Princess Anne, Prince Charles
Pictured: Princess Anne, Prince Charles arrive for the Garter service at St George's chapel at Windsor castle, 13 June 2005. Getty Images/Odd Andersen/AFP

Princess Anne and Prince Charles disagreed on one important matter, causing an even bigger dent in their already distant relationship.

While speaking with Express, royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams said that Princess Anne has a unique position in the royal family even though she’s not an heir to the throne. “She is, together with Prince Charles, the hardest-working member of the royal family who eschews personal publicity. She is highly respected and has a no-nonsense reputation… She and Charles, for example, disagree on GM crops,” he said.

Two years ago, the royal siblings butt heads after Princess Anne publicly showed her support for genetically modified crops and livestock, while Prince Charles had a very different stand on the matter.

Prince Charles said that GM crops could pose threats to the environment, which he has been advocating for decades. Princess Anne, on the other hand, said that she would gladly grow GM crops on her own land.

While speaking with BBC, the mom of two said, “GM is one of those things that divides people but surely if we are going to be better at producing food of the right value, then we have to accept that genetic technology is going to be part of that. I do think that in the future gene technology has got real benefits to offer, which will maybe have an occasional downside, but I suspect not very many.”

Zara Tindall’s mom added that GM crops could have real benefits to future gene technology. However, she also acknowledged the downside of GM crops but said that she doesn’t think there would be a lot.

But years earlier, Prince Charles called GM crops seeds of disaster. The future King also said that one form of clever genetic engineering after another is guaranteed to cause the biggest disaster to the environment.

Meanwhile, Prince Charles and Princess Anne didn’t grow up to be close. According to a royal expert, the siblings’ distance may be due to the manner in which they were raised by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.

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