Princess Anne switched up her signature style in a shocking twist — of her hair!
On July 8, King Charles’ sister wore her hair in a new way for the first time in decades at the state banquet honoring French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, at Windsor Castle.
The diplomatic dinner capped the first night of the couple’s three-day state visit to the U.K. and Princess Anne, 74, served a style surprise by sporting a new hairstyle.
The Princess Royal wore her hair in a chignon in lieu of a bouffant, deviating from the voluminous hairdo that’s considered a hallmark of her signature style.
Cameras caught a shot of the back of her head as she arrived behind Prince William and Kate Middleton, showing it swept back in a different way than she usually wears it.
Princess Anne topped the surprise style with the diamond Festoon Tiara, adding some glimmer with the sparkler she’s owned since 1973.
Queen Elizabeth’s only daughter started wearing her hair in a bouffant in the mid-1980s and never looked back. The Princess Royal seemingly adopted the style as her signature and has continuously worn her hair that way for public appearances until the present day.
Princess Anne may have adopted the bouffant as a reliable go-to style, which aligns with her no-nonsense approach to royal duty. The King’s sister is regularly ranked as the “hardest-working member” of the royal family by count of official engagements each year.
The royal addressed her signature look after Erin Doherty, the actress who portrayed her as a teenager in the Netflix series, said it could take up to two hours to recreate Princess Anne’s iconic updo.
In the 2020 documentary Princess Royal: Anne at 70, Princess Anne revealed the short amount of time it takes her to do her hairstyle.
“Actually, I read an article the other day about the — I don’t watch Netflix and The Crown, but the actress was talking about how long it took them to do their hair like I did. And I’m thinking, ‘How could you possibly take that long?’ I mean, it takes me 10 or 15 minutes,” Princess Anne said then.