Angela Rippon denied rumours of affair with Princess Anne’s husband

The veteran newsreader, 76, carved out a career as a presenter at the BBC and has decades of experience at the public broadcaster. Angela co-presented the first two series of “Top Gear” and has since gone on to work for Channel 4 and other networks. One of the presenter’s most recent roles has seen her lend her authoritative voice to the BBC’s “The Wall”. Angela is the questions master for the popular quiz programme, which is presented by Danny Dyer.

This evening however, the presenter will get the chance to put her own general knowledge to the test as she appears on ITV’s “Tipping Point: Lucky Stars”.

Host Ben Shephard will quiz Angela alongside her fellow celebrities, “Soccer Saturday” host Jeff Stelling and Radio 1 DJ, Matt Edmondson.

The trio will be hoping for a £20,000 pay-out from the giant arcade-style coin pusher, with the cash to be donated to the charity of their choice.

Angela was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s 2017 New Year Honours list for her services to dementia care.

The presenter is an ambassador for Alzheimer’s Society, a charity for people with dementia and their carers.

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However, despite Angela’s royal recognition for her important work, her association with the Crown has not always been cast in a positive light.

The presenter once denied that she had been having an affair with Princess Anne’s first husband, Captain Mark Phillips.

Angela was caught in a swirl of newspaper reports about her alleged affair with the decorated equestrian as she wrote a book about him in the 1980s.

The newsreader had visited Mark for the book at his and Anne’s Gloucestershire estate Gatcombe Park, fuelling rumours of an affair.

She opened up about how she had denied their relationship in a 2006 interview with The Scotsman.

She said: “Suddenly the papers were full of these stories that I was having an affair with Captain Phillips.

“I was spending a lot of time with him so these dirty minded reporters decided we must be having an affair.

“I went through the most dreadful time. It was so sexist – the worst of the tabloids at work.

“It was deeply embarrassing and incredibly upsetting. I was there doing a professional job.

“It was one of the most awful times of my life - really creepy.

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“I had my lawyer look very hard at everything in the papers about it.

“They wouldn’t have got away with it today. Since then the law has changed, but back then I couldn’t even sue them for libel.”

Mark Phillips married Princess Anne in 1973, before the couple divorced in 1992 after their relationship had suffered years of strain.

The former army captain was part of Great Britain’s gold medal-winning riding team at the Munich Olympic Games in 1972.

Mark shared a love of horses like his ex-wife Anne, who herself competed at the 1976 Montreal Games – the first royal to go to the Olympics.

Mark’s glittering 20 year-year riding career was chronicled in Angela’s book, “The Man and His Horses”.

Published by David & Charles Limited in 1982, the book sees Mark open up about his love for Anne, as well as the ups and downs of competition riding.

Tipping Point: Lucky Stars is on ITV on Saturday from 5pm-6pm.