The Hardy Princess is a pretty light reel. I believe Hardy "caged" it (thus, not allowing true palming) in order to protect the reel from destruction should it be dropped.
As I said, I use my Princess, and love the "ziiiinnng" when hooking up even with a small fish. But, when fishing to big fish, I go to the security of the disc drag. the "occasional" fish lost would tend to be the best fish of the trip, I think.