A brand new picture of Princess Anne has been released to mark her 75th birthday tomorrow showing her smiling as she poses outside her Gatcombe Park home
Princess Anne gives an amused smile in a brand new photograph released to mark her 75th birthday.
The Princess Royal, who celebrates the three-quarters-of-a-century milestone tomorrow, is pictured near a window outside her Gatcombe Park home in Gloucestershire. The photo comes as the King’s younger sister, often hailed as the Royal Family’s most hard-working member, has swerved any major public celebration for her day.
She is marking her birthday privately and is believed to be spending it alone with her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence sailing around the Western Isles of Scotland. Her birthday comes after Buckingham Palace was forced to remove an Anne birthday post after major family gaffe.
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The official portrait released for her birthday was taken by celebrated photographer John Swannell last month. It shows Anne in a clean-lined colour-blocked royal blue dress with a contrasting bright white high collar, matching cuffs and white buttoned central trim.
The princess, who is known for recycling her outfits decades later, wore the same dress at the King’s Awards at St James’s Palace in June.
The image captures a relaxed-looking Anne, with her hair self-styled in her signature bouffant, resting her hand on a stone windowsill at Gatcombe.
Swannell was also tasked with taking the official photographs for Anne’s 70th, and previously photographed Diana, Princess of Wales and her sons, the late Queen for her official diamond jubilee portrait in 2012, Sir Tony Blair, Sir Michael Caine and Sir Elton John.
Another image of Anne by photographer Chris Jackson was released last week showing the princess in a tiara and gown with Sir Tim on the night of the Windsor Castle state banquet for French President Emmanuel Macron.
Anne supports more than 300 charities and organisations, and earlier this year brought many of them together at a special Buckingham Palace forum, insisting this was the only way she wished to mark her forthcoming 75th birthday.
A palace source said: “This personifies what Her Royal Highness cares about. She didn’t want to do anything for her birthday but bring her charities together to hear more about their work and how she can help them.”
It was at the princess’s Gloucestershire estate just over a year ago that she was taken to hospital after she was believed to have been struck by a horse.
She was treated in intensive care for concussion and minor head injuries, spending five nights at Southmead Hospital in Bristol. The princess, who was back on royal duties less than three weeks later, has said she has no memory of the incident but now views every day as a “bonus”.
The King ’s sister, referred to in royal circles as his “most trusted lieutenant” is often labelled the hardest-working royal after consistently clocking up more public engagements year after year than any other member of The Firm.
But rather than slowing down, well into retirement age she is doing more than ever. Those who know her best celebrated the senior royal for her “wicked wit”, practical approach to problems, and a flair for “not always agreeing” with what they say.