Anne, Princess Royal

Anne
Princess Royal
Spouse	Mark Phillips (m. 1973, div. 1992) Timothy Laurence (m. 1992)
Issue	Peter Phillips Zara Phillips
Full name	Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise[1]
Detail Titles and styles
HRH The Princess Royal HRH The Princess Anne HRH Princess Anne of Edinburgh
Royal house	House of Windsor
Father	Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Mother	Elizabeth II
Born	15 August 1950 (1950-08-15) (age 59) Clarence House, London
Baptised	21 October 1950 Buckingham Palace, London

British Royal Family
HM The Queen HRH The Duke of Edinburgh HRH The Prince of Wales HRH The Duchess of Cornwall HRH Prince William of Wales HRH Prince Henry of Wales HRH The Duke of York HRH Princess Beatrice of York HRH Princess Eugenie of York HRH The Earl of Wessex HRH The Countess of Wessex Viscount Severn Lady Louise Windsor HRH The Princess Royal HRH The Duke of Gloucester HRH The Duchess of Gloucester HRH The Duke of Kent HRH The Duchess of Kent HRH Prince Michael of Kent HRH Princess Michael of Kent HRH Princess Alexandra

The Princess Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950) is the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. At the time of her birth, she was third in the line of succession to the thrones of seven independent states; however, after additions to the Royal Family, and an evolution of the Commonwealth, Anne is currently tenth in line to the thrones of 16 countries. She is resident in and most directly involved with the United Kingdom, the oldest realm, while also carrying out duties in and on behalf of the other states of which her mother is sovereign.

The seventh holder of the title Princess Royal, Anne is known for her charitable work, and equestrian talents; she won two silver and one gold medal at the European Eventing Championships, and is the only member of the British Royal Family to have competed in the Olympic Games. She is presently married to Timothy Laurence, and has two children from her previous marriage to Mark Phillips.

Early life and education

Anne was born at Clarence House on 15 August 1950, the second child and first daughter of then Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and second grandchild of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. Baptised in the Music Room of Buckingham Palace on 21 October 1950, by then Archbishop of York, Cyril Garbett, the Princess' godparents were her great-uncle, Louis Mountbatten, Earl Mountbatten of Burma; Andrew Elphinstone; her maternal-line grandmother; her paternal-line grandmother, Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark; and her aunt, The Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. By letters patent of Anne's great-grandfather, King George V, the titles of a British prince or princess, and the style Royal Highness, were only to be conferred on male-line children and grandchildren of the sovereign, as well as the children of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales. However, on 22 October 1948, George VI issued new letters patent granting these honours to any children of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip; otherwise, Anne would have merely have been titled by courtesy as Lady Anne Mountbatten. In this way, the children of the heiress presumptive had a royal and princely status not thought necessary for the children of the King's other daughter.

As with royal children before her, a governess, Catherine Peebles, was appointed to look after the Princess and was responsible for her early education at Buckingham Palace;^[2] Peeples had also served as governess for Anne's older brother, Charles. When George VI died, and Anne's mother acceeded to the throne as Queen Elizabeth II, Anne was thereafter titled as Her Royal Highness The Princess Anne. Given her young age at the time, the Princess did not attend her mother's coronation. Anne remained under private tutelage until she was enrolled at Benenden School in 1963, graduating five years later with six O-Levels and two A-Levels.^[2]

Anne's first boyfriend was Andrew Parker Bowles, a former equerry to the Queen. No marriage was possible because he was a Roman Catholic.

First marriage

On 14 November 1973, Princess Anne married Mark Phillips, then a Lieutenant in the 1st Queen's Dragoon Guards, at Westminster Abbey, in a ceremony that was televised around the world, with an estimated audience of 100 million. It was believed that the Queen had offered Phillips an earldom on his wedding day, as was customary for untitled men marrying into the Royal Family. However, the offer was turned down, perhaps at the behest of Anne, who wanted to shield her future children from the publicity that titles might bring. The couple did have two children, both of whom, like their mother, were born on the 15th day of a month. They thus became the first grandchildren of a sovereign to carry no title, though they are not the first of a princess to carry no title: the children of Princess Alexandra, the Queen's cousin, are also untitled.

Following the wedding, Anne and her husband lived at Gatcombe Park. By 1989, however, the Princess Royal and Mark Phillips announced their intention to separate, as the marriage had been under strain for a number of years. The couple divorced on 23 April 1992.^[3]

Kidnapping attempt

As Princess Anne and Mark Phillips were returning to Buckingham Palace on 20 March 1974, from a charity event on Pall Mall, their Austin Princess limousine was forced to stop by a Ford Escort,^[4] the driver of which – Ian Ball – jumped out and began firing a gun. James Beaton, the Princess' personal police officer, responded by exiting the limousine in order to shield the Princess and try to disarm Ball. Beaton's firearm, a Walther PPK, jammed, and he was shot by the assailant, as was Anne's chauffeur, Alex Callendar, when he tried to disarm Ball,^[5] Brian McConnell, a passer by who also intervened, and a man in a passing taxi. Ball approached the Austin Princess and told Anne of his kidnapping plan, which was to hold the Princess for ransom, the sum given varying sources as £2 million,^[6] or £3 million to the National Health Service.^[4] Ball then directed Anne to get out of the car, to which she replied: "Not bloody likely!", and briefly considered hitting Ball.^[7] Eventually, she dived out of the other side of the limousine, and another passing pedestrian punched Ball in the back of the head and then led Anne away from the scene. At that point, Police Constable Michael Hills happened upon the situation; he too was shot by Ball, but not before he called for police backup. Detective Constable Peter Edmonds, who had been near by, answered and gave chase, finally arresting Ball.^[5]

All of the victims were hospitalised, and recovered from their wounds. For his defence of Princess Anne, Beaton was awarded the George Cross, while Callender, McConnell, Russell, Hills, and Edmonds were each given the Queen's Gallantry Medal.^[4] Ball pleaded guilty to attempted murder and kidnapping, and was detained under the Mental Health Act, being sent to the Broadmoor Hospital, where he remains. He later placed strange advertisements in a magazine, directing readers to his Web site, which offers £1 million to anyone who can prove Ball's theory that the whole incident took place a year after, and formed a part of a long-standing and elaborate persecution of Ball by a policeman.

The incident was the closest in modern times that any individual has come to kidnapping a member of the Royal Family, and prompted higher security levels for the royals. It also served as the focus of the 2006 Granada Television produced docu-drama, To Kidnap a Princess. As well as a real-life story line to the Tom Clancy novel "Patriot Games".

Second marriage

Anne married Timothy Laurence, then a commander in the Royal Navy, at Crathie Kirk, near Balmoral Castle, on 12 December 1992. The couple chose to marry in Scotland as the Church of England did not allow divorced persons to remarry in its churches, while the Church of Scotland did. In participating in this ceremony, Anne became the first royal divorcée to remarry since Victoria, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine, did so in 1905. Like Phillips before him, Laurence received no peerage, and the couple leased a flat in Dolphin Square, London. They later gave up this city home and resided between an apartment at Buckingham Palace and Gatcombe Park. Anne had no children with Laurence.

Convictions

The Princess Royal faced criminal court charges in March 2001, when she pleaded guilty to driving at 93mph on a dual carriageway, while on her way to Hartpury College in Gloucestershire. She was fined £400 by Cheltenham Magistrate's Court, and had five points added to her driver's licence.^[8] The following year, she was convicted of a second offence under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, after she pled guilty to the charge that her dog, Dotty, attacked two boys while she and Laurence were taking the dog for a walk in Windsor Great Park. The Princess was fined £500 by Berkshire Magistrates' Court and ordered to give Dotty more training.^[9]

Personal interests

Pharology is a focus of interest for Princess Anne; she made it an ambition to personally see each of Scotland's 215 lighthouses, often touring them with the Northern Lighthouse Board, of which Anne is patron. It is thought the interest stems from Anne's visit, when she was five years old, to Tiumpan Head with her mother.^[10]

Equestrianism

Anne has always shown a keen interest in horses and equine pursuits. At the age of 21, the Princess won the individual title at the European Eventing Championship, and was voted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1971. For more than five years she also competed with the British eventing team, winning a silver medal in both individual and team disciplines in the 1975 European Eventing Champioship, riding the home-bred Doublet. The following year Anne participated in the 1976 Olympic Games as a member of the British team, riding the Queen's horse, Goodwill. On 5 February 1987, she became the first royal to appear as a contestant on a television quiz show when she competed on the BBC panel game A Question of Sport.

Official duties

The Princess Royal visits the USNS Comfort on 11 July 2002, while the ship was docked in Southampton, England.

As Princess Royal, Princess Anne undertakes a number of official duties on behalf of her mother, in her role as sovereign of any of the Commonwealth realms. Anne began to undertake official royal duties upon leaving secondary school,^[2] and accompanied her parents on a state visit to Austria in the same year.^[11] She will sometimes stand in for the Queen at the funerals of foreign dignitaries (which the Queen customarily does not attend), and resides at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh each summer, hosting engagements there. The Princess also travels abroad on behalf of the United Kingdom up to three times a year; she was the first member of the Royal Family to make an official visit to the USSR when she went there as a guest of the government in 1990.^[11]

Following the retirement of the Queen Mother in 1981, Anne was elected by graduates of the University of London as that institution's Chancellor. Throughout May 1996, the Princess served as Her Majesty's High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, which granted her, for the duration of the appointment, a higher precedence in Scotland, and the alternative style of Her Grace. In 2007, the Princess Royal had the honour of being appointed by the Queen as Grand Master of the Royal Victorian Order, a position her late grandmother had also held.

The Princess Royal carries out the most engagements of any member of the Royal Family, and is involved with over 200 charities and organisations in an official capacity. She works extensively for Save the Children, of which she has been president since 1970, and she initiated The Princess Royal Trust for Carers in 1991; her work for the charity takes her all over the world, including many poverty stricken African nations. Also, her extensive work for St. John Ambulance as Commandant-in-Chief of St. John Ambulance Cadets has helped to develop many young people, as she annually attends the Grand Prior Award Reception. She is also a British representative in the International Olympic Committee as an administrator, and is a member of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

Styles of HRH The Princess Royal
Reference style	Her Royal Highness
Spoken style	Your Royal Highness
Alternative style	Ma'am

• 15 August 1950 – 6 February 1952: Her Royal Highness Princess Anne of Edinburgh
• 6 February 1952 – 14 November 1973: Her Royal Highness The Princess Anne
• 14 November 1973 – 13 June 1987: Her Royal Highness The Princess Anne, Mrs Mark Phillips
• 13 June 1987 – : Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal

The Princess' style and title in full: Her Royal Highness Princess Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise, The Princess Royal, Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Knight of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, Grand Master of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, Chief Grand Companion of the Order of Logohu, Canadian Forces Decoration. In 1996, Anne was entitled to be called Her Grace The Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

Anne is the seventh creation of the title Princess Royal, an appelation only given to the eldest daughter of the sovereign, the last holder being George V's daughter, Princess Mary, Countess of Harewood.

Honours

Appointments

• 1969: Royal Family Order of Queen Elizabeth II
• 1971 – 1998: Dame of Justice of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem (DStJ)
  • 1998 – 2007: Dame Grand Cross of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem (GCStJ)
  • 2007 – : Grand Master of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem
• 15 August 1974: Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO)^[12]
• 1986: Fellow of the Royal Society of Veterinary Surgeons (FRCVS)
• 1987: Royal Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS)
• 1990: Extra Companion of the Queen's Service Order (QSO)
• 23 Aptil 1994: Royal Lady of the Most Noble Order of the Garter (LG)^[13][12]
• 2000: Knight of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle (LT)
• 29 September 2005: Chief Grand Companion of the Order of Logohu (GCL)^[14]

Decorations

• 2 June 1953: Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal
• 1977: Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal
• 1982: Canadian Forces Decoration (CD)
• 2002: Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal
• 2005: Commemorative Medal for the Centennial of Saskatchewan^[15]

Foreign honours

• 1969: Decoration for Honour of Merit, in Gold with Sash
• 1969: Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose of Finland
• 1971: Grand Cordon of the Order of the Precious Crown
• 1972: Grand Cross of the Order of the House of Orange
• 1972 – 1992: Order of the Yugoslav Flag, 1st Class
• Trinity Cross

Honorary military appointments

The Princess Royal on the balcony of Buckingham Palace and in uniform, far right.

The Princess Royal passes behind the Princess Anne Banner at a parade for the 75th anniversary of the Royal Australian Corps of Signals, 5 July 2000.

As with other senior royals, Princess Anne holds a number of honorary appointments in the armed forces of several Commonwealth realms. In 2002, she became the first non-reigning woman to attend a funeral in uniform when she wore a that of the Royal Navy at the funeral of her grandmother, the Queen Mother.

Anne is of the following regiments, corps, and branches:

Australia

• Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Australian Corps of Signals

Canada

• Colonel-in-Chief of the Grey and Simcoe Foresters
• Colonel-in-Chief of the 8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's)
• Colonel-in-Chief of the Communications and Electronics Branch
• Colonel-in-Chief of the Canadian Forces Medical Service^[16]
• Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Regina Rifles^[17]
• Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment

New Zealand

• Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal New Zealand Corps of Signals
• Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal New Zealand Army Nursing Corps

United Kingdom

• Colonel-in-Chief of the King's Royal Hussars
• Colonel-in-Chief of the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment (29/45 Foot)
• Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Corps of Signals
• Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Logistic Corps
• Colonel-in-Chief the Royal Army Veterinary Corps
• Colonel of the the Blues and Royals
• Royal Colonel of the Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland
• Royal Colonel of the 52nd Lowland Regiment, 6th Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland
• Royal Honorary Colonel of the University of London OTC
• Commandant-in-Chief of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (Princess Royal's Volunteer Corps)
• Honorary Air Commodore of RAF Lyneham
• Honorary Air Commodore of the University of London Air Squadron
• Rear Admiral and Chief Commandant for women of the Royal Navy
• Commodore-in-Chief of HMNB Portsmouth

Arms

Arms of Anne, Princess Royal Notes The Princess' personalized coat of arms are those of the arms of the sovereign in right of the United Kingdom with a label for difference. Escutcheon Quarterly 1st and 4th gules three lions passant guardant or 2nd or a lion rampant gules within a double tressure flory counterflory gules 3rd azure a harp or stringed argent Other elements The whole differenced by a label of three points argent, first and third charged with a St George's cross the second with a heart gules Banner The Princess' personal Royal Standard is that of the sovereign in right of the United Kingdom, labelled for difference as in her arms. Symbolism As with the Royal Arms of the United Kingdom. The first and fourth quarters are the arms of England, the second of Scotland, the third of Ireland.

Ancestry

Issue

References

External links

• Royal.gov.uk - The Princess Royal
• BBC News — Crowds cheer marriage of Princess Anne
• BBC News — Princess Anne gives birth to Master Phillips
• BBC News — Princess Royal remarries
• The family of Elizabeth II illustrated