Princess Anne- The Princess Royal

Princess Anne is the only daughter of HM Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. She is undoubtedly the hardest working of the Royal Family taking on an astonishing number of public events each year with the minimum of fuss and bother. She is the closest to her father in character and inherited his bluff, no-nonsense approach to life.

In 1973, Anne married Captain Mark Phillips, but they separated in 1989 and divorced in 1992. The couple have two children, Zara and Peter Phillips, and five grandchildren. Within months of her divorce, Anne married Commander (now Vice Admiral) Sir Timothy Laurence, whom she had met while he served as her mother's equerry between 1986 and 1989. They married quietly in Scotland and live at Gatcombe Park near her children Peter and Zara and her grandchildren.

She has been Princess Royal since 1987. Anne is the seventh Princess Royal, an appellation given only to the eldest daughter of the sovereign. She has a slew of other titles that include: Dame Grand Cross and Dame of Justice of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem; Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) – (Grand Master from 20 April 2007); Royal Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter (KG) and Extra Knight of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle (KT) - a Scottish title. She also holds numerous military titles, fellowships, academic appointments as chancellor of universities and civic appointments to organisations as varied as the Worshipful Company of Woolmen and the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers. She holds patronage in over 300 organisations, including WISE, Riders for Health, and Carers Trust. She has been associated with Save the Children for over fifty years and has visited a number of their projects; her work resulted in her nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.

Her credo is, 'Keep me busy. I'm here to work. I'm here to do good things. I'm here to meet as many people as possible'.

A keen equestrian, for more than five years, she also competed with the British eventing team, with her home-bred horse, Doublet, before winning a silver medal in both individual and team disciplines in the 1975 European Eventing Championship. Anne participated 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 course but remounted and finished the event; she has stated she cannot remember making the rest of the jumps. Her father famously quipped when she was a teenager, “If it doesn’t fart or eat hay, she isn’t interested.” Or, in her own dry words, "When I appear in public people expect me to neigh, grind my teeth, paw the ground and swish my tail - none of which is easy." Princess Anne