Sean McPolin

after she paid a trip to Medway and Maidstone hospitals in December. On her visit to Maidstone, she officially opened the hospital’s new helipad, which will mainly be used by the air ambulance.

She then headed to the maternity and emergency department at Medway Maritime Hospital, Gillingham, to meet staff and patients.

The mother-of-two is an old hand at such visits. In 1971 aged just 21, she met and chatted with people as she opened a £500,000 outpatients wing at West

Hill Hospital in Dartford.

The Princess Royal is a patron of The Royal College of Midwives and

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine and was looking at improvements made by the award-winning

Medway unit.

She is part of more than 300 charities organisations and military regiments, and regularly tops the leader board as the family member carrying out the most public engagements.

She is also a keen sportswoman, winning BBC Sports Personality of the year in 1971 and is the mother of Olympic silver medal-winning Zara Phillips.

Horse-lover Anne was again in

Kent in 2017 when she headed to the Arrow riding centre in Darenth Park Avenue, Dartford. Her Royal Highness arrived via helicopter, touching down at the nearby Leigh Academy, and was shown round the centre and introduced to those who keep it running.

At the time the centre was aiming to raise more than £200,000 for a few key projects later that year, including £196,000 for an extension of the indoor area, which would make it eligible to host qualifying events for the Paralympics.

The 70-year-old has visited Kent a number of times for sports-related trips, including in November 1986 when she took part in the 3pm

Leeds Amateur Riders’ Stakes, at Folkestone racecourse. Princess Anne rode Glowing Promise and managed to finish in third place.

Just 14 years prior to her Folkestone race she became the first member of the Royal family to compete in the Kent County Show, where she again came third in the Spillers Open competition. In August 1968, she was pictured with her mother keenly watching the Eridge Horse Trials in Tunbridge Wells.

Queen Elizabeth handed out trophies for the event, including a rosette for her daughter who came fifth in