Princess Anne says she has no memory of the accident that put her in hospital with concussion last summer.
It was believed to be caused by a horse, but the Princess Royal says she recalls “nothing” of the incident on her Gatcombe Park estate that led to a five-night hospital stay.
Speaking to the Press Association on a trip to South Africa, she said it had taught her that “every day is a bonus”.
The princess, who will be 75 later this year, also ruled out retirement, saying: “It isn’t really an option”.
There was uncertainty last June about what had happened to her when she was treated in hospital for what Buckingham Palace described as “minor injuries and concussion”.
Her medical team had described her injuries as being consistent with the type of impact from a horse’s legs or head.
Princess Anne says she has no memory of the incident on her Gloucestershire estate: “No, nothing.”
“I know where I thought I was going and that was to go to the chickens, no, nothing to do with horses.”
Seeing the chickens was “my regular visit, I don’t have any idea what I was doing in the field, because I never normally went that way.
“It just reminds you, shows you – you never quite know, something [happens] and you might not recover.”
Emergency services had been called to the estate after the accident and the princess was taken to Southmead Hospital in Bristol.
She had to temporarily step down from royal duties while she recovered, missing a planned trip to Canada and the Japanese state visit to the UK.
Princess Anne commented on realising she might have had a near miss with more serious problems.
“You’re jolly lucky… if you can continue to be more or less compos mentis [of sound mind] and last summer I was very close to not being.
“Take each day as it comes, they say.”
She said there were no lasting ill-effects, but added: “You are sharply reminded that every day is a bonus really.”
Princess Anne, sister of King Charles and one of the busiest of the “working royals”, has no plans to retire.
“I don’t think there’s a retirement programme on this particular life,” she said.
“It really isn’t written in, no. It isn’t really an option, no, I don’t think so,” the princess said of any plans to cut back on her working life.
Princess Anne carried out a two-day visit to South Africa this week.
It included a ceremony recognising the overlooked efforts of black South Africans who died during World War One, working as labourers rather than combatants.
Laying a wreath at the Cape Town Labour Corps Memorial she honoured 1,700 who had lost their lives, working in tough conditions, and whose sacrifices had often not been recognised.
“This memorial is a reminder of a shared but sometimes difficult past,” said Princess Anne.
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