Medical staff reveal the only members of the Royal Family Princess Anne will listen to in hospital

It was only when key members of the Princess's inner circle were drafted in that she was able to take their sage advice in hand - but once she went home, nurses were handed a generous thank you gift.

One nurse said: "She wasn't a good patient... [She] thought she wasn't really ill and constantly wanted to get up and go home.

"The best advice is to keep her husband, Sir Tim Laurence, or one of the children [Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall] on hand," the medical worker told the Mail.

"They're the only people who can tell her to behave.

"Once she was home, she was generous with thank you notes, flowers and a charitable donation."

It will come as no surprise, then, that the first family member spotted rushing to Princess Anne's side after she suffered minor head injuries and concussion from an impact from a horse's head or legs on Sunday was Sir Tim.

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Yesterday, the former Royal Navy officer was seen paying his wife of 32 years a visit in hospital after her equine run-in late on June 23 on the pair's Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire.

Just after midday on Tuesday, Sir Tim arrived at nearby Bristol's Southmead Hospital - where the royal couple shared lunch together as Anne stepped up her recovery.

The Princess Royal's husband could be seen stepping out of a navy blue Range Rover wearing beige chinos, a blue shirt and a navy blazer as he walked past members of the public outside the hospital.

Buses were waiting outside the building as he and his security detail parked up and patients, visitors and hospital staff were milling around on the pavement.

Upon leaving the facility, Sir Tim said the Princess was "doing fine, slow but sure" - and when asked if he had brought anything to his wife, he replied: "Just a few little treats from home."

Then, later, Zara Tindall visited the hospital for more than an hour on Tuesday afternoon, leaving just before 5.30pm.

On arrival, she walked at pace to the main entrance wearing sunglasses and a blue denim shirt and shorts.

As she exited the building towards her Mercedes, she smiled at reporters - but declined to comment on Anne's condition with a wave.

The Olympic horsewoman and her brother, Peter Phillips, were on the estate when Anne was injured but it is not known who raised the alarm.

Emergency services had flocked to Gatcombe Park - including an air ambulance - though Anne did not require airlifting to hospital, instead making the 50-minute journey by road for appropriate treatment.

A Buckingham Palace statement on Monday said: "The Princess Royal has sustained minor injuries and concussion following an incident on the Gatcombe Park estate yesterday evening.

"Her Royal Highness remains in Southmead Hospital, Bristol, as a precautionary measure for observation and is expected to make a full and swift recovery.

"The King has been kept closely informed and joins the whole Royal Family in sending his fondest love and well-wishes to The Princess for a speedy recovery."