Princess Anne has cautioned the younger generation of royals not to “reinvent the wheel” as they seek to change the royal family’s tried and tested approach to philanthropy.

Speaking to Vanity Fair in a rare interview to mark her upcoming 7oth birthday, the Princess Royal described herself as “the boring old fuddy-duddy at the back saying ‘don’t forget the basics’.”

Her comments were made after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced plans to carve out progressive new roles before stepping down as working royals.

In a message that appears to be directed at her nephews, William and Harry, and their respective wives, Kate and Meghan, Anne told the interviewer, Katie Nicholl: “I don’t think this younger generation probably understands what I was doing in the past and it’s often true, isn’t it?

“You don’t necessarily look at the previous generation and say, ‘oh, you did that?’ or, ‘you went there?’

“Nowadays they’re much more looking for ‘oh, let’s do it a new way’. And I’m already at the stage [of] ‘please do not reinvent that particular wheel. We’ve been there, done that. Some of these things don’t work. You may need to go back to basics’.”

Retirement was not on her agenda, she said, which will come as good news to the Queen, given the absence of the Sussexes and the Duke of York stepping back from public duties following the fallout over his friendship with the disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein.

She said: “I don’t think retirement is quite the same [for me].

“Most people would say we’re very lucky not to be in that situation because you wouldn’t want to just stop.”

Anne represents more than 300 charities and military organisations, and last year carried out more than 500 engagements.

One thing she appears to agree with the Sussexes about is their decision not to give their son, Archie, the title HRH. She eschewed titles for her children, Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall. “I think it was probably easier for them, and I think most people would argue that there are downsides to having titles. So I think that was probably the right thing to do,” she said.

She was famous for recycling her clothes “because I’m quite mean,” she joked. “I still try and buy materials and have them made up because I just think that’s more fun. It also helps to support those who still manufacture in this country.” She seldom buys anything which is not made in the UK, and has a weakness for Harris tweed.

She revealed that if she had not been born a royal, she would have wanted to be an engineer. “The practicalities of how things work, I think, was always interesting as far as I was concerned. But I think it was a little bit early in the sort of scheme of things to have gone down that route.”

On rumours that the Queen wanted to host a party for her birthday on 15 August, she said: “Well, it would be nice if it were just another year passed, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

