All About Princess Anne’s Husband, Timothy Laurence

THE RUNDOWN

• Princess Anne and Vice Admiral Timothy Laurence have been married for over 30 years and are among the most present working royals.
• Laurence was Anne’s second marriage, and she had to fight to be allowed to marry him.
• The pair had their wedding in 1992 and have been together ever since.

Princess Anne and her relationship to her husband, Vice Admiral Timothy Laurence, was fictionalized in The Crown’s fifth season on Netflix. While there was some drama around their beginning, the royal couple has been married for over 30 years now and are among the most consistent and present of the working royals.

As the shows dramatizes, Princess Anne was married to Mark Phillips and shared two children with him, Peter and Zara. But there were rumors of infidelity on both sides. Marriage in the royal family is considered a serious duty more than a romantic gesture. Besides the scandal, the Church of England also forbids second marriages in the case of divorce. Anne ultimately had to fight for her marriage to Laurence, but it seems to have been worth it.

Here’s everything to know about Laurence and Princess Anne’s relationship to the decorated naval officer.

Timothy Laurence has a long history as a naval officer, long before he and Princess Anne developed a relationship. Laurence was born in March 1955 to a naval family. His father, Guy Stewart, was a naval commander. He and wife Barbara Alison Laurence sent Laurence to Durham University, which he attended on a naval scholarship, where he received a Bachelor of Science in geography.

By 1973, Laurence was a member of the Royal Navy and was then promoted to lieutenant four years later. In 1995, he was promoted to captain and commanded ships like the HMS Cumberland and the HMS Montrose. During that decade, he was also busy working for the UK Ministry of Defense, the Secretary of State for Defense, and at the Strategic Defense Review. He was promoted to rear admiral in 2004, then vice-admiral in 2007. Laurence retired in August 2011. Queen Elizabeth made him a knight commander of the Royal Victorian Order that same year.

Laurence interacted frequently with the royal family, given his status in the Royal Navy. He even worked as navigating officer in the family’s yacht, the Royal Yacht HMY Britannia. It’s possible that he and Princess Anne could have met aboard the boat, but that has never been confirmed.

In 1986, Laurence was posted to work for Queen Elizabeth as an equerry, a role similar to a royal assistant. By 1989, Laurence clearly had a close friendship with Anne, because he was only one of three trustees in the Princess Anne’s Charities trust, according to Radio Times.

It was a scandal when in 1989, personal letters between the pair were sent to The Sun. Even more shockingly, they did not publish them and in fact handed the letters over to the authorities at Scotland Yard. Anne was still married to her first husband, Mark Phillips, but Buckingham Palace released a statement at the time. They admitted they were written by Laurence and stolen.

“The stolen letters were addressed to the Princess Royal by Commander Timothy Laurence, the Queen’s Equerry,” it read. “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.”

At the time, a “security source” told People, “The contents are not raunchy and do not suggest any intimacy, but they are written in affectionate terms. If Captain Phillips wanted to know why they were written, the princess would have some answering to do.”

In 1992, Anne and Phillips were officially divorced. On Dec. 12, 1992, she and Laurence were wed in a Presbyterian ceremony near Balmoral. It was his first marriage, but not Anne’s—that’s why they could not be wed in the Church of England. The wedding was witnessed by Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip, the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret, Prince Edward, and Anne’s two children, Peter and Zara.

Anne and Laurence have always been active working members of the royal family, which means scores of appearances across the last 30+ years. And though they don’t have any biological children of their own, Laurence has been a supportive stepdad to Anne’s children with Phillips. They are frequently seen supporting her daughter, Zara Tindall, at various equestrian events. Zara is quite an accomplished rider and even won a silver medal at the Olympics in 2012. So, there are a lot of photos of Anne and Laurence in muddy fields, watching Zara perform, like in this 2023 shot from the Festival of British Eventing at Gatcombe Park:

They’re also included in almost all major events at Windsor. In July 2025, they attended the State Banquet for President of France Emmanuel Macron and Brigitte Macron:

And of course, Laurence has been by Anne’s side at key moments, like during the funeral for her mother, Queen Elizabeth, in 2022:

At Zara’s wedding to rugby player Mike Tindall:

And the wedding of her son, Peter Phillips, to Autumn Kelly in 2008:

Another big moment for the couple came before the Queen’s death, during her June 2022 Platinum Jubilee, which marked 70 years on the throne. Traditionally, Laurence would be excluded from standing on the Buckingham Palace balcony, but a spokesperson for the palace told NBC News that he was invited to join as “a frequent attendee and support for the Princess Royal on official engagements.”