Princess Anne, the younger sister of King Charles III, was released from hospital on Friday, five days after suffering a concussion and other injuries in an accident at her country residence northeast of Bristol, England.
Anne, 73, was hospitalized Sunday after the incident, according to Buckingham Palace, which announced her release. Officials have been vague about what happened but have said they believe it involved some sort of collision with the horses at the estate, Gatcombe Park. It was not clear whether Anne remembers the incident or whether she witnessed it.
On Monday, the palace said Anne would “make a full and rapid recovery” and was being treated at Southmead Hospital as a “precautionary measure for further observation”. But her husband, Timothy Laurence, who visited her a day later, acknowledged that her recovery, while steady, had been “slow.”
In a statement on Friday, Mr Laurence said: “I would like to express my sincere thanks to the entire team at Southmead Hospital for their care, expertise and kindness during my wife’s short stay.”
The palace said Anne would return to public duties on the advice of her doctors, but gave no timetable. The princess has postponed a trip to Canada and was not present at a state dinner for Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and his wife, Empress Masako, at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday.
The palace’s decision to offer few details about Anne’s condition or prognosis was in line with its approach to health matters for other senior members of the royal family, and it asked the media to let her recover in private. One official said she would undergo standard rehabilitation for someone who has suffered a concussion.
Anne is an accomplished equestrian who competed for Great Britain at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. The palace said her injuries were consistent with forceful contact with the legs or head of a horse.
Anne’s sidelining is another blow to the royal family, which is grappling with the illnesses of two of its most visible members, Charles and Catherine, Princess of Wales, who have both been diagnosed with cancer.
Anne is considered one of the hardest-working royals, typically attending more than 400 official events a year. Her workload has increased as the family’s ranks have been thinned by the deaths of Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip; the illnesses of Charles and Kate; and the bitter family rift with Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, who moved to California.