The Princess Royal heads to Sochi Games
The Princess Royal is set to arrive to Russia to attend 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics as a representative of Great Britain in the International Olympic Committee.
Princess Anne, the second child and only daughter of Her Majesty The Queen, also represents Britain in a number of other sport federations including British Olympic Association.
Despite being busy with her official duties, she has always shown a keen interest in horse riding pursuits. The Princess won a gold medal (1971) and two silver medals (1975) at the European Eventing Championships, and was the first member of the Royal Family to have competed in the Olympic Games in Montreal in 1976.
Her daughter, Zara Phillips, has followed in her mother’s footsteps competing in the London 2012 Olympics, winning a silver medal with the Great Britain Eventing Team.
Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal, Princess Anne biography.
The Princess Royal, the second child and only daughter of Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, was born at Clarence House, London, on 15 August 1950, when her mother was Princess Elizabeth, heir presumptive to the throne. She was baptised Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise at Buckingham Palace on 21 October. She received the title Princess Royal from Her Majesty The Queen in June 1987; until then she was known as Her Royal Highness Princess Anne.
Her Royal Highness began to undertake public engagements alone when she was eighteen. She flew her personal standard for the first time in 1969. Her first State Visit was in May the same year, when she accompanied Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh to Austria.
The Princess Royal’s work with the Save the Children Fund, of which she has been President since 1970, has given her great insight into the needs of children worldwide. She has travelled extensively with the Fund in many parts of the world. She also serves as President of the Register of Engineers for Disaster Relief.
The Princess Royal is President or Patron of some 320 organisations. She is also Commandant-in-Chief of the St John Ambulance (Youth), Colonel-in-Chief of The King’s Royal Hussars, The Royal Corps of Signals, The Royal Logistic Corps and The Royal Army Veterinary Corps. She is also Colonel of The Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons) and Royal Colonel, The Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland, and Royal Colonel, 52nd Lowland, 6th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland (TA), Chief Commandant for Women in the Royal Navy, Commandant-in-Chief of The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (The Princess Royal’s Volunteers Corps), Honorary Air Commodore, Royal Air Force Brize Norton and Colonel in Chief of a number of Canadian, Australian and New Zealand Regiments. She was elected as Chancellor of the University of London in 1981 in succession to her grandmother, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and is a past Master of a number of City Livery Companies.
The Princess Royal has ridden all her life and she soon proved herself an expert horsewoman. In September 1971 she won the individual European Three-Day Event Championship at Burghley, and was nominated Sportswoman of the Year by the Sports Writers’ Association. She was voted the BBC’s Sports Personality of 1971.
In 1973 The Princess was a member of the British team in the European Three-Day Event Championships at Kiev in the Soviet Union. Two years later, in the same contest in Germany, she won silver medals as an individual competitor and as a team member. The Princess also competed in the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games as a member of the British Three-Day Event team.
In 1986 The Princess Royal succeeded her father as President of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI), a post which she has since relinquished. After five years as President of the British Olympic Association she was elected to the International Olympic Committee in 1988. Her Royal Highness was closely involved with the organisation and planning of the London 2012 Olympics. She has been President of the Riding for the Disabled Association since 1969 and the Royal Yachting Association since 1987.
Her Royal Highness is married to Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence and has two children, Peter and Zara from her first marriage – both of whom are alumni of Gordonstoun.
In 1974 The Princess Royal was appointed GCVO and in 1987 was made a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1994 Her Majesty The Queen appointed The Princess a Knight of the Most Noble Order of The Garter and she was invested in the Order of the Thistle in June 2001 in recognition of her extensive charity work in Scotland. Her Royal Highness’s programme of engagements is essentially in support of her many charities, and she also travels abroad extensively undertaking Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Olympic and Charitable engagements.