Olympian reveals 'sweet' exchange with Princess Anne during medal presentation

The Princess Royal is sometimes known for her frosty personality, but she was anything but cool when she presented a medal at The Winter Olympics this week.

Princess Anne was in Cortina, Italy, to present medals, including to Canadian freestyle skier Meghan Oldham.

Afterwards, Oldham, who won bronze, was being interviewed by Canada's official Olympic and Paralympic broadcaster CBC Olympics when she was asked about the chat she was seen having with the Princess Royal.

"Yeah, she was so sweet," Oldham said.

"She was just saying, 'Congratulations ... this is such a big accomplishment' and then she was also just asking me about some other events I have coming up, 'Are you competing again?'

"I was like, 'I'm competing in big air', so she just wished me luck."

Canada is part of the Commonwealth, which recognises the monarchy and King Charles as head of state, so it would have been a thrill to be presented with an Olympic medal by a member of the royal family.

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Princess Anne has been in Italy with her husband Sir Timothy Laurence.

They attended the opening ceremony of Milano Cortina 2026 on February 6, and have also been pictured cheering on the athletes at some of the events.

Of course, Princess Anne also has a long history with the Olympics.

In 1976, she became the first member of the British royal family to compete at an Olympic level when she was named in the British Equestrian Team that competed at the Summer Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada.

Her entire family, including her mother, Queen Elizabeth II, father Prince Philip, and brothers Charles, Andrew and Edward, travelled to Canada to watch her compete.

However, she suffered a serious fall during the cross-country section of the event while riding the Queen's horse, Goodwill.

While she managed to complete the course, she later recounted in an interview that "the lights went out" and she had almost no memory of the day.

The British team ended up pulling out of the three-day event after two of their horses were injured.

She did not compete in another Olympic Games.

In 1988 she was named president of the British Olympic Association (BOA) – a position she has now held for more than forty years.

She is also a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

She was director of the London Organising Committee and was involved in London's successful bid to host the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

She formally accepted the Olympic flame in Athens on behalf of London and brought it back to Britain.

Her daughter Zara Tindall is also an equestrian, and won a team silver medal in eventing at the London 2012 Summer Olympics, which was presented to her by her mother.

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