Princess Anne, Queen Elizabeth II’s steely only daughter, rarely shows emotion, but her mother’s death has left a scar on her face.
With her elder brother King Charles III summoned to London, the queen’s second child was left to lead the cortege through Scotland from Balmoral on Sunday.
She curtsied as eight kilted soldiers carried the heavy lead-lined casket into the monarch’s official Scottish residence, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, in Edinburgh, dressed in mourning black.
Sophie, her sister-in-law who is married to her younger brother Prince Edward, was seen afterwards placing a comforting hand on her back.
Anne, 72, walked alongside Charles, Edward, and their brother Andrew as the coffin was carried from Holyroodhouse to St Giles’ Cathedral on Monday, dressed in the ceremonial uniform of a Royal Navy admiral.
She will also accompany the queen’s coffin on Tuesday’s flight from Edinburgh to London.
Anne’s position may now shift depending on whether Charles opts for a more limited monarchy. However, as he adjusts to his new role, he may find his closest sibling to be a pillar of support.
The hard way of learning
Being the most dedicated royal, Anne managed to balance a lifetime of public appearances with an Olympic horse riding career.
It is said that Anne once said she was “not everyone’s concept of a fairy-tale princess,” fitting her into the same straightforward persona as her late father Prince Philip.
You discover things the hard way, she added. A school for royalty does not exist.
She never tried to win over the media, claiming that she did not “do stunts” and once telling journalists to “naff off.”
In contrast to her parents’ old-world aristocracy, Anne has forged her own path and adopted more contemporary practises for her own children.
Her efforts to support countless charities and organisations have also earned her admiration.
She was the target of a kidnapping attempt in 1974 after her automobile was attacked. She was shot, along with her driver, two police officers, and a bystander.
According to a National Archives account, the assailant, Ian Ball, held a gun at Anne and demanded 2 million pounds in exchange for her company for a day or two.
“Are you going to exit the vehicle?”
Not bloody probable — and I don’t have two million pounds, the princess retorted curtly.
All through her adult life, Anne maintained a look that was a blend of traditional elegant and informal.
She acquired a professional demeanour that sometimes made her seem icy and led to others mistaking her sharp, dry sense of humour.
talented equestrian
Ann was educated at Buckingham Palace before starting boarding school in 1963. She was born on August 15, 1950.
The young princess developed into an accomplished equestrian thanks to her mother’s love of horses.
The British audience chose Anne as the 1971 BBC Sports Personality of the Year after she won the European Eventing Championship.
Her profession as a horse rider was something she claimed she “definitely saw as a method of establishing that you had something that was not dependent on your family and it was down to you to succeed or fail.”
In 1972, she wed equestrian Mark Phillips. An estimated 500 million people worldwide tuned in to see the wedding.
After a particularly bad fall that was memorable for TV viewers but not for her, Anne, a representative of Great Britain at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, returned without a medal.
She remounted her horse after becoming concussed but has no memory of ever participating.
In 1988, she joined the International Olympic Committee, and in 2012, she served on the London Olympics organising committee.
Peter, the managing director of sporting events, and equestrian Zara are Anne’s children from her first marriage to an army officer.
In defiance of convention, the couple decided Phillips shouldn’t take a title so their kids may live their own lives.
Zara would follow her parents to the Olympics, winning silver in the team eventing at London 2012. She later married former England rugby captain Mike Tindall.
separation and remarriage
The title of Princess Royal, customarily given to the monarch’s eldest daughter, was bestowed to Anne in 1987.
She separated from Phillips two years later, and the couple became divorced in 1992.
Anne married naval officer Timothy Laurence, a former equerry to Queen Elizabeth, nine months later.
They got married in Scotland since divorcees were not allowed to remarry in the Church of England.
More than 300 nonprofits, military units, and charities are supported by Anne, including a more than 50-year partnership with Save the Children.
She consistently tops the list of people who have conducted the most royal engagements, and she also writes her own speeches.
