Hilarious moment Princess Anne’s cutting insult was blared out in hot mic blunder

“She doesn’t suffer fools gladly,” Lord Sebastian Coe said. Princess Anne has long been known for her no-nonsense attitude, sometimes landing her in hot water. This was the case during a major sporting event back in 2012. As revealed by Lord Sebastian Coe, president of the International Association of Athletics Federations, the Princess Royal let her true feelings known over loudspeaker – due to the fact her mic had been left on.

According to Lord Coe, Anne did not “suffer fools gladly” during the organisation of the 2012 London Olympics. Anne, who is the President of the British Olympic Association and sits on the International Olympic Committee (IOC), accidentally let one person know exactly what she thought of them in the lead up to the event. She allegedly called someone on the IOC “probably the most stupid person in world sport”. This is said to have echoed around the room, but Anne remained unphased.

But, Lord Coe did not reveal exactly who she was talking about. Speaking on the 2020 ITV documentary, Anne: The Princess Royal at 70, he said: “The Princess Royal was on the big Committee and her contribution was seismic. “It was always to the point, she doesn’t suffer fools gladly, she doesn’t speak for the sake of speaking.” He recalled the moment as one of his favourites of all time. “I do remember after a rather long-winded interjection by one of the committee members, she had actually forgotten to turn her microphone off and she did manage to utter the immortal words, ‘I think this person is probably the most stupid person in world sport’,” he explained.

“And this echoed absolutely around the room and she never flinched. “It was as though it never happened and we just moved on, but it was probably one of my favourite moments.” Princess Anne has been known for her scathing remarks in the past. Allegedly she used to refer to Princess Diana and Sarah Ferguson as “those girls”, who were reportedly “too tabloid” for her. And she reportedly once upset a royal fan on Christmas Day, who had been waiting outside the church to greet the Royal Family as they left.

In this scenario, Iris Halfpenny handed flowers to Anne, telling her that she had arranged them herself, to which Anne said it was a “ridiculous thing to do”. Fellow Royals fan Mary Relph told the 2002 Channel 4 documentary, The Real Princess Anne: “That was a very sore point with Iris. She didn’t come for many weeks after that. “I think she was quite a bit upset over it, you know, but she didn’t come.” She added: “Anne is known to be abrupt, anyway. But I mean, that is her manner and we’ve just got to live with it.”

However, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was the Mayor of London during the Olympics, had nothing but praise for the Princess Royal. He said: “She was absolutely integral to our winning the bid for the Olympics in 2005 then did a huge job with the British Olympic Association.”