When Princess Anne married for the second time in 1992 (the same year she divorced her
first husband, Mark Phillips), she was doing the type of thing that would've caused Twitter
tornados — or full-blown apocalyptic storms — today. Anne officially became the second
British royal ever to remarry. The first, you ask? King Henry (the wife-murdering) Eighth.
Had her rebellious aunt, Princess Margaret, not set a royal precedent when she separated
from Lord Snowdon 11 years prior, Anne's separation from Mark Phillips in 1989 might have brought
Great Britain's tabloid industry to its knees. As it was, the same year Princess Anne divorced,
both Diana and Charles and Andrew and Fergie announced their respective separations. Royal
rifts were in vogue.
Royal remarriages were not. And had Princess Anne had her heart set on marrying her second
husband, Timothy Laurence, in England, she may never have remarried at all. But Anne
and her second husband opted for a much quieter event. The two tied the knot in front of 30
guests at Crathie Church in Scotland, near the royal family's favorite summer getaway,
Balmoral. Reporters weren't invited to the party. In fact, UPI first notified the public
of an upcoming wedding just a week prior to the ceremony. A spokesman told the press,
"Due to the level of speculation about the matter, we decided to confirm that the princess
royal and Commander Laurence are planning to marry. But I cannot say where and when."
Princess Anne could not have remarried in England because The Church of England forbade
remarrying at the time. The Church of Scotland, however, did not. And while Margaret ultimately
decided not to elope, Anne made a very different decision.
Princess Anne and her soon-to-be second husband escaped to Balmoral. There, in front of her
mother, Queen Elizabeth; her father, Prince Philip; and her brothers Charles, Andrew,
and Edward, the princess remarried. Even Anne's grandmother attended, an extraordinary event
given, as Los Angeles Times reports, that The Queen Mother had been hesitant to do so,
in light of Princess Anne's scandalous divorce. According to The New York Times, a crowd of
500 and an additional 150 journalists waited outside the church. None were invited in.
When Princess Anne was gearing up to marry Mark Phillips in 1973, the media asked the
young couple whether or not they thought "marriage can withstand the enormous pressures of public
duty and publicity that you have to endure." Anne reportedly answered,
"Can? It's got to, hasn't it?"
It didn't. The princess' second marriage, however, stood the test of time. Gossip columns
still swoon at the two of them on dinner dates.
What keeps them together? In a recent and rare public interview, Laurence reflected
that he and his wife
"are both map and chart people. We like to know where we are and see where we are going."
"Inevitably it takes people quite a long time to find their feet in terms of what's going
to suit them, for any young person."
Princess Anne and Mark Phillip's 1973 wedding was everything her 1992 wedding was not. Around
1,500 guests attended her Westminster Abbey ceremony. An additional 500 million watched
it on television. Princess Anne and Mark Philip's wedding day — which corresponded with Prince
Charles' 25th birthday — was declared a national holiday. She arrived at the event
in a horse-drawn carriage. Her wedding cake was the size of herself, five feet, six inches,
and she walked down the aisle with her grandmother's diamond tiara.
In many ways, Anne's second wedding was truer to the princess' character. Anne, famous for
having a temperament similar to her father's, has never particularly appreciated press attention.
In her youth, she was a black sheep. To this day, she's the only royal to have received
a criminal conviction — for not minding her dogs properly, but that's another story.
Most of all, Princess Anne has never been a fan of the fairytale. Anne once told ABC
News,
"As a young princess, I was a huge disappointment to everyone concerned […] It's impractical
to go around in life dressed in a long white dress and a crown."
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