The royal family celebrated the Princess Royal’s 73rd birthday today (Tuesday 15 August) with a sentimental throwback photograph showing her as an infant with her eldest brother, King Charles III.
To mark the occasion, Buckingham Palace also released a previously unseen behind-the-scenes photograph of Princess Anne and the King at his coronation in May.
The royal family’s official social media account shared the two images in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, with the caption: “Wishing Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal a very Happy Birthday today!”
One of the images is a black-and-white film photo of Anne as a small baby in a pram, dressed in a bonnet and a little dress. Beside her is Charles, who leans over from his pram to hold Anne’s hand and look at her, as she smiles.
The second image shows the siblings at the Charles and Queen Camilla’s coronation, which took place on 6 May.
Anne is pictured in her Royal Navy ceremonial uniform, which represents her role in that division of the army. She took on an important role at the ceremony as Charles’s Gold-Stick-in-Waiting and wore the dark green Thistle Mantle and the Thistle Collar, as well as other regalia in the proceedings.
Next to her again is Charles, wearing the ermine-caped Robe of Estate and St Edward’s Crown on his head. The siblings are looking at one another and smiling in the photo.
Royal fans praised the photos and sent their own well wishes to Anne.
One person wrote: “Aw these pictures are so lovely! She is such a supportive sister. Happy birthday to Her Royal Highness! I hope she will have a great day and a wonderful new year.”
Another said: My favourite royal. She is a rockstar! Tirelessly serves her country in the background.”
Last year, Anne was found to be the hardest-working senior member of the royal family after she attended a total of 214 engagements, according to a tally by Reboot SEO Company, using the Court Circular.
She beat out Charles, who came in second with 181 royal engagements over the past year. The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh ranked in third and fourth place respectively with 143 and 138 royal engagements.
Anne is also a firm favourite among royal fans, with an ongoing YouGov poll naming her the third most liked royal, behind only the late Queen Elizabeth II and the Prince of Wales. She places higher on the list than the King, the Queen and the Princess of Wales.
Photo dated 15/09/50 of Princess Elizabeth with her two children, Princess Anne and Prince Charles— (PA)
In an interview with Canada’s CBC News ahead of her brother’s coronation earlier this year, Anne cast doubt on the idea of a “slimmed-down monarchy”, which Charles is said to favour.
She defended the role of the monarchy in the modern world and said: “It’s perfectly true that there is a moment when you need to have that discussion. But I would just underline that the monarchy provides, with the constitution, a degree of long-term stability that is actually quite hard to come by in any other way.”
Asked about the suggestion of a slimmed-down monarchy, she replied: “Well, I think the ‘slimmed down’ was said in a day when there were a few more people around. It doesn’t sound like a good idea from where I’m standing, I would say. I’m not quite sure what else we can do.”
Anne is currently married to vice admiral Timothy Laurence, a retired Royal Navy officer and former equerry to the late Queen. Prior to that, she was married to Mark Phillips, with whom she shares Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips.
