Few images in royal life are as consistent as Princess Anne arriving at an engagement with a job to do — no fuss, no theatrics, just the steady rhythm of a public duty. She has been a working royal since 1969, when she was 18, and The Royal Family — official monarchy website still lists her as active in public duties. What follows is the shorter version of that long public life: two marriages, two children, one conviction, and a few protocol questions.
Full name: Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise ·
Born: ·
Title: The Princess Royal (since June 1987) ·
Children: 2 (Peter Phillips, Zara Tindall) ·
Marriages: 2 (Mark Phillips 1973–1992; Sir Timothy Laurence 1992–present) ·
Conviction: 2002 Dangerous Dogs Act, fined £500
Quick snapshot
- Born Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise on at Clarence House, London (The Royal Family)
- Only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (The Royal Family)
- Married Mark Phillips in 1973 and Sir Timothy Laurence in 1992 (The Royal Family)
- Two children: Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall (History Extra (BBC History Magazine website))
- Convicted under the Dangerous Dogs Act in 2002; fined £500 (The Independent (UK newspaper))
- The private relationship between Anne and Camilla — public appearances only, no documented evidence of personal closeness (Wikipedia)
- Whether formal bowing protocol is followed behind closed doors (Wikipedia)
- The 20,000+ engagements figure is a secondary estimate on Wikipedia, not an official palace count (Wikipedia)
- Exact venue of the 1992 wedding: Facts.net (fact-file site) names Crathie Kirk, but the official site does not specify
- — born at Clarence House, London (The Royal Family)
- — began public engagements at 18 (ABC News (US broadcaster))
- — married Captain Mark Phillips at Westminster Abbey (The Royal Family)
- — became The Princess Royal (The Royal Family)
- — divorced in April; married Sir Timothy Laurence in December (The Royal Family)
- — pleaded guilty under the Dangerous Dogs Act (The Independent)
- Anne continues to carry out official engagements and remains active in public duties (The Royal Family)
- She is listed as patron or president of numerous charities and organisations (The Royal Family)
- Her engagement list remains the most reliable public signal of the monarchy’s working calendar (The Royal Family)
Nine facts, one pattern: a life organized around continuity — the same title, the same duties, and the same surname-free public identity for more than fifty years.
| Label | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise | The Royal Family |
| Born | , Clarence House, London | The Royal Family |
| Parents | Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh | The Royal Family |
| Title | The Princess Royal since — the seventh Princess Royal | The Royal Family |
| Spouses | Mark Phillips (1973–1992); Sir Timothy Laurence (1992–present) | The Royal Family |
| Children | Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall | History Extra |
| Public duties began | 1969, at age 18 | ABC News |
| Criminal conviction | 2002, Dangerous Dogs Act; fined £500 | The Independent |
| Charity role | Patron or president of numerous charities and organisations | The Royal Family |
Did Princess Anne Ever Get Married and Have Children?
Yes — twice, on both counts. Anne married Captain Mark Phillips in November 1973, divorced him in April 1992, married Sir Timothy Laurence in December of the same year, and has two children from her first marriage (The Royal Family; History Extra).
Who is Princess Anne married to?
- Captain Mark Phillips — married at Westminster Abbey on (The Royal Family). The date also fell on the 25th birthday of Anne’s older brother, then Prince of Wales, Charles (The Royal Family).
- Sir Timothy Laurence — married in , eight months after the divorce from Mark Phillips was finalized in April (The Royal Family).
- Venue nuance: according to Facts.net (fact-file site), the second ceremony took place at Crathie Kirk near Balmoral Castle, but the official royal biography does not name the venue.
The contrast between the two weddings is stark: a full state occasion at Westminster Abbey in 1973, then a quiet Scottish ceremony in 1992 — the difference between the palace script and Anne’s own priorities.
How many children does Princess Anne have?
- Two — both from her marriage to Mark Phillips (History Extra).
- That first marriage lasted about 19 years, according to a 2023 profile in History Extra.
Who are Princess Anne’s children?
- Peter Phillips, her son (History Extra).
- Zara Tindall, her daughter (History Extra).
The pattern: a maximum-visibility royal wedding in 1973, then a divorce and remarriage in the same year — 1992, the year the Queen herself called her annus horribilis.
What Was Princess Anne Convicted For?
The short version: in 2002, Anne pleaded guilty to a charge under the Dangerous Dogs Act — making her the first senior member of the royal family to be convicted of a criminal offence, according to The Independent.
What was the charge against Princess Anne?
- One charge involving a dangerously out-of-control dog, to which Anne pleaded guilty in 2002 (Us Weekly (celebrity news outlet)).
- The plea was entered at East Berkshire Magistrates’ Court in Slough, under the Dangerous Dogs Act (The Independent).
What was the outcome of Princess Anne’s conviction?
- A fine of £500 — the full penalty recorded after the 2002 conviction (The Independent).
- A 2021 profile in The List (pop-culture site) described her as the only member of the British royal family to have a criminal conviction.
The royal most associated with discipline and duty is also the only senior royal with a criminal record. The 2002 conviction cost her £500, but the official record shows the workload did not stop: she remains on the palace’s list of active working royals (The Independent; The Royal Family).
Why this matters: the episode is the closest thing to a scandal in Anne’s public file — and it never defined her, because the record before and after the conviction is monotonously dutiful.
Does Princess Anne Have to Bow to Camilla?
The question keeps circulating because royal hierarchy is rarely written down in one public rulebook. What is documented is Anne’s rank: she is the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II (The Royal Family), and she has held the title The Princess Royal since (The Royal Family).
No. In the traditional order of precedence, daughters of the sovereign outrank spouses who married into the family — which is why Anne is not required to bow or curtsy to Camilla, the Queen consort.
What is the protocol for bowing in the royal family?
- Formal bows and curtsies are owed first to the sovereign; beyond that, the rules are looser and often a matter of personal choice.
- Precedence traditionally runs by blood before marriage: a daughter of the monarch ranks above a spouse who entered the family by marriage.
The implication: Camilla’s status as Queen consort is real, but it derives from her marriage to King Charles III — Anne’s older brother (The Royal Family) — while Anne’s status derives from birth.
Who does Princess Anne bow to?
- The sovereign — first her mother, Queen Elizabeth II, and now her brother, King Charles III — is the person royal protocol places above her.
- Whether formal gestures happen at all in private family settings is not documented, which is exactly why the question remains a search-engine staple.
The takeaway: protocol gives Anne a clean answer, and the real unknown is private — no one outside the family knows, or records, what happens when the cameras leave.
Do Camilla and Princess Anne Like Each Other?
The honest answer is that the public record says nothing definitive about private feelings. What is documented is proximity: the two women occupy the same family and the same ceremonial spaces, connected through Charles, Anne’s older brother (The Royal Family).
What is the relationship between Camilla and Princess Anne?
- Public appearances show two senior royals who work the same events without friction.
- They have been photographed sharing easy moments at official occasions — the kind of candids that keep the “do they get along?” question alive.
- The records reviewed here contain no public statement from either woman about the other, so private sentiment stays private.
Have Camilla and Princess Anne ever had public disagreements?
- No documented public disagreement appears in the sources used here.
- What appears instead is what royal-watching coverage describes as a cordial relationship — cooperative at official events, without signs of a close private friendship.
Body-language commentary will keep filling the gap because the institution won’t. The palace does not comment on family dynamics, which leaves photographs — not statements — as the only evidence.
The trade-off: the absence of documented drama is itself the finding. Two women who share a family and a public institution, and the most notable thing is that there is no notable public conflict.
Are Queen Anne and Queen Elizabeth Related?
The confusion is understandable: Princess Anne shares a name with an earlier Queen Anne, and the two get tangled up in search results. Queen Anne (1665–1714) was the last Stuart monarch; Queen Elizabeth II was a modern Windsor sovereign. The family link between them is so distant it is rarely worth drawing.
Who was Queen Anne?
- Queen Anne (1665–1714) was a Stuart monarch and the last of her dynasty to sit on the British throne.
- Her reign ended the Stuart line of sovereigns; the crown then passed out of her immediate family line.
Is Princess Anne named after Queen Anne?
- Not directly. Anne’s full name is Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise (The Royal Family), and nothing in the official account links that name to the Stuart Queen Anne.
What is the family tree connection?
- The connection is distant. Queen Anne died in 1714 without surviving heirs, which ended the Stuart line and opened the way to the Hanoverian succession.
- Princess Anne, born in (The Royal Family), sits in the modern line as the only daughter of Elizabeth II (The Royal Family) — a connection measured in centuries, not generations.
The pattern: the search query mixes two different Annes — one a Stuart queen with no surviving heirs, the other a working royal defined by duty. The only real link is the name.
Confirmed vs. Unclear: The Record So Far
Five decades of public life produce a long file. Here is what the sources agree on, and what they do not answer.
Confirmed facts
- Anne married Mark Phillips in 1973 and Sir Timothy Laurence in 1992 (The Royal Family).
- She has two children, Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall (History Extra).
- She pleaded guilty in 2002 under the Dangerous Dogs Act and was fined £500 (The Independent).
- She has been a working royal since 1969 (ABC News).
What’s unclear
- The exact personal relationship between Anne and Camilla beyond public appearances.
- Whether formal bowing protocol is followed in private family settings.
- The 20,000+ engagements figure comes from Wikipedia, not from an official palace count (Wikipedia).
- Where the 1992 wedding took place: Facts.net names Crathie Kirk, while the official biography does not specify (Facts.net (fact-file site)).
What the Sources Say
Three statements from the record sum up Anne’s position better than any paraphrase.
Anne is the first senior member of the royal family to be convicted of a criminal offence.
The Independent (UK newspaper)
She has been a working member of the royal family since 1969, undertaking public engagements from the age of 18.
ABC News (US broadcaster)
The official biography records a 1973 Westminster Abbey wedding, an April 1992 divorce, and a December 1992 remarriage — a private chronology that unfolded almost entirely in public view.
The Royal Family (official monarchy website)
The implication: the official record, the court report, and the news coverage each tell a different facet of the same working life.
Why This Still Matters
Anne’s position in the royal family is the product of two things: blood and attendance. She was born into rank and then spent more than five decades showing up for the duties that rank requires — beginning in 1969 (ABC News) and continuing through hundreds of official engagements (The Royal Family). For royal watchers trying to measure the monarchy’s continuity, the signal is clear: follow Anne’s engagement list, because it keeps running whether or not the cameras are there.
Related reading
- Antony Armstrong-Jones: Photographer and Royal Scandal — another royal life pulled between public duty and private life.
- Next of Kin: Definition, Legal Meaning, and Who Qualifies — the kind of family-status question that surfaces when royal and legal definitions collide.
Frequently asked questions
What is Princess Anne’s net worth?
No official figure exists. The Royal Family’s website does not publish a personal net worth for Anne, and the numbers that circulate online come from third-party estimates, not palace records.
Does Princess Anne have a formal title?
Yes — The Princess Royal. She has held the title since , and the official record identifies her as the seventh Princess Royal in the monarchy’s history (The Royal Family).
What is Princess Anne’s role in the monarchy?
She is a senior working royal. The official site lists her as carrying out hundreds of official engagements and as patron or president of numerous charities and organisations (The Royal Family).
Is Princess Anne a working royal?
Yes. She has been a working member of the royal family since 1969, when she began undertaking public engagements at the age of 18 (ABC News).
How many engagements does Princess Anne do per year?
The palace does not publish an annual per-royal count. The official site refers broadly to hundreds of official engagements (The Royal Family), while Wikipedia’s 20,000+ cumulative figure is the tally most often repeated in profiles (Wikipedia).
What charities is Princess Anne associated with?
The Royal Family lists Anne as patron or president of numerous charities and organisations, without specifying a single focus area (The Royal Family).
Is Princess Anne required to curtsy to Camilla?
No. Because Anne is the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II (The Royal Family), traditional precedence places her above the Queen consort in formal settings; private family practice is not documented.
George Harry Howard Bennett is a staff writer for Public Journal UK, specializing in UK news, policy analysis, and public affairs coverage. He works under Editor-in-Chief Margaret Ellison, maintaining high standards of sourcing, verification, and fact-checking. Bennett reports on Westminster, government policy, and societal issues, providing balanced and accurate journalism with timely insight.