The 1988 Global Summit on AIDS in London was a bit of a landmark in the AIDS field at the time. As the first meeting of health ministers from around the world, it produced two important outcomes. One was World AIDS Day, an annual event to remind people of the continuing threat of HIV as well as remember those who had already been lost to it.

The other was the London Declaration on AIDS Prevention, which emphasised not only the importance of education but also the importance of protecting the human rights and dignity of people with HIV.

Sadly, no one seems to have explained the latter principles to Princess Anne, who opened the conference. Much to the organisers dismay, she decided to opine that:

“The real tragedy is the innocent victims, people who have been infected unknowingly, perhaps as the result of a blood transfusion, and the few who may have been infected knowingly by sufferers seeking revenge, but possibly, worst of all, those babies who are infected in the womb and are born with the virus.”

“People who have been infected unknowingly”? “Innocent victims”? “Sufferers seeking revenge”? Looks like she did the research for her speech in The Daily Mail and The Sun.

And who says the royal family is out of touch!