The Gist
Princess Anne has been married to her current husband, Sir Timothy Laurence, since 1992.
She was previously married to Mark Phillips from 1973-1992.
The Princess Royal also once dated Queen Camilla’s ex-husband, Andrew Parker Bowles.
Princess Anne has been happily married to Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence since 1992, but before the duo tied the knot, the 75-year-old Princess Royal was involved with several other suitors—including Queen Camilla’s ex-husband, Andrew Parker Bowles.
Andrew Parker Bowles, Princess Anne, King Charles, and Queen Camilla at Royal Ascot in 2012.
Credit: Getty Images
As the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth, Anne has spent her entire life in the royal spotlight, famously earning the unofficial title of Britain’s hardest working royal. As a teen, however, the Olympian was rather “rebellious,” according to royal biographer Tom Quinn.
“Princess Anne’s past is, to say the least, colorful,” he said in the documentary Princess Anne: The 7 Loves of Her Life, perthe Daily Express. “Some of the boyfriends were considered incredibly unsuitable.”
Princess Anne near her home in Gloucestershire in April 1978.
Credit: Getty Images
Aside from Parker Bowles, those boyfriends included a former cavalry officer, a polo player, and a fellow equestrian. Anne eventually tied the knot in 1973 with her first husband, Mark Phillips; however, the marriage ended in divorce (and scandal) when both husband and wife were found to be having affairs. Finally, Anne settled down for the long haul with her second husband, Sir Timothy Laurence, who she met in 1986 and married in 1992.
Princess Anne and Sir Timothy Laurence on a royal visit to Uzbekistan in July 1993.
Credit: Getty Images
Ahead, here’s everything you need to know about Anne’s “colorful” relationship history, from her teenage suitors to her longtime love, Sir Timothy Laurence.
Gerald Ward, Sandy Harper, and Richard Meade
Princess Anne and Richard Meade at the Crookham Horse Trials in March 1971.
Credit: Getty Images
Anne was linked to several older men in her teens and young adulthood beginning with Gerald Ward, a “former cavalry officer” who had “close links” to her brother King Charles (then Prince Charles), according to the Daily Express. He was 12 years her senior.
“Anne felt she was being sort of pushed slightly, nudged towards this eminently suitable character and I think she was very young, he was much older,” royal biographer Tom Quinn said in the documentary Princess Anne: The 7 Loves of Her Life. “He was too tweedy.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the pair’s relationship “fizzled out within months.” Anne promptly moved on to polo player Sandy Harper, a move that reportedly “set off alarm bells” at home.
“Although he had this background which was vaguely acceptable, he dressed very much like a hippie, long hair, he wore beads, long cheese-cloth shirts,” Quinn explained. “But for Anne this was marvelous as she escaped that sort of tweedy world which was still core to the royal family.”
Again, the relationship didn’t last. Anne was then linked to Olympic equestrian Richard Meade, per People, whom she bonded with over their shared love of horses. Today, Meade’s kids are close friends with Anne’s nephews Prince William and Prince Harry—so much so that he is one of Prince Louis’s godparents.
Andrew Parker Bowles
Princess Anne and Andrew Parker Bowles at Royal Ascot in 2024.
Credit: Getty Images
According to royal author Sally Bedell Smith, Anne had her first date with Camilla’s ex-husband, Andrew Parker Bowles, at Royal Ascot in 1970, just weeks before her 20th birthday (her suitor, by contrast was 30 years old at the time). His father, Derek, was a “good friend” of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, per Elle, so the families were already acquainted.
The relationship didn’t last, however. According to multiple sources, Parker Bowles never could have married into the royal family because he was raised Catholic. (As Elle points out: even Meghan Markle, who went to Catholic school, had to get baptized into the Church of England before marrying Prince Harry.)
“It’s unclear when their romance wound down, but Anne had no shortage of young men interested in her, among them Mark Phillips, whom she first met in 1968,” Smith told the publication. “They announced their engagement early in 1973 and were married later that year.”
Parker Bowles, meanwhile, had already dated Camilla on and off by the time he met Anne. Along with her brother Charles, the group were in a so-called “love square” that ended when each of the four members married. After Andrew and Camilla tied the knot in the summer of 1973, Anne and Mark followed suit in November of that same year. Charles, for his part, married Princess Diana in 1981. All three marriages ended in divorce, however. Finally, in 2005, Charles and Camilla made their decades-long love story official by tying the knot. They were crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom nearly 20 years later.
Captain Mark Phillips
Mark Phillips and Princess Anne at a garden party in Wiltshire in June 1975.
Credit: Getty Images
Speaking of Anne’s first husband, Mark Phillips is an Olympic gold medal-winning equestrian and a retired British Army captain. As mentioned, the duo first met in 1968, however they didn’t begin dating until after her relationship with Parker Bowles ended in the early 1970s. Phillips eventually proposed on May 29, 1973 with a unique sapphire and diamond engagement ring.
“Do you think the marriage can withstand the enormous pressures of public duty and publicity that you have to endure?” The couple were asked at the time, per Brides, to which Anne quipped, “Can? It’s got to, hasn’t it?”
The couple tied the knot on November 14 of that same year in a lavish ceremony at Westminster Abbey. Anne was the first of Queen Elizabeth’s children to marry, and, what’s more, her royal nuptials were the first to be broadcast in color, per Brides. Roughly 500 million people watched worldwide.
In 1977, Anne and her husband welcomed their firstborn, son Peter. Daughter Zara followed in 1981. Four years later, the family became the embroiled in a scandal when news broke that Phillips had fathered a child with a woman named Heather Tonkin. He and Anne subsequently separated in 1989 and divorced in 1992.
Sir Timothy Laurence
Princess Anne and Sir Timothy Laurence on a royal visit to Singapore in November 2025.
Credit: Getty Images
As we now know, Anne also began an affair of her own during her marriage to Phillips with Royal Navy officer Sir Timothy Laurence. According to People, the pair “developed an affection for one another” soon after meeting in 1986. They began exchanging love letters, which were stolen from her desk in 1989. Anne and her husband separated later that same year. One month after their divorce was finalized, Anne and her new beau made their public debut. In December 1992, they tied the knot in a small ceremony in Scotland. The Princess Royal wore a “simple white suit,” per People, and said “I do” in front of roughly 30 guests.
The duo have remained a strong, stabilizing unit in the British royal family since then. In 2020, Laurence even made a joke about Anne’s type during the ITV documentary Anne: The Princess Royal at 70.
“It’s quite amusing that she married first an army officer and then a naval officer,” he said. “So there must be something about the military that attracts her.”
Read the original article on InStyle