The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, the second child and only daughter of The Queen and 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 1950. She received the title Princess Royal from The Queen in June 1987; she was previously known as Princess Anne. Her Royal Highness is the seventh holder of the title. 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 Lyneham 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 engagement of The Princess Royal to Lieutenant (later Captain) Mark Phillips of The Queen’s Dragoon Guards was announced on 29 May 1973, and they were married in Westminster Abbey on 14 November 1973. Four months after their marriage, an unsuccessful attempt was made to abduct The Princess, as she and Captain Phillips were being driven along the Mall on their way back to Buckingham Palace after a charity film show. The Princess has two children: Peter Phillips, who married Miss Autumn Kelly in 2008, and Miss Zara Phillips, MBE. The marriage to Captain Mark Phillips was dissolved in April 1992 and on 12 December the same year The Princess Royal married Commander (now Vice Admiral) Timothy Laurence, Royal Navy, at a private ceremony at Crathie Church, near Balmoral Castle in Scotland.In 1994 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.