Anne, Princess Royal
Anne, Princess Royal is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of King Charles III. Born third in the line of succession to the British throne, she is eighteenth in line as of 2026. She has held the title of Princess Royal since 1987.
Born at Clarence House, Anne was educated at Benenden School and began carrying out official royal duties in early adulthood. A distinguished equestrian, she won one gold medal at the 1971 and two silver medals at the 1975 European Eventing Championships. In 1976, she became the first member of the British royal family to compete in the Olympic Games. She has been a member of the International Olympic Committee since 1988.
Anne undertakes engagements and official duties on behalf of the monarch and serves as patron or president of more than 300 organisations, including WISE, Riders for Health, Carers Trust, and Transaid. Her charitable work focuses primarily on sport, science, disability, and health in developing countries. She has been closely associated with Save the Children for over fifty years and has visited numerous projects supported by the organisation worldwide.
In 1973, Anne married Captain Mark Phillips; the couple separated in 1989 and divorced in 1992. They have two children, Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall. Later in 1992, she married Commander Sir Timothy Laurence, whom she met during his service as an equerry to Queen Elizabeth II.
Early life and education
Anne was born at 11:50am on 15 August 1950 at Clarence House in London, during the reign of her maternal grandfather, King George VI. She was the second child and only daughter of Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. A 21-gun salute in Hyde Park marked the occasion. Anne was baptised in the Music Room at Buckingham Palace on 21 October 1950, by the Archbishop of York, Cyril Garbett. At the time of her birth, she was third in the line of succession to the British throne, behind her mother and elder brother, Charles. She rose to second in 1952 after her grandfather's death and her mother's accession; she is currently 18th in line.A governess, Catherine Peebles, was appointed to oversee the early education of Anne and her brothers, Charles, Andrew, and Edward. Peebles supervised Anne's lessons at Buckingham Palace. Owing to her young age, Anne did not attend her mother's coronation in June 1953.
In May 1959, a Girl Guides unit, the 1st Buckingham Palace Guide Company, incorporating the Holy Trinity Brompton Brownie pack, was re-formed specifically so that Anne, like her mother and her aunt Princess Margaret before her, could socialise with girls her own age. The company remained active until 1963, when Anne left for boarding school. She enrolled at Benenden School in 1963, leaving in 1968 with six GCE O-Levels and two A-Levels. She began undertaking royal engagements in 1969, at the age of 18.
In 1970, Anne briefly had a relationship with Andrew Parker Bowles, who later married Camilla Shand. Camilla subsequently became the second wife and queen consort of Anne's elder brother, Charles III. Anne was also briefly linked to the Olympic equestrian Richard Meade.
Equestrianism
In spring 1971, Anne finished fourth at the Rushall Horse Trials. At the age of 21, she won the individual title at the European Eventing Championship on her home-bred horse Doublet, and was voted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year for 1971. She also rode winners in horse racing, competing in the Grand Military Steeplechase at Sandown Park Racecourse and the Diamond Stakes at Royal Ascot.For more than five years, Anne competed with the British eventing team, winning silver medals in both the individual and team disciplines at the 1975 European Eventing Championship. The following year, she took part in the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal as a member of the British team, riding the Queen's horse Goodwill in Eventing. Anne suffered a concussion halfway through the cross-country course but remounted and completed the event; she later stated that she had no memory of making the remaining jumps. The British team subsequently withdrew from the competition after two horses were injured. She finished fourth at the Badminton Horse Trials in 1974 and sixth in 1979, having competed in the event five times between 1971 and 1979. In 1985, she rode in a charity race at the Epsom Derby, finishing fourth.
Anne served as president of the Fédération Équestre Internationale from 1986 until 1994. On 5 February 1987, she became the first member of the royal family to appear as a contestant on a television quiz show when she took part in the BBC panel game A Question of Sport. She has been a patron of the Riding for the Disabled Association since 1971 and became its president in 1985, a role she continues to hold.
In June 2024, Anne was taken to Southmead Hospital in Bristol with minor injuries and concussion, believed to have been caused by an impact with a horse's legs or head.
Marriages and children
Marriage to Mark Phillips
Anne met Mark Phillips, a lieutenant in the 1st Queen's Dragoon Guards, in 1968 at a party for horse enthusiasts. Their engagement was announced on 29 May 1973. On 14 November 1973, the couple married at Westminster Abbey in a televised ceremony watched by an estimated 100 million people. They subsequently took up residence at Gatcombe Park. Media reports stated that Phillips was offered an earldom, as was then customary for untitled men marrying into the royal family, but he and Anne declined the honour. As a result, their children were born without titles. The couple had two children: Peter and Zara Phillips. Anne and Phillips have five grandchildren.On 31 August 1989, Anne and Phillips announced their intention to separate; the couple had been rarely seen together in public, and both had been romantically linked with other people. They shared custody of their children and initially stated that "there were no plans for divorce." On 13 April 1992, the Palace announced that Anne had filed for divorce, which was finalised ten days later.
Marriage to Sir Timothy Laurence
Anne met Timothy Laurence, a commander in the Royal Navy, while he was serving on the Royal Yacht Britannia. Their relationship developed in early 1989, three years after Laurence had been appointed an equerry to the Queen. In 1989, the existence of private letters from Laurence to Anne was revealed by The Sun newspaper. The couple married at Crathie Kirk, near Balmoral Castle in Scotland, on 12 December 1992. The ceremony was conducted by Molly Croll, the local Ballater registrar. Approximately 30 guests attended the private service. Unlike the Church of England at the time, the Church of Scotland did not regard marriage as a binding sacrament and therefore permitted the remarriage of divorced persons under certain circumstances.For the wedding, Anne wore a white jacket over a "demure, cropped-to-the-knee dress" and a spray of white flowers in her hair. Her engagement ring was described as "a cabochon sapphire flanked by three small diamonds on each side". After the ceremony, the couple and their guests travelled to Craigowan Lodge for a private reception. Laurence did not receive a peerage, although he was knighted in 2011.
Kidnapping attempt
On 20 March 1974, Anne and Mark Phillips were returning to Buckingham Palace when a car forced their Rolls-Royce to stop on Pall Mall. The driver, Ian Ball, jumped out and began firing a pistol. Inspector James Beaton, Anne's personal protection officer, left the car to shield her and attempted to disarm Ball. Beaton's Walther PPK jammed, and he was shot, as was Anne's chauffeur, Alex Callender, when he tried to intervene. Brian McConnell, a nearby tabloid journalist, also attempted to help and was shot in the chest. Ball approached Anne's car and told her that he intended to kidnap her and hold her for ransom, the amount reported variously as £2 million or £3 million, which he claimed he intended to donate to the National Health Service. When Ball ordered Anne to get out of the car, she replied, "Not bloody likely!" She reportedly considered striking him. In 1983, she discussed the incident on Parkinson, saying she had been 'scrupulously polite' to Ball because she thought it would be "silly to be too rude at that stage".Anne eventually exited from the opposite side of the limousine, as did her lady-in-waiting, Rowena Brassey. A passing pedestrian, former boxer Ron Russell, punched Ball and led Anne away from the scene. Police Constable Michael Hills then arrived; he too was shot, but had already called assistance. Detective Constable Peter Edmonds responded, pursued Ball, and arrested him. Beaton, who had been Anne's sole bodyguard, later reflected on royal security at the time "I had nothing… There was no back-up vehicle. The training was non-existent; but then again, nothing was going to happen. They are highly specialised now, highly trained." Following the attack, the practice of assigning only a single protection officer was ended, and the Walther PPK was replaced.
Beaton, Hills, Callender, and McConnell were hospitalised and recovered from their injuries. For his defence of Anne, Beaton was awarded the George Cross by the Queen, who was visiting Indonesia when the incident occurred; Hills and Russell were awarded the George Medal, and Callender, McConnell, and Edmonds were awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal. Anne visited Beaton in hospital to thank him. It was widely reported that the Queen paid off Russell's mortgage, but this was untrue: Russell stated in 2020 that a police officer had suggested it might happen, leading him to stop making payments and nearly lose his home after four months.
Ball pleaded guilty to attempted murder and kidnapping. After being diagnosed with schizophrenia, he was detained in mental hospitals for 45 years and released in 2019. In 2025, he claimed innocence, stating that the attempt had been intended to fail as part of a stunt. The attempted kidnapping is the subject of the Granada Television docudrama To Kidnap a Princess and inspired storylines in Tom Clancy's novel Patriot Games.