emmanuel Macron and Boris Johnson are caught gossiping about Trump
Topics