In Aesop’s 600BC fable, the humble tortoise wins our hearts by plodding on without fanfare or pride – while the bullying, arrogant hare gets his just desserts. Certainly Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle would be pigeon-holed as ‘hares’ by the Greek storyteller, a slave who won his freedom to advise kings and powerful city-states. 

Andrew is often branded “arrogant” by those who worked under him or protected him, while the Sussexes appear impossible to please – parting ways with 12 different communication directors in just five years. But Anne, the Princess Royal? Now I mean this in the most flattering way possible – she’s Aesop’s tortoise, and scenes from Christmas Day prove it.

As the Royal Family did their annual Yuletide walkabout at Sandringham outside St Mary Magdalene Church, a keen onlooker presented Anne, 75, with a bunch of bright yellow blooms.

The Princess Royal was walking alongside her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, when she wandered over with a huge smile and expressed her genuine shock that the lady specifically picked the flowers for her.

Surrounded by royals including the King and Queen, William and Catherine and their adorable children, she modestly double-checked: “Are you sure? I’m probably the last person standing!”

The fan gushed: “You’re the first to me every year” before explaining she had “picked” the yellow roses recalling Queen Elizabeth II was fond of them.

Anne, with a wickedly cheeky smile, responded: “You didn’t pick these yourself, did you? I was going to say, your garden is doing better than mine!”

As the fan began fumbling over her words, Anne put her at ease by laughing off her own joke and thanking her again – a clip that has garnered millions of views on social media since Christmas Day with people praising Anne for her down-to-earth demeanour.

One viewer posted: “In my opinion, Princess Anne is so humble and low-key that she doesn’t really want the attention. I think she believes it’s her duty to be there and doesn’t necessarily need or want all the accolades.”

And that is why she is the tortoise. She plods on selflessly while her errant younger brother Andrew leaves a trail of carnage and scandal in his wake.

God knows what she must think of nephew Harry making a complete arse of himself on US talk shows or Meghan showing Netflix viewers how to make jam – and selling it at $12 a jar.

No, Anne’s our tortoise and the glue in the Royal Family.

Never sell jam, keep plodding on Ma’am!