25 YEARS OF togetherness

THE PRINCESS ROYAL CELEBRATES A HAPPY MILESTONE

source describing them as “too hot to handle”, but the news of Anne’s “friendship” with another man caused a huge stir.

The bride married in a low-key ceremony in Scotland, several months after her divorce came through.

Tim, who rose to the position of Vice Admiral in the Royal Navy before retiring in 2010, keeps a low profile and rarely accompanies his wife to royal engagements, other than weddings and Trooping the Colour.

The couple are said to lead quite separate lives, but as one source says, “That may be the secret to why their marriage has lasted so long.”

It was one of the few bright spots in the Queen’s annus horribilis. While the marriages of two of her other children were coming apart at the seams in full public view in 1992, at least there was a happy occasion to celebrate, with her only daughter walking down the aisle for the second time.

Princess Anne (67) and

Sir Timothy Laurence (62) are celebrating their 25th anniversary this week, making Anne the longest married of the Queen’s four children.

Anne was previously wed to Mark Phillips for 15 years but that union was already ailing when she met naval officer Tim in 1986, after he went to work as an equerry for the Queen.

There was a scandal in 1989 when letters Tim had written to still-married Anne were stolen and sent to a newspaper. The letters were never published, with one

Wedding day, 1992. Anne and Tim had to marry in Scotland because at the time, divorced people with a living spouse couldn’t marry in the Church of England. Left: Looking after Savannah Phillips at Gatcombe Park Horse Trials in 2011.

In uniform and paying their respects at aservice to honour those who lost theirlives in Afghanistan. Attendinga film premierein 1993. At a formal dinner in Uzbekistan, the year after the couple wed.Clockwise from left: Tim, Anne, Prince Philip, the Queen, Zara Phillips,Barbara Laurence and Peter Phillips. Her husband still puts a twinkle in her eyes.