In 1971, Princess Anne – who received the title Princess Royal from her mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in 1987 – was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY), beating footballer George Best and rugby union player Barry John in a poll of ‘Radio Times’ readers. Her Royal Highness, 21, became the first member of the Royal Family to receive the accolade after winning the individual title at the European Eventing Championships at Burleigh House, Lincolnshire on her horse, Doublet, trained by Alison Oliver.
Accepting the trophy from the 1967 and 1970 winner, boxer Sir Henry Cooper, she told the audience at the BBC Television Theatre in Shepherds Bush, “I feel you’ve heard me rather a lot just recently. I can’t really think of anything else to say, except to thank the BBC on this particular occasion, and especially the viewers.” During an interview with presenter David Coleman, Anne als provoked much laughter when asked if the secret of her success was early morning exercise. She replied, “Actually, it’s late at night.”
At Burghley, having recovered from a heath scare caused by an inflamed ovarian cyst earlier in the year, Anne led after the dressage on the opening day, held on through the cross-country on day two, staged over four and three-quarter miles and what she described as “quite stiff” fences and put in a fault-free round in the showjumping on the final day to win the gold medal. In fact, British riders won all three medals, with Debbie West on Baccarat winning the silver medal and Stuart Stevens on Classic Chips the bronze. After being presented with the winning trophy by her mother and father, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, Anne was asked in an interview which day she found the most difficult. She said, “The cross-country day is always the most difficult, it’s meant to be, and it jolly well is.”
Later in her equestrian career, Princess Anne won individual and team silver medals at the European Eventing Championships in Luhmühlen, Germany in 1975. A year later, she became the first Royal to compete in the Olympic Games, riding Goodwill, owned by the Queen, at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.