Anne, Princess Royal

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Content

1. Who is Princess Anne?
2. Early life
3. Career
4. Personal life
5. Trivia

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Who is Princess Anne?

Princess Anne is the only daughter and second child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. When she was born, she was third in line to the throne behind her mother and her brother, Prince Charles.

She is currently thirteenth in line to the throne. She has held the title Princess Royal since 1987. Princess Anne is the seventh holder of this title. As an Olympian, she was the first royal to compete in the Olympic Games.

Early life:

Born at Clarence House at 11:50 am on August 15, 1950, Princess Anne’s birth was signaled by a 21-gun salute in Hyde Park. She was baptized in the music room of Buckingham Palace on October 21, 1950, by Cyril Garbett, Archbishop of York.

Princess Anne’s education was the responsibility of her governess, Catherine Peebles. Princess Anne did not attend the coronation of her mother as she was too young at the time of the Queen’s ascension to the throne.

To ensure Princess Anne met other girls her age the Girl Guides company was reformed in May 1959. Joining the company was in accordance to the traditions set by her mother and aunts. The company remained active until 1963 after which Princess Anne left for boarding school.

In 1963, she enrolled at Benenden School. By 1968, when she left school, she had six GCE O-levels and two A-levels.

Career:

Princess Anne is well known for being the first royal to compete in the Olympics as well as for her impressive equestrian career. At a tender age of 21, she won a gold medal at the European Eventing Championship. And in the same year, 1971, she was voted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

She competed for the British eventing team for five more years. In those five years, she won a silver medal for both the individual and the team disciplines of the 1975 European Eventing Championship while riding the home-bred, Doublet.

In 1976, she participated in the Olympics Games in Montreal on the British team. She rode the Queen’s horse, Goodwill. Ten years later, Princess Anne became the president of the Fédération Équestre Internationale until 1994.

Personal life:

In 1970, Princess Anne started dating her first boyfriend, Andrew Parker Bowles, who went on to marry Camilla Shand. Three years later, Princess Anne announced her engagement to Mark Phillips, a lieutenant in the 1st Queen’s Dragoon Guards. She first met Phillips in 1968 at a horse lovers party and they married on November 14, 1973, at Westminster Abbey.

Phillips and Anne’s wedding was a televised affair with an estimated audience of 100 million people. They went on to live at Gatcombe Park. Due to Phillips declining an earldom, their two children, Peter and Zara Phillips, were born without courtesy titles.

On March 20, 1974, there was an attempt to kidnap Princess Anne while she and her husband were returning to Buckingham Palace from a charity event. The effort was thwarted.

After many difficult years in their marriage, Princess Anne and Mark Phillips announced their separation on August 31, 1989. They eventually divorced on April 23, 1992.

Anne now has four grandchildren. Her first grandchild, Savanah, was born in December 2010 from her son, Peter, followed shortly after by their second child, Isla, in 2012. In 2014, Zara and her husband welcomed Princess Anne’s third grandchild, Mia Grace, and four years later they had another girl, Lena Elizabeth.

Princess Anne married her second husband, Timothy Laurence in 1992. Laurence was serving on the Royal Yacht “Britannia” when they met. Their relationship grew in 1989, while he was appointed an equerry to the Queen. The pair married in December 1992 at Crathie Kirk near Balmoral Castle. Laurence was a commander in the Royal Navy at the time. Anne has no children with Laurence.

Golf seems to be an arduous way to go for a walk. I prefer to take the dog's out. ~ Princess Anne

Trivia:

• In February 1987, she competed on the BBC Panel Game “A Question of Sport”
• Between 1973 and 2002, she served as the second president of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA)

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