Princess Royal offers advice to yachting hopefuls in South Africa

The Princess Royal offered sage advice to yachting hopefuls vying for a place in a prestigious transatlantic race – you will have to learn to live together.

Anne, a keen sailor, chatted to the group of young women hoping to be picked for Royal Cape Yacht Club’s (RCYC) entry to Cape2Rio – which sets off later this year with vessels racing between the two famous cities.

Jennifer Burger, manager of the sailing academy at the RCYC in Cape Town, said: “She said to the girls ‘you’re all going to have to learn to live together on the boat’.

“She said she was never allowed to sail dinghies and she windsurfed for fitness.”

Anne’s visit came during the final day of a two-day visit to South Africa and she also toured the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, which keeps alive the memory of the former archbishop of Cape Town awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1984 for his opposition to apartheid in South Africa.

The princess last visited South Africa in 2012 to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee, and she also toured the South African Astronomical Observatory.

It was built in the 1820s after George IV authorised the British Admiralty to establish a royal observatory at the Cape of Good Hope, to provide accurate star positions to help ships navigate the treacherous waters around the Cape.

Anne was shown a dome housing three telescopes, the largest was a 24-inch refractor, and she was given a demonstration of the floor being raised so astronomers could see through the eye piece.