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From European gold to SPOTY in three months: How Princess Anne's 'steely determination' led her to the top of her sport

Princess Anne won the BBC award 50 years ago in an unusual summer for British sport

By Rob Bagchi for The Telegraph

This year marks the 50th anniversary of an unusual summer for British sport, when two traditional front-page headliners knocked more conventional back-page stars out of the spotlight: Prime Minister Edward Heath, who skippered Morning Cloud and Britain to victory in the Admiral’s Cup during the summer recess, and the daughter of the Queen, Princess Anne, whose triumph in the European Three-Day Event Championship in September propelled her within three months to being elected by the public as BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

Remarkably the Princess’s victory at Burghley came in only her second full-scale three-day event, two months after an abdominal operation and not even three weeks after her 21st birthday for which she was obliged to fulfil numerous private and public duties.

Her horse, the eight-year-old chestnut gelding Doublet, a gift from the Queen, excelled at dressage and in persistent rain, the Princess’s skill with the reins and in the stirrups drew the praise of the equestrian correspondents for her ‘hands like silk’ and fine control with her heels and calves while the royal pack focused on her ‘English rose beauty’ and recent birthday Vogue cover shoot.

She led from the front throughout, going into the gruelling 17¾ mile cross-country in first place. After the test of memory and command in dressage, the cross-country marathon challenges the rider’s strength, balance and judgment in equal measure. As Olympic champion Richard Meade said: “Plenty of people are prepared to risk their necks racing, or out hunting in the heat of the moment but they would think twice about tackling big fences on their own in cold blood. And that’s just the sort of challenge that appeals to this utterly honest and brave young woman.”

The Princess and Doublet recorded the second best time to stay in first place, winning commendation for her ‘steely determination’, ‘hell-bent’ speed and astute response to a potential stumble at ‘the stinker of an obstacle, The Trout Hatchery Pond’ when she skilfully manoeuvred him up the steep bank after an initial struggle to get out of the water.

Her fearless, masterly ride meant that she could win with two errors in Sunday’s show-jumping but they produced a faultless round in front of 20,000 spectators and, with a slightly bashful air, received the crowd’s resounding applause and, minutes later, the Raleigh Trophy from the Queen.

The Duke of Edinburgh greeted his daughter in the sponsors’ marquee where, it was reported, she seemed surprised to find so many journalists waiting. “Don’t blame me,” said her ebullient father. “I’m only here for the beer.” She thanked him for helping her regain her fitness after surgery by dragging her “up a mountain each day” and a “lot of deck tennis on Britannia”.

Although there was some snarking from some circles in the media about her privilege and the quality of her horse deserving more credit than her skill, within equestrianism there was no such ill-considered malice. Britain, after all, were world and Olympic champions and she had already finished fifth at Badminton and beaten a field at Burghley including Debbie West, Mary Gordon-Watson, Meade and Mark Phillips.

Harvey Smith, predictably, weighed in to belittle her claims for a place in the Olympic team but he was swiftly and widely condemned even in newspapers that would normally side with his chauvinism. Perhaps that was the one benefit her royal status earned her because, as her coach Alison Oliver said, “this is a sport where money or position cannot buy success … People say Princess Anne has all the advantages - it’s not true, she has all the disadvantages. Most members of the British team train at least three hours a day. Anne is dashing all over the world carrying out royal engagements.”

An injury to Doublet at Badminton in 1972 dashed her chances of competing at the Munich Games but she was a member of the GB team at Montreal four years later where she was badly concussed after a fall but remounted and completed her round.

The team were unplaced but at London 2012 her daughter, Zara Tindall, whose world title had helped her make it a unique double by emulating her mother in 2006 to become BBC Sports Personality of the Year, won silver in the team event. Fittingly, Princess Anne, as President of the British Olympic Association, was on hand to present the medals.

If Princess Anne’s winning of the BBC award seems odd 50 years on, it did not appear so at the time: she was also voted British Sportswriters’ Association Sportswoman of the Year and won the prestigious readers’ award run by the Daily Express, still selling 3.5 million copies a day.