After Mike Tindall revealed that the royal family have been forced to scale back celebrations for Princess Anne’s 70th birthday on Saturday because of Covid-19, FEMAIL has taken a look back at some of the royal’s most memorable moments.
Amongst the momentous occasions include the royal’s wedding to first husband captain Mark Phillips on 14 November 1973, and her debut as a flat race jockey on 23 April 1985.
Elsewhere, the Princess Royal can be seen carrying the torch during the official handover ceremony of the Olympic Flame at the Panathenaic Stadium, home of the 1896 Athens Games on 17 May 2012, and receiving an honorary degree from her sister-in-law, The Duchess of Cornwall at the University of Aberdeen on 14 January 2020.
It comes as former England rugby star Mike, who is married to Anne’s daughter Zara, said The Firm had planned to mark the milestone in Scotland but now alternative arrangements are being made.
However, he refused to divulge what celebrations are being planned – in case his mother-in-law is unaware.
The Duke of Edinburgh and Her Majesty, then Princess Elizabeth, in the private sitting room of Clarence House, with their children the Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal on 9 January 1951
Princess Anne in the paddock before mounting ‘Against the Grain’, as she made her debut as a flat race jockey on 23 April 1985
The Princess Royal and captain Mark Phillips on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on their wedding day on 14 November 1973
Zara Phillips with her mother, the Princess Royal, in the winner’s enclosure at Royal Ascot on 17 June 2003
The Princess Royal, Vice-Patron of the equine charity, The British Horse Society, visiting the Addington Equestrian Centre near Buckingham on 16 March 2020
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh’s only daughter turns 70 this weekend and it is likely a birthday gathering had been planned at the royal family’s Balmoral estate in Scotland, where the head of state is spending the summer with Philip.
Speaking on BBC’s The One Show on Tuesday night, Tindall said: ‘We did have plans – it would’ve been up in Scotland – but obviously with Covid and Aberdeen being locked down a bit, I think everything’s been scaled back a little bit.
‘It’s a shame. I’m sure we’ll do something as a family to celebrate her 70 amazing years, she’s just an incredible woman in terms of how much work she can get through in the year.
‘We will be doing something, as yet I don’t know whether she knows – so my lips are sealed.’
Birthday celebrations started early for Princess Anne, with the Daily Mail’s Sebastian Shakespeare revealing this week how she enjoyed a lunch with her mother the Queen.
The Queen, then Princess Elizabeth, with the Princess Royal as a baby on 21 October 1950
Princess Anne and the Prince of Wales sitting among the daffodils in the grounds of the Royal Lodge, Windsor, Berkshire on 22nd April 1954 (left), and pushing round the Duke of York in a pram on the grounds of Balmoral on 8 September 1960 (right)
Her Majesty and the Princess Royal pushing the pram of the Duke of York during a walk in the grounds at Balmoral on 8 September 1960
Her Majesty holding the Earl of Wessex as a baby with (left to right) the Duke of York, the Princess Royal, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh on 21 April 1965
The Royal Family in the gardens at Frogmore, Windsor, including (left to right) the Duke of Edinburgh, the Princess Royal, the Earl of Wessex as a toddler, Queen Elizabeth II, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York. Pictured, on 21 April 1968
Her Majesty, the Prince of Wales, the Earl of Wessex, the Duke of York and the Princess Royal listening to the Duke of Edinburgh on a bridge in the grounds of Frogmore, Windsor on 21 April 1968 of Queen Elizabeth II
The Queen with the Princess Royal and the Prince of Wales as they passed through the crowds at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney during the Royal Tour of Australasia on 3 April 1970
The Princess Royal with the Sportswoman of the Year award, which was given to those who has done most to enhance British sporting prestige internationally. Pictured, on 6 December 1971
The 69-year-old and her fiance Captain Mark Phillips after the announcement of their engagement on 30 May 1973
The Princess Royal and Captain Mark Phillips leaving after their wedding ceremony at London’s Westminster Abbey on 14 November 1973
The Princess Royal curtseying for her mother, Queen Elizabeth II, after she married Captain Mark Phillips at Westminster Abbey on 14 November 1973
The Princess Royal in her team uniform at Heathrow Airport when she flew off to the Montreal Olympic Games with the rest of the squad on 13 July 1976 (pictured left) and (right) her Majesty with the Princess Royal, and her son Peter Phillips, at Buckingham Palace, after his christening on 22 December 1977
The Princess Royal, pictured on File photo dated 22 December 1977, holding her 37 day old son, Master Peter Mark Andrew Phillips, surrounded by (left to right) (back) Captain Hamish Lochore, The Duke of Edinburgh, Anne Phillips Prince Charles, the Queen, Mr Peter Phillips, Captain Mark Phillips, the Queen Mother, Mrs Timothy Holderness-Roddam (Horse rider Jane Bullen) and Lady Cecil Cameron of Lochiel and Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone (front left)
Sally Mugabe, the first lady of Zimbabwe, inspecting the Princess Royal’s bouquet at the Savoy Hotel where they were guests at the Women of the Year Luncheon on 26 October 1981 (left), and Princess Anne and her fiance Captain Mark Phillips, in the Concorde 002 on 23 October 1973
The Queen Mother, the Princess Royal, Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret, at the Abergeldy sale of work, organised by the Queen Mother on 20 August 1955
Princess Anne with first husband Mark Phillips (left) and husband Tim Laurence during the presentation ceremony of the Doubleprint Festival of British Eventing at Gatcombe Park near Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire on 2 August 2003
The royal appearing pleased after her daughter Zara Phillips finished in second place on Toytown at the Burghley Horse Trials, Stamford, Lincolnshire 7 September 2003
Princess Anne out fox hunting with the Duke of Beaufort’s hounds on 31 May 2005 (pictured, left and right)
The Princess Royal dressed for the rainy weather on 26 May 1984. Anne, who celebrates her 70th birthday on Saturday, is famed for her hardwork and no-nonsense approach to life
The Princess Royal attending a news conference as part of London’s 2012 bid for the Olympic Games in Singapore on 4 July 2005 (left) and watching Scotland play Wales in the RBS Six Nations Championship 2007 at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh on 10 February 2007 (right)
Her Majesty hosted a secret, socially distanced lunch with her daughter, at Frogmore House, an empty private royal residence on her Berkshire estate.
No other members of the Royal Family were present, and only minimal staff who are part of the Queen’s castle ‘bubble’.
Buckingham Palace would not confirm why mother and daughter met but it is believed to have been an early birthday lunch for the Princess Royal.
The royal, who is famously low-key, was believed to have been marking the occasion with a sailing trip around the west coast of Scotland with her husband Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, according to Vanity Fair.
Despite the limitations of Covid-19, Anne’s milestone has been marked by a TV documentary – where Sir Timothy said sailing was their favourite holiday pursuit.
‘Our ideal break, if we have a break, is to go up to our boat on the west coast of Scotland and spend a few days sometimes getting wet and cold,’ he said.
He added that once on board their 44-foot yacht, the princess is the better sailor.
‘I navigate. I know how to get from A to B. But she’s a better sailor of the boat, better at setting the sails.’
Princess Anne, who celebrates her 70th birthday on Saturday, arriving at Royal Ascot on 20 June 2006
The Princess Royal presenting the Duke of Sussex with his campaign medal on 5 May 2008
The Princess Royal at the Festival of British Eventing at Gatcombe Park, the Gloucestershire home of the princess on 3 August 2008
Zara Phillips scratching her face as she speaks with her mother, the Princess Royal, during The Festival of British Eventing at Gatcombe Park, the Gloucestershire home of the Princess Royal on 3 August 2008
The Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal during the Braemar Gathering Highland Games in Scotland on 5 September 2009
The Princess Royal before she presented Iraq medals to members of the 7 Armoured Brigade at Twickenham Stadium in London before the start of the England v Scotland Six Nations match on 21 March 2009
Princess Anne arriving by boat on the third day of the annual Henley Royal Regatta in Henley-on-Thames, Oxford on 2 July 2010
In the ITV film, the princess suggested that social media is adding to the pressures already faced by younger members of the royal family, like the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Anne, who has also marked her birthday by guest-editing Country Life magazine, was followed by film-makers for more than a year to make the programme, which featured unseen family footage and conversations with her children, Peter Phillips and Zara, and her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence.
Speaking about the younger members of the monarchy, she said: ‘The pressure that is applied to the younger members of the family is always worse, because that’s what the media is interested in and that’s, you know, hard sometimes to deal with.’
Anne also said she hoped her legacy would be the passing-on of her knowledge and experience.
When she guest-edited Country Life, the princess paid tribute to her parents for instilling in her a lifelong love of nature.
Anne also wrote about holding an HGV licence, how she hates fly-tipping, and sees herself when she writes about rural affairs as a ‘classic Jack of all trades’.
She penned: ‘I was equally fortunate that both my parents had a love and understanding of the natural world through their own experiences.’
The Duchess of Cornwall (left) and the Princess Royal arriving to watch the Team Eventing Jumping Final on day four of the London Olympic Games at Greenwich Park, London on 31 July 2012
The 69-year-old carrying the torch during the official handover ceremony of the Olympic Flame at the Panathenaic Stadium, home of the 1896 Athens Games on 17 May 2012
The Princess Royal smiles as she arrives at the Great Yorkshire Show, Harrogate, North Yorkshire on 9 July 2014
Princess Anne speaking with British Athletes during the Team GB Welcome ceremony during the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games in Krasnaya Polyana 6 February 2014
The Princess Royal attending a Magna Carta 800th Anniversary Commemoration Event at the Magna Carta memorial in Runnymede, near Egham, Surrey on 15 June 2015
The Princess Royal takes her seat, having received an honorary degree from her sister-in-law, The Duchess of Cornwall at the University of Aberdeen on 14 January 2020
The Princess Royal taking a ride on the Newcastle Metro Train from Jesmond to Haymarket in Newcastle, after she officially opened the revamped Haymarket Metro Station on 29 March 2020
Her Majesty and the Princess Royal during the Braemar Royal Highland Gathering at the Princess Royal and Duke of Fife Memorial Park, Braemar on 1 September 2018
Princess Anne handing the Calcutta Cup to Scotland captain John Barclay during the Natwest Six Nations match at BT Murrayfield, Edinburgh on 24 February 2018
Princess Anne attending a Freedom of Entry parade for the Household Cavalry in Windsor, Berkshire on 18 May 2019 (left) and on the opening day of the Festival of British Eventing at Gatcombe Park, Gloucestershire on 3 August 2018 (right)
The Princess Royal and Zara Tindall during the RSA Insurance Novices’ Chase during day two of the Cheltenham Festival at Cheltenham Racecourse on 11 March 2020
Anne is famed for her hard work and no-nonsense approach to life and, like the rest of the nation, has been coping with life under lockdown.
The princess – christened Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise – was born at Clarence House on August 15 1950 and is the younger sister of the Prince of Wales.
She married her first husband, fellow horseman Captain Mark Phillips, in 1973.
The couple survived a kidnapping attempt the following year and had two children – Peter, born in 1977, and, four years later, Zara, a silver medal-winning Olympic horsewoman.
Anne decided her children would not have royal titles.
The princess married her second husband, Sir Tim, in a low-key ceremony in 1992, after her first marriage ended in divorce after 19 years.
A keen equestrian, she was voted the BBC’s Sports Personality of 1971 and went on to represent Great Britain at the 1976 Montreal Games as a member of the British three-day event team.
She is president of the British Olympic Association, a member of the International Olympic Committee and took part in London’s successful bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games.
In the documentary to mark her birthday, her son was asked to sum her up and replied: ‘Well, you know what, tenacious, I think, is a pretty good word to sum her up.’