TUESDAY will be a very special day for Princess Anne.
With second husband, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, she will celebrate 25 years of marriage.
It was on December 12, 1992, just months after divorcing Captain Mark Phillips, father of her children Peter and Zara, that Anne wed Timothy, a Royal Navy commander.
The wedding was at Crathie Kirk, close to Balmoral Castle.
It took place in Scotland because the Church of England back then didn’t allow divorced people to marry in its churches if their former spouse was still living.
As the Church of Scotland doesn’t consider marriage a sacrament, and therefore not binding for all time, it had no such qualms, and Anne became the first royal divorcee to marry again since Victoria’s granddaughter married a Russian Grand Duke in 1905!
Tim received no peerage, and they leased a flat at London’s Dolphin Square, later moving to Gatcombe Park and keeping a flat at St James’s Palace.
They have had no children, and we have barely heard a word from Tim in all these years.
It was while serving as an Equerry to the Queen that Tim first met Anne.
Although he was knighted in the summer of 2011 as a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, he doesn’t undertake official royal engagements.
He does, however, accompany his wife on a regular basis, and on these occasions is listed as Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence.
As well as advising on defence matters, Sir Tim is involved these days in the property and business worlds.
Five years younger than Anne, Sir Tim was born in Camberwell, South London, on March 1, 1955, to Commander Guy Stewart Laurence and Barbara Alison Laurence.
He attended the University of Durham on a Naval Scholarship, graduating with a 2.1 in geography. While there, he edited the student newspaper, Palatinate, and was the captain of the college cricket team.
After leaving, he soon became a respected figure in the Royal Navy — in March 1977, he was promoted to Lieutenant and posted to HMS Aurora.
The couple keep their private yacht, a Rustler 44 model named Ballochbuie, near Ardfern at Loch Craignish.
When either of them needs to wind down after major events or overseas tours, you can bet your mortgage on finding them at Loch Craignish.
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