Princess Anne scoffs at The Crown actress playing her for taking two hours to perfect her haircut

Princess Anne said it takes just ‘ten or 15 minutes’ to do her hair – as opposed to the two hours actress Erin Doherty spends getting hers styled to become the royal in Netflix’s The Crown.

The Princess Royal admitted that she has seen the hit TV show documenting the life of her mother the Queen – played by Claire Foy and then Olivia Colman – and dubbed the earlier episodes ‘quite interesting’.

But Anne said she doesn’t watch The Crown any longer, and added: ‘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.’

Anne made the comments in an ITV documentary by the Daily Mail’s Robert Hardman marking her 70th birthday, and was quoted in The Times.

Actress Miss Doherty previously said in an interview with Town and Country that perfecting the Princess Royal’s hair could ‘take two hours’ and dubbed it ‘its own beast’.

Also in the documentary, Princess Anne has said she would not go on Twitter ‘even if you paid me’ as she discussed the pitfalls of trying to work through the lockdown.

Anne said she took part in virtual meetings online through the video-call app Zoom when public outings were banned but felt it was no substitute for face-to-face meetings.

‘With online technology… being in touch is one thing but it’s not quite the same,’ she said. ‘The ability to meet people, that’s what makes the difference.

‘I mean, I know what Twitter is but I wouldn’t go anywhere near it if you paid me frankly.’ 

She suggested social media was adding to the pressures already faced by younger royals such as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Sussexes. 

She added: ‘There was no social media in my day, so it probably has made it more difficult.’

In the documentary, the hard-working Princess Royal admitted she found lockdown tough but expressed sympathy with those she said had had it harder then herself. 

She was self-isolating at Gatcombe Park, her Gloucestershire residence, where she said there was ‘plenty to do’. 

But she added: ‘It is frustrating… but it’s not hard here – the idea of being stuck in a block of flats with small children, I can’t imagine how difficult that would be.’

The documentary features unseen family footage and conversations with her husband, Sir Timothy Laurence, and children Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall, who told how their mother’s decision not to give them titles had made them ‘fight harder’.

Anne: The Princess Royal at 70 is on ITV1 at 9pm on Wednesday