As it's Princess Anne's 75th Birthday on the 15th August I'd thought I'd write a blog on her life so far and how she's a great asset to the monarchy.
Princess Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise was born on the 15th August 1950 at Clarance House. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. She was born 2 years before her mother became Queen and King George VI did meet her.
It was known in the inner circles that Anne was her father's favourite as she has the same mannerisms as him and that she is strong like Prince Philip.
Anne was baptised in the music room of Buckingham Palace on the 21st October 1950. When she was born she was 3rd in line to the British throne after her mother Princess Elizabeth and older brother Prince Charles. After her grandfather's death in 1952 she became second in line after her brother Charles. in 2025 she was 18th in line to the throne.
Growing up her and Charles were incredibly close and when their parents were on tours her and Charles was looked after by nannies and their Grandmother The Queen Mother and their Auntie Princess Margaret. In 1953 Princess Anne who was two at the time did not attend her mother's coronation because she was too young. Her brother however was old enough to attend.
When she was 9 years old she became a brownie as part of the Buckingham Palace pack, She followed the suit of her mother and aunt.
A governess Catherine Peebles was appointed to look after Anne and was responsible for her early education and tutored her at Buckingham Palace. In 1963 Anne was enrolled into a boarding school called Benenden School. In 1968 she left school with 6 GCE O levels and two A levels.
By 1965 she also became an older sister to both Prince Andrew and Prince Edward which in turn meant that she was now 4th in line to the throne.
Princess Anne is the 7th Princess Royal which is a title for the eldest daughter of a Monarch she became The Princess Royal in 1987.
At the age of 18 she began to take on royal engagements to help her mother out. In 1970 Princess Anne briefly dated Andrew Parker Bowles who was the future husband of Camilla Shand. Camilla later became the second wife and Queen to her elder brother King Charles III.
Princess Anne was a very accomplished horse rider who started riding in various shows and even made it into the Olympic Games in 1976. In 1971 Anne finished 4th at the Rushhall Horse Trials. At age 21 she won the individual title at the European Eventing Championship with her home bred horse Doublet. In 1971 she was also voted at the BBC Sports Personality Of The Year.
She also rode winners with horse racing in the Grand Military Steeplechase at Sandown Park Racecourse and The Diamond Stakes at The Royal Ascot. For more than five years Anne also competed with the British Eventing Team winning a silver medal in both individual and team disciplines in 1975. In 1976 Anne participated in the Montreal Olympics riding The Queen's horse Goodwill. Unfortunately Anne suffered a concussion halfway through the course, she remounted the horse and did finish the event. She couldn't remember what happened after she fell but could only remember the jumps.
In 1987 Anne became the first British royal to appear as a contestant on a television quiz show on the BBC panel game A Question Of Sport. Very recently in 2024 Anne was taken to hospital in Bristol due to a horse incident where she suffered minor injuries and concussion.
In 1968 Anne met Mark Philips a lieutenant in the 1st Queen's Dragoon Guards at a party for horse lovers. They dated for a few years before they announced their engagement on the 29th May 1973 she would become the first of Queen Elizabeth II's children to marry.
They got married on the 14th November 1973 at Westminster Abbey in a televised ceremony with an estimated audience of 100 million. They also appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to which the crowd cheered them. At that same balcony appearance the crowd also sang Happy Birthday to her brother Charles whose birthday coincided with her wedding he turned 25 that day.
Together they had 2 children Peter who was born in 1977 and Zara who was born in 1981. Anne and Peter have 5 grandchildren between them. On 31st August 1989 Anne and Mark announced that they will be separating they had been together out in public before and they were interested in other people romantically. They said that they would share custody of their children and there were no plans to divorce yet. But On the 12th April 1992 Buckingham Palace announced that Anne had filed for divorce which was finalised 10 days later.
Anne met Sir Timothy Laurence while he was serving on The Royal Yacht Britannia. In early 1989 their relationship blossomed when Sir Timothy was appointed as equerry to her mother. In 1989 there were some private letters from Anne to Timothy that were revealed in The Sun newspaper.
On The 12th December 1992 the couple married in Scotland on the Balmoral Estate a total of 30 guests were invited to the private wedding. They got married in Scotland because The Church Of Scotland accepted remarriage after divorce back then.
On 20th March 1974 Princess Anne and her then husband Mark were on their way back to Buckingham Palace when a car forced the rolls royce to stop on The Mall. The driver of the car jumped out and began firing a pistol. Anne's police protection officer jumped out of the car and began to shield her.
The kidnapper approached Anne's car and intended on kidnapping her for a ransom of £2 million or £3 million which he claimed that he would give the money to the NHS. The kidnapper told Anne to get out the car to which Anne replied with "Not bloody likely!"
She reportedly considered hitting him. Eventually Anne exited the other side of the car and a passing pedestrian, a former boxer named Ron Russell punched the kidnapper and led Anne away from the scene. At that point Micheal Hills happened to be on the scene before and was shot by the kidnapper he had already called the police for backup.
Since the age of 18 Anne has been a great supporter of the crown and has done a lot of engagements. She would do state visits on behalf of her mother as Queen and now her Brother as King. She has been in the top 3 of the most hardest working royals coming in first in 2024.
Princess Anne is the patron to over 200 charities and organisations. She works for Save The Children she has been president of the charity between 1970 to 2017 and has been patron ever since Princess Anne would visit places where children were struggling like parts of Africa way before her ex sister in law Diana was even on the scene.
As a result for her incredible work for charity,she was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1990. With Anne being an olympian herself she had become a British representative in the International Olympic Committee as an administrator she was also a member of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games for the London 2012 Olympics.
Anne has been described as the trustiest anchor in The Royal Family with very few scandals and her no nonsense approach to things. She has carried out more than 20,000 engagements since her 18th birthday. In her early adulthood she was also cited as a "royal renegade" for choosing to forgo titles for her children and grandchildren.
Despite being the "spare" she has proved herself and the royal who just gets on with life and not to get upset over everything. She is also very very outspoken as she tends to tell people how she feels and is not afraid to speak out on matters close to her heart.
On 8th September 2022 her mother passed away in Scotland and she was the only one of the Queen's children who was by her bedside when she died. Charles her elder brother was on the estate but didn't make it in time so he found out that he was king on the road on the way to Balmoral Castle.
She was the one who followed her mother's journey from Scotland to Windsor during those few weeks. On the 12th September 2022 she became the first female royal to stand vigil at her mother's coffin in Scotland and then again in Westminster Hall on the 16th September 2022. Through her own grief she wanted to make sure her eldest Brother in particular was supported as he is more emotional than her younger brothers.
As her Brother's reign began she supported him as much as she supported her mother during her reign for Charles's coronation in 2023 she was Gold Stick In Waiting which is the King's personal bodyguard during big events like the coronation and trooping the colour.
In February 2024 it was announced that her brother King Charles III was diagnosed with a type of cancer and was advised to postpone and cancel his public engagements. Two ladies of the royal family held the fort for him and that was his wife Queen Camilla and his sister Princess Anne. Between the two of them they handled the fort amazingly.
As we celebrate her 75th birthday this year we should reflect on how Anne is an amazing royal who works tirelessly for the crown, country and the Commonwealth. She is a royal who should not be messed with. As she celebrates her milestone birthday I don't think she has any intentions of slowing down yet.
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