While Princess Anne's divorce from Mark Phillips wasn't nearly as high-profiled
as Prince Charles' separation from Diana Spencer,
her marriage was overflowing with drama, infidelity, and conflict. What led Anne and
Mark down this path? Look no further — this is the real reason why Princess Anne got divorced.
Even if you don't consider yourself a fan of the royal family, it's safe to say that you're
probably aware of the institution's influence on its family members.
The royal family has a sordid history of impacting romantic relationships — just
think of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer, who met just a dozen times before getting married.
Princess Anne was also subject to such scrutiny and, as noted by Express, her family members had
a very heavy hand in her romantic life before her first husband even came onto the scene.
As it turns out, Anne was quite taken with Olympic equestrian Richard Meade, whom she met at age 20.
Meade was a whole 12 years older than the princess, but the two were reportedly smitten.
However, Anne's father, Prince Philip, did not approve of the match nor the age gap, and made his
feelings known about the situation. Brian Hoey, Anne's official biographer and friend of Meade's,
told Express that, due to familial pressures, the couple called it quits less than two years later.
Princess Anne had a number of suitors and, while her romantic life had been altered by
familial expectations, she was ready to meet her match. Along came Captain Mark Phillips,
a military man with a background in horse riding — a passion of Anne's. As reported by People,
Anne and Mark met while attending a horse riding event in Mexico City. It was 1968,
and it's clear that their common interest had quite a heavy hand in their meet-cute.
Mark was born in 1948 and, following in the footsteps of his family members,
joined the military. He went to school at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst,
and followed his education with a stint serving in the armed forces as a second lieutenant.
By the time he and Anne were an item, he had been promoted in rank to captain — hence,
the full formal title. In addition to his military service, Mark was an avid horse
rider and even won an Olympic gold medal in the British equestrian team event at the 1972 Games.
If Anne was attracted to a full resumé, Mark definitely checked off a lot of boxes.
While Princess Anne and Mark Phillips met in 1968, their love affair was not instantaneous.
In fact, Anne sparked a relationship with Andrew Parker Bowles and the two became quite close.
And yes, he was that Parker Bowles, as in Camilla Parker Bowles' now ex-husband.
Don't worry, we'll paint the picture:
As noted by Elle, Anne and Andrew started dating in 1970, and the Parker Bowles family and the
royal family went back quite a ways. Andrew's father was said to have been a friend of the
Queen Mother, so the fact that Anne and Andrew crossed paths is not particularly surprising.
So what happened between the couple that prevented them from taking the next serious step?
As noted by Brides, Parker Bowles was Catholic and, as such, wasn't actually allowed to marry
Anne — being that the royal family are the leaders of the Church of England. The two called it off,
and Andrew went on to marry Camilla in 1973. In that very same year, Anne announced
her engagement to Captain Mark Phillips. However, despite their short-lived romance,
Anne and Andrew remained close friends and continue to be in each other's lives to this day.
Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips announced their engagement in May 1973.
Despite their romantic relationship being briefly disrupted, the two got engaged about five years
after they met. First, let's talk about the ring. Rings are a big deal in the royal family.
After all, just think how poignant it is that Kate Middleton was gifted Diana Spencer's iconic blue
sapphire engagement ring when Prince William popped the question. Anne's engagement ring,
given to her by Mark, was no exception. As noted by Elle, Mark proposed with a
sapphire ring in a gorgeous square-cut shape. It was framed with two diamonds on either side,
and, based on the photo, was a serious rock that stood out on Anne's delicate finger.
As far as the engagement and announcement of the marriage goes, things are a little less exciting.
As noted by Brides, Anne and Mark were asked by the press if
their relationship could stand the test of time. Specifically, the couple were asked:
"Do you think the marriage can withstand the
enormous pressures of public duty and publicity that you have to endure?"
Anne responded with an emphatic:
"Can? It's got to, hasn't it?"
On November 14, 1973, Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips tied the knot in a ceremony that
was watched by spectators across the world. Anne was the first of her siblings to get married and,
as such, there was a lot of excitement in the air. When she emerged on the big day,
Anne looked stunning in a high-collared gown that featured bell-shaped sleeves
and a seven-foot-long train. In a touching nod to her mother, Anne wore the Queen Mary Fringe
tiara — the exact same tiara Queen Elizabeth wore on her wedding day to Prince Philip.
As you may have guessed, the ceremony took place at Westminster Abbey, and the area
was completely packed with spectators. When it came to the broadcast numbers,
about 500 million people tuned in to watch Anne and Mark tie the knot.
The event was so big, in fact, that it turned into an eight-hour-long broadcast on the BBC,
and November 14 was even declared a national holiday as a result.
Things naturally change when a married couple has children. Priorities shift, schedules change,
and life tends to get a bit more chaotic. But, for Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips,
the birth of their children marked a drastic shift in their relationship, and things did not rectify
for the better. Anne and Mark had two children together — Peter and Zara. They were born in 1977
and 1981, respectively, and the dynamic between the young parents began to change.
As noted by Express, Zara's birth marked a shift where Anne and Mark, quote,
"began to drift apart," and their distance became more and more obvious. It was in the early 1980s
that the two started to spend more time away from one another, and Mark even went as far as
significantly decreasing his presence at different royal occasions and outings. Things got so bad,
the couple began staying in different hotel rooms whenever they traveled out of the United Kingdom.
If one thing is for certain, the honeymoon phase for the couple certainly didn't last long.
While the royal family is known for putting on a brave face,
Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips did not try to hide that things were going poorly. Now,
it's important to remember that their marriage did not face the same level of scrutiny that, say,
Prince Charles and Diana Spencer's marriage did, so perhaps in that sense they were able to
be a little more free with their true feelings toward one another. In that regard, Anne had,
quote, "accepted being second in everything" when it came to both matters of the public
and personal sides of her life, as reported by People. Her crumbling marriage was no exception.
In the 15 years that Anne and Mark had been married, it was reported that neither was happy.
At the time that the union failed at overcoming its final hurdle,
People noted that the distance in the marriage was obvious to pretty much anyone who cared to
pay attention. Furthermore, Anne and Mark's relationship, by the time it truly crumbled,
was described as a "loveless union just drifting along." The couple were
said to have a "mutual indifference" for one another, to top it all off.
"What are we doing here?"
So what exactly happened between Princess Anne and Mark Phillips that caused such indifference
between them? Well, to start, Mark had a child with another woman while still married to Anne.
As noted by Tatler, Mark had an affair with Heather Tonkin, an art teacher from New Zealand,
which resulted in the birth of their daughter, Felicity, in 1985. It was confirmed in 1991 from
a DNA test that Mark was the father, but he had already been providing for the mother and child.
As reported by Express, Mark had been giving Tonkin about $8,300 a year. He hid the payment
in a sneaky way, as he officially hired Tonkin as a consultant relating to "equestrian matters." So,
why did the mom come forward? In 1991, Tonkin came to the press, as Mark had stalled on payments.
She said that her goal was to have Mark publicly accept their daughter,
and she also had the desire to list Mark on Felicity's birth certificate. Mark's agent,
John Erskine, reportedly threatened Tonkin before she went public, saying:
"I will make life a bloody misery for you."
What if we told you that there were more extramarital relationships on both Princess Anne's
and Mark Phillips' part? Well, there reportedly were, so we'll do our best to break it all down.
As noted by Harper's Bazaar, Mark had "semi-public
affairs" with Pamella Bordes — who was working as a call girl at the time,
a Canadian public relations executive, and an anchorwoman from a British television show.
On the other side of the coin, Anne was reported to be romantically linked to
Anthony Andrews, an actor, as well as her bodyguard, Peter Cross. In fact,
it was reported that Anne's alleged attachment to Cross was so strong that he was accused of
being "over-familiar" with her by officials at Scotland Yard which, if you're in the
business of being someone's bodyguard, is probably not the position you want to be in.
In fact, Cross went to the tabloids to talk about the involvement, as he was subsequently
let go from his post of protecting the princess. Calling it a, quote, "special relationship,"
Cross said that he and Anne were "close friends, extremely close friends," according to Express.
Of course, Anne's most-public rumored public affair was with Timothy Laurence.
There are a couple of scandals that stand out within the modern royal family history,
but one that stands out above the rest was the leaking of letters written to Princess
Anne from Commander Timothy Laurence, with whom she was reportedly having an affair.
As noted by People at the time of the scandal, four "intimate" letters that were for Anne's
eyes only were given to the Sun, one of Britain's biggest newspapers. They
were reportedly stolen from the palace — which sounds like the plot to a great Hallmark movie,
if you ask us. Because they didn't want to face legal retribution, the Sun handed the letters over
to Scotland Yard. However, that didn't stop them from publishing that they had the correspondence.
Despite having the info, the Sun didn't leak the contents of the letters. Nonetheless,
"public curiosity" took over. The palace eventually released a statement, saying:
"We have nothing to say about the contents of personal letters sent to Her Royal Highness by
a friend, which were stolen and which are the subject of a police investigation."
Talk about drama.
The letters sent to Princess Anne were not from a "friend," but rather from the man that she
had been reportedly seeing while still married to Captain Mark Phillips. According to People,
Commander Timothy Laurence was a, quote, "favorite of the royal family," as he had
joined the ranks of the palace entourage in 1986. He accompanied Queen Elizabeth during
a number of notable engagements, including her visit with Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev.
"And that was a massive deal in terms of the forming of relations between the UK and Russia."
Of course, things between him and Anne started to get more and more involved,
and it came as quite a gesture when the princess appointed Laurence as
one of her personal advisors to her trust. A source told People:
"The appointment just shows Anne's affection for him."
By all accounts, the feelings were reciprocated,
and another friend of Laurence's told People that he'd "never stopped
thinking" about the princess after they met for the first time. The friend said:
"Anne has treated him as her closest confidant for some considerable time.
Obviously, Tim and the princess were physically attracted to each other,
but their friendship goes deeper than that [...] he cares for her in the way her husband does not."
As time went on, Princess Anne and Mark Phillips lived separate lives — even
taking turns traveling to avoid each other. Initially, they stated that they didn't
have any plans to actually get divorced, and instead announced a simple separation in 1989.
However, as most of us know, an inch of space in a romantic relationship quickly turns into a mile,
and Anne and Mark became one of the fatal pairings within the royal family that called it quits,
for good, in 1992. As reported by United Press International, the couple was granted a divorce
after 18 years of marriage — and this was the "third failed marriage" for the royal family
that year alone. Anne was the one who officially requested the divorce, but it was widely noted at
the time that the intent to divorce was mutual. It took the judge presiding over the case just
four minutes to approve the divorce and, as such, the ex-couple went their separate ways.
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