In no uncertain terms, Princess Anne has been a trailblazer within the Royal Family.

She made history at the 1976 Montreal Olympics as the first member of her family to participate by competing in the equestrian event.     

Today the Princess Royal celebrates her 75th birthday, yet she remains active, holding the title of the hardest-working royal. Last year alone, Anne attended 474 engagements, bringing her total to an astonishing 20,000 throughout her adult years.

A more unfortunate record that Anne holds is being the first of Queen Elizabeth II’s children to go through a divorce.

Anne and her husband Mark Phillips separated in 1989, publicly announcing their divorce filing in April 1992, ending nearly 19 years of marriage.

In his biography of the Princess Royal, titled “Anne,” Brian Hoey noted that upon Anne’s divorce from Mark and subsequent marriage to Sir Tim Laurence, she shared a unique historical link with her distant relative, Henry VIII.

Hoey recounted that when The Princess Royal wed Sir Tim in December 1992, she became the first significant royal to divorce and then remarry in 459 years. 

‘Once again, the Princess was achieving a first. She became the first royal to remarry post-divorce since Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn in 1533, after divorcing his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, that very year,’ Hoey stated.

The Princess Royal turns 75 today but has not let this slow her down. Anne holds the title for the hardest-working royal, taking on 474 engagements last year and a whopping 20,000 throughout her adult life

Anne shares an unfortunate similarity with her distant relative King Henry VIII, as revealed by royal author Brian Hoey 

Another royal, Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, did divorce her husband in 1901 – but she was not an immediate member of the Royal Family like the Princess Royal.  

The marriage was unusual for a royal one. While her wedding to Mark in 1973 took place in Westminster Abbey and was watched by an estimated audience of 500 million, her second was a much more low-key affair.

Anne and Sir Tim said their vows in a tiny parish church in Crathie, Scotland, on a chilly December afternoon.

According to Hoey, Scotland was deliberately chosen as the venue for the wedding.

He wrote: ‘Scotland was chosen to avoid any possible embarrassment to the Church of England as the Princess had so recently been divorced – the Church of Scotland does not bar divorcees from remarrying in church.’

Thankfully for Anne and Sir Tim the similarities between their wedding and Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn’s nuptial ends there.

The Tudor King’s marriage to his second wife ended with her execution – just three years after they walked down the aisle.

Fortunately, neither Anne nor Tim’s heads have rolled and they have now been married for over 30 years. In fact, Tim is widely regarded as the Princess’s rock.

Princess Anne with her second husband Sir Tim Laurence in December 1992. When the couple married Anne became the first divorcee royal to remarry in over 450 years

Henry VIII’s second wife Anne Boleyn. The Tudor King’s marriage to his second wife ended with her execution – just three years after they walked down the aisle

Sir Tim’s unwavering support has not gone unnoticed, with Anne’s son Peter Phillips praising him during a documentary marking the Princess’s 70th birthday. 

‘They both have an understanding of what being a part of the wider family means and what is required,’ Peter told the programme, as he discussed the ‘strong support’ his step-father gives his mother.

The couple reportedly met when Sir Tim was stationed on the Royal Yacht Britannia. 

At the time, Sir Tim was working for the Queen as the senior member of the British Armed Forces appointed to assist the royal family.

Despite reports that Anne and Mark were linked romantically to other people, the Queen was left upset by their divorce. 

According to author Robert Hardman’s book, Queen of Our Times: The Life of Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen found the divorces ‘deeply upsetting’. 

He quoted former staffers as saying that the divorces ‘distressed her much more than she let on’.

Anne and her first husband had two children – Peter and Zara – and the Princess Royal was desperate for her children to have as normal an upbringing as possible. 

To do so, she decided on behalf of her son and daughter that they would forgo much of the trappings of royal life. 

Anne and Sir Tim with their children Peter and Zara, along with  Sir Tim’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. Scotland was chosen as the location for the wedding because the Church of Scotland allows divorcees to remarry in their churches

Anne and Sir Tim in July 2025. They have now been married for over 30 years and Sir Tim is regularly called Anne’s rock 

Anne is considered something of a trailblazer within the Royal Family

Anne’s controversial decision happened immediately after the birth of her son Peter in 1977 when she decided her son would not be given a title. 

Writing in his biography of Princess Anne, royal insider Brian Hoey said that Anne did so because she believed ‘in this day and age a title would be more of a hindrance than an advantage as her children try to make their way in the world’.

Although Queen Elizabeth II reluctantly agreed to Anne’s request, Hoey wrote that she had been ‘anxious’ to give her firstborn grandson a title. 

And according to royal biographer Ingrid Seward, Elizabeth was left disappointed by her decision but was nevertheless persuaded to respect her daughter’s decision.

Despite not being bestowed the title of prince, Peter still grew up with many of the airs and graces that define the royals. 

After his birth Anne was quick to resume her own duties as a working member of the royals, which meant that Peter was brought up by a nanny.

Peter and later his sister also went to Gordonstoun, the same public school his grandfather Philip and his three uncles attended. 

Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Anne following the birth of Peter Phillips, who Anne decided would not be given a title

Hoey perfectly summarised Peter’s upbringing as ‘not exactly a run-of-the-mill commoner’. 

When Anne’s daughter was born in 1981, she again decided not to give her a royal title and broke convention in a different way when she named her Zara, an unusual name for a member of the Royal Family.

And the Princess Royal was very much involved with bringing up her daughter with a young Zara ‘never very far from Anne’s side’.  

Whether Anne succeeded in giving Zara and Peter a ‘normal’ life is up for debate but they certainly got the best of both worlds in many respects. 

While their cousins continue their roles as working members of the family, Anne’s children have had successful careers elsewhere.