Her official debut took place 50 years ago, on March 1, 1969 — St David’s Day — when she handed out leeks to the Welsh Guards at Pirbright Camp in Surrey.
Wearing a short, spring-green coat and a red and gold peaked military-style hat with a gold chain at the front, Princess Anne stepped on to Elizabeth Barracks, braving a biting north-easterly wind, to present the Welsh national symbol to the guardsmen.
An important ceremonial occasion certainly, but hardly the most glamorous of royal or public duties. Yet since then she has never stopped, carrying out up to five engagements a day and clocking up more than 20,000 in total — that’s 400 plus a year — many on behalf of the 340 charities and causes of which she is either president, patron or a member.
Princess Anne visits Pirbright Barracks, Surrey and presents leeks to the Welsh Guards on St David Day in 1969. This is to be the first of over 20,000 public engagements during her now 50 years in public service. She wears a short, spring-green coat and a red and gold peaked military-style hat with a gold chain at the front
The Duke of Edinburgh shares a joke with his daughter Princess Anne at the general assembly of the International Equestrian Association at the Waldorf Hotel, London. The Princess Royal is known for her talents at horse riding and is the first member of the British Royal Family to have competed in the Olympic Games equestrian sports
Some, it must be said, are stultifyingly boring, though when I once mentioned this aspect of her work, her reply was a masterpiece of diplomatic understatement. ‘Some are perhaps less interesting than the others,’ she said.
Always near the top in the annual league table for engagements carried out by working royals, Anne has worked tirelessly for causes in Britain and abroad.
Anne maintains an old-world sense of formality — witness the very full curtsey she gave to King Abdullah of Jordan last week — while being the Royal Family’s most willing moderniser.
But if younger royals and new recruits to The Firm need a role model, then there is no one better.
Princess Anne at a meeting of the British Olympic Association in 1984, who which she has served as president for over 40 years. Anne first participated in the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal as a member of the British team, riding the Queen's horse, Goodwill
Duties can vary greatly for the Royals, and include some somber occasions. Here Princess Anne talks to John Young, 42, a civil servant from Belfast who survived the M1 Kegworth air crash in Leicestershire that killed 47 people and injured dozens more
The range of her interests is breathtaking: from Accessible Oceans (which aims to facilitate the disabled on water), the Acid Survivors Trust (to end acid and burns violence globally) and the Animal Health Trust, to Women in the Royal Navy (of which she is Admiral, Chief Commandant, her only uniformed appointment), Riding for the Disabled and the Butler Trust, an organisation that rewards high standards in prison work.
During one visit to Cardiff Prison she met a man who was just starting a life sentence. He told her how different she looked from photographs, saying: ‘You’re much better looking and younger. I could even fancy you.’
It didn’t faze the Princess, and she was in no hurry to escape, laughing and joking with inmates and officers alike.
Anne has travelled the world as a royal and on behalf of her organisations — recent trips include Bangladesh, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Ethiopia and Bosnia — meeting everyone, from presidents and prime ministers to some of the most vulnerable people in the world.
The Queen and Princess Anne in the cockpit of a Concorde having points explained by Brian Trubshaw, BAC's chief test pilot, during a visit to Concorde 002 at London Heathrow Airport. The mother and daughter pair are known to attend engagements together from time to time
Duties can also include hosting international dignitaries. Princess Anne sits with King Felipe VI of Spain at a banquet in the Guildhall during a State visit by the King and Queen of Spain on July 13, 2017 in London, England. This was the first state visit for the Spanish Royal Family since 1986 with King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia
In that context, she’s perhaps best known for her work with Save the Children, a charity she became president of in 1970, a role she held until 2016, when she accepted the position of patron in succession to her mother.
She concedes that being royal opens doors — and that is all she asks. Once inside she knows it is up to her and the charity officials.
Her credo is helping those in need, no matter who they are or where they come from. They may be refugees from civil war-torn countries such as the Yemen, Marxist-controlled countries, orphans in any of the one-party states of Africa or young mothers in India and Bangladesh.
It makes no difference to her; she never becomes involved in any of the political problems.
As she once famously remarked following an African tour: ‘I don’t come here looking for trouble. I come to see if I can help.’ And in response to a comment on her supposed lack of the maternal instinct, she said: ‘You don’t have to like children particularly to want to give them a decent chance in life.’
