On Wednesday, 15
August 1950, a new princess came into the royal family.
For the queen, she would become the only daughter of her four children.
But one that would certainly make her mark throughout the coming years.
She was married twice and known for her love of horses
to the point of competing at the Olympics.
she was also at the centre of a kidnapping attempt in 1974.
A lady who has been accused of being inflexible,
but as she said, she has always been the one to sit on the fence.
So join me now as we look back at the complicated
and, at times, scary life of Anne, princess royal.
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Today, it isn't easy to appreciate
just what a royal birth meant back in 1950.
hundreds of people had gathered at Clarence house for this big event.
Some people were so enthralled with the royals that they would camp out
for days waiting on every snippet of news forthcoming.
But eventually, the crowd's persistence was rewarded,
and the palace issued the bulletin.
Anne was born at 11:50 am and weighed in at exactly
6 pounds, and both mother and daughter were doing well.
It was a double celebration for Philip, who had also learned that day
he had just become a lieutenant commander in the navy
with a pay rise of just over 4 pounds per week.
It was a time of celebrations, and within two weeks,
the child's name was announced Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise.
Anne was christened at the music room in Buckingham palace; bombs
destroyed the chapel that would have been used in the second world war.
No outside guests were allowed to be present—only immediate family.
The principal guest is said to have performed impeccably at the event.
Anne was then handed over to the care of her Scottish nanny Helen
Lightbody.She would
be brought up in a typical upper-class fashion like her brother Charles.
Her parents were away for much of the time.
But times changed domestically for the Edinburgh's
on 6 February 1952
when king George VI died in his sleep at Sandringham.
Anne's mother would now take control and become queen
Elizabeth II.
Due to her mother's engagements, Anne would not see
her parents for weeks, sometimes months, due to their overseas tours.
But the princess became accustomed to this new way of life over time.
She would begin her education alongside her brother Charles.
Several years later, Anne found herself at Benenden boarding school;
her first term began on 20 September 1963.
Anne would make many new acquaintances
at the school, but very few remained close friends.
Her fellow pupils were told not to invest too much time in the princess
because it looked like a means to help them climb the social ladder.
But being the sovereign's daughter, she was unlike any other child in stature.
In the early years, her mother, the queen, would frequently
visit the school and take great interest in her daughter's education.
The headmistress, Miss Clark, once said that after an initial telephone
call from the queen, and given the fact you were actually talking to her majesty
on the telephone, it all became entirely regular,
informal and even relaxed.
Anne came through school with two A levels, one in history
and the other in geography, not a brilliant result and not one
to gain her a place at one of the top universities.
She didn't apply and, to this day, has no regrets about making that choice.
Anne, now 18, ended her formal education; her life now would follow a career
of public duties, a trend that has continued to this day.
When Princess Anne married Mark Philips in what at the time
was described as the fairy tale ceremony, it seemed to be the perfect fit.
Mark was set for a promising army career in one of the most fashionable regiments.
Although money was more of the focus at the start, Anne received
1200 pounds per week from the civil list while Mark earned 90.
Not ideal, knowing you could never match your wife
in terms of style in which his new bride had been brought up on.
The cars, servants, houses and furniture would all come from Anne's purse.
The best he could do was chip in with nothing.
Maybe Mark had married above his station, but
the couple remained in love and managed their accounts separately.
As the couple settled on family life, the rumours about Anne's
previous lovers disappeared.
Although she never intended to marry any of the suitors put forward.
But for Mark, he continued to struggle throughout their 16-year marriage.
Anne's position and money became the stumbling block; he couldn't
compete and felt totally alone and deserted.
Anne realised this and said to Mark, "you have to have something to call your own."
The idea of opting out of public life was never an option for Anne,
but she knew the difficulties now coming to the fore for her husband.
Anne was the dominant partner within two years of the marriage,
and Mark drifted alongside her.
Inevitably there was only one outcome of turning their fortunes around, divorce.
In 1974 one of the most
distressing events ever to unfold for the royal family occurred on the mall.
It was easily a time that the queen could have lost her only daughter.
The time was just after 7 pm the streets were deserted.
Anne's car was due to arrive at the mall
at 7:50, returning to Buckingham palace.
It was a time when royal cars travelled alone without any police protection.
The chauffeur-driven Austin Princess moved away,
but no one noticed a white Ford Escort that drifted into place behind.
At the wheel of the Escort was a madman and one that was armed.
His plan apparently took three years in the making and, if it worked,
would bank him 3 million pounds, but would subsequently prove to be a failure.
Ian Ball, the man behind the kidnapping event,
would pay the ultimate price for his actions.
Ball jumped out of his car, rushing towards the royal vehicle,
shooting as he ran; one bullet smashed the windscreen,
and another shot hit Jim Beaton Annes, personal police officer, in the chest.
Ball then ran around to try and open the door on Anne's side.
Ball screamed at her to get out of the car which she replied, "not bloody likely."
Ball received a blow to the back of the head from a passing pedestrian
called Ron Russell, who was himself a former boxer.
Russell then took Anne away from the scene.
Michael Hills, a police constable, arrived at the scene at that time.
Although he, too, was shot by Ball, Hills had already called
for additional assistance from other officers.
Peter Edmonds, a Detective Constable, was the one who responded, pursued,
and ultimately apprehended Ball.
Prince Philip summed up the kidnap attempt as only he could.
He said, "he felt sorry for Ian Ball, for princess Anne would have made his life
somewhat difficult," adding "if only he knew what he was getting himself
into." The princess said, "if someone is determined to attack you,
it's virtually impossible to prevent." She should know
from her personal experience on that March night in 1974.
When Anne and Mark divorced in 1992, it caused headline news throughout the world.
For the firm, it barely caused a ripple.
There would be no constitutional crisis, and although members of the commonwealth
were informed, it was nothing more than a courteous gesture.
The divorce was the briefest affair; neither Anne nor Mark attended,
and only witnessed by five people, two of which were reporters.
The palace claimed no one else was involved in the breakup,
but within a month, Anne had been spotted with a new man Tim Laurence.
In May of 1992, they both attended a ball at London's Grosvenor House.
Tim surprisingly had already ordered an engagement ring from his jeweller
in Winchester.
Anne had already accepted his proposal, and the queen's approval
which must have been sought was granted.
When stolen letters emerged, the truth about their relationship
began to come into the public eye revealing they had, in fact,
started the relationship three years before the divorce came through. Anne
and Mark had lived apart for two years showing the marriage had broken up.
But Mark took a vow never to speak of his marriage to Anne or its break up,
and he never has.
The contrast
between weddings for Anne could not have been more different.
Her first was the fairytale occasion fit for a princess.
But on 12 December 1992, she married a second time,
commander Tim Laurence and this wedding was simply a family affair,
with no triumphant parades or the sounds of marching bands.
No foreign royalty or other celebrity attended.
The wedding took place in the tiny parish
just outside the gates of Balmoral castle in the Scottish highlands.
The princess became the first royal family member to remarry
after a divorce since Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn in 1533.
Scotland was chosen not to embarrass the church of England; as
Scotland does not bar divorcees from remarrying in church.
When Anne married Tim, it's certain that this would never have happened
fifty years prior as he would not have been considered
suitable material for a princess and daughter of the reigning monarch.
Yet he was a servant to the queen for three years,
and his career was also on the rise through the ranks of the Royal Navy,
but his union with Anne would catapult him into the major leagues.
Over the years, the couple
has certainly proven they seem to be perfectly matched.
At times Tim has been known to calm his wife down and even in public.
It's a measure of the man and, without doubt, a notion that Mark
would have never openly spoken out in his time with the princess.
but Tim's once fairy tale fantasy of wedding a princess has come full circle
and is now a royal reality.
It's said she's either been very lucky
or just brilliant at weeding out her choice of acquaintances.
She doesn't impose rules on any, but if word leaks on conversations,
especially from Gatcombe, the doors close with a sudden finality.
As with all people who share common interests, Anne's friends
come mainly from the horsey set, a long line of equestrian favourites.
Anne likes nothing more than to sit at her kitchen table
with a coffee and discuss the latest gossip from the racecourse.
Prince Philip once said of Anne, "If it doesn't fart or eat hay,
she isn't interested." But Anne had a much more hands-on approach
to her children, possibly the most influential people in her life.
Her son Peter Philips was born on 15 November 1977,
a day after the fourth anniversary of his parent's wedding.
The event brought an enormous amount of interest at home and abroad.
The queen and duke became grandparents, and the queen's mother
was a great-grandmother.
Peter was an important addition to the royal family.
Still, his parents were determined to give him a normal
upbringing away from the spotlight, or at least as far away
as possible when you have the queen as your grandmother.
To his parent's credit, they have never flinched in their way
to bringing him up, and even today, Peter remains
without a title.
The princess royals daughter Zara was born on 15 May 1981.
She's four years younger than her brother.
Her name was unusual, but prince Charles is thought to have been
the man suggesting it.
Anne said because her baby was born rather suddenly,
Charles suggested Zara, which in greek means 'bright as the dawn.'
There was no doubting Anne's maternal love and pride for her latest child.
As the children grew, Peter's interest turned to rugby,
while Zara followed in her parent's footsteps, winning early awards
at competitions at her pony club. But Anne
and Mark never seriously pushed their children, wanting them
to take every opportunity to grind out their own individual style of life.
There was something quite refreshing about this.
Whatever else Anne and mark may have got wrong within their own lives,
it appears that when it comes to children, they have played an ace
by allowing both to live without outside pressures.
The conclusion is as parents, they should be proud
of their achievements.
Peter and Zara now seem unaffected by their parent's divorce
and now enjoy a mutual relationship with their mother,
father and stepfather.
In all the time Anne has been princess royal,
she has travelled the world carrying out public duties.
Many such occasions were the first for a member of the royal family.
As was the case in 1991 when she visited Kuwait
after the Gulf war, she was also the first royal to see Moscow
since the assassination of the Tsar's royal family back in 1918.
Although she has not always seen eye to eye with the press,
her mother has sometimes used them for favourable reports.
Anne, however, regards them as an unnecessary evil and one
with which she'd be more than happy not to deal with them.
She says the questions they ask me are meaningless;
she continued that if they see me in a place where children are dying
of starvation, they'll ask me what I had for breakfast.
Yet she knows the press will never go away.
The relationship between them and the palace has always been on a fine line.
The princess rarely gives the press any juicy headlines,
and she'll divulge anything personal to them.
James Whitaker royal reporter, once said if the royals are nice to us,
we'll roll over and have our tummies rubbed.
I think he and his colleagues will be waiting quite a long time before
Anne rubs anyone's tummy, although never say never!
Anne, now
aged 72, has led a remarkable life; for many years,
she was seen as the outsider to the point she acknowledged she was the odd one out.
Being pushed aside by her brothers and then their children,
Anne had to accept from an early age that she would never rise
to the heights of her mother.
But her personality has always remained something of an enigma.
Spontaneous and informal are traits she has discovered;
her humour can be biting at times, and her wit sharp.
Though she may lack a few personable skills, you cannot question
her intelligence, and many say she is the most articulate royal.
Anne has always disguised her inability to reach a wider audience,
as we've seen her dramatically pushed back over the years.
Although her training never came close to that of her brother Charles,
she has accumulated a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience
in world affairs.
She was combining youthful idealism with a pragmatic approach, and after all
her public service, Anne has become the most respected member of the firm.
The future of this dynasty is constantly questioned, and who knows,
it may well depend on the one person thought to be the odd one out.
Whatever happens in the coming years, the princess royal will have a voice,
and if all goes to plan, she will and would single handily
ensure its survival well into this century.