Why Princess Anne just hired 6 new staffers in royal shake-up

Princess Anne is looking for an office refresh!

The Princess Royal, 73, has hired six new staff members for her camp. The employees kicked off their duties on Thursday.

Colonel John Boyd is her new private secretary, officially replacing Charles Davies, who stepped down from the role.

Five new ladies-in-waiting have also made the cut.

Lady MacFarlane, Lady Elizabeth Leeming, Mrs. John Armstrong, Dolly Maude and Mrs. Simon Rhodes will now be a part of the royal’s inner circle.

Anne’s previous ladies — Lady Carew Pole, Hon Dame Shân Legge-Bourke, Dame Rowena Feilden and Mrs. Brian Hammond — have all retired.

Leeming and Rhodes were also ladies-in-waiting to the late Queen Elizabeth, who died in September 2022 at the age of 96.

The job involves being a companion to Anne during engagements and helping with daily to-dos.

Anne is one the hardest working members of the royal family — so she needs all the help she can get!

According to the Telegraph, the Court Circular calculated that Anne attended 457 engagements in 2023.

The Court Circular is the official record for counting the royal engagements that each member undertakes, going back to 1997.

Leeming is the Queen’s first cousin once removed, while Maude is a friend of Anne’s daughter, Zara Tindall.

Maude was even Zara’s maid of honor when she married her husband, rugby player Mike Tindall, in 2011.

“For the Princess Royal, it’s a perfect fit because of their shared love of dogs and horses,” a pal told the Daily Mail recently about Maude’s employment.

“She’s not only extremely close to Zara, she also gets on brilliantly with the Princess. She’s fiercely loyal and discreet. It’s a great match.”

She’s also a nurse that helped deliver Zara’s third child — a son named Lucas — in 2021.

Mike, 45, previously opened up about Lucas’ birth and Maude’s involvement on his podcast, The Good, The Bad and The Rugby.

“Fortunately Zara’s friend Dolly is, she’s actually more important than I am at making sure she’s been there at all three of my children’s births,” the athlete said.

Zara, 42, and Mike are also parents to daughters Mia Grace, 10, and Lena Elizabeth, 5.

“She was there and recognized that we wouldn’t have got to the hospital in time, so it was run into the gym, get a mat, get into the bathroom, towels down, brace brace brace!” he said of Maude.