Princess Anne made her first public engagement since her recent hospitalization on Friday, July 12 at the Riding for the Disabled Association National Championships.
Anne, 73, is the patron of the RDA, a post that she’s held since 1971. The Princess Royal is an accomplished equestrian herself, who was previously on the British Eventing. The organization, celebrating its 55th year in 2024, held its annual riding championship at Hartpury University and Hartpury College in Gloucester, England.
On Thursday, Anne met with several participants and RDA staffers before handing out trophies to the winners.
Anne canceled all of her public engagements earlier this month as she recuperated from a concussion. The princess was hospitalized in June after an “incident” at her home.
“The Princess Royal has sustained minor injuries and concussion following an incident on the Gatcombe Park estate yesterday evening,” Buckingham Palace shared in a June 24 statement. “Her Royal Highness remains in Southmead Hospital, Bristol as a precautionary measure for observation and is expected to make a full and swift recovery.”
Anne was discharged from the hospital less than one week later, with husband Sir Tim Laurence noting she was “recovering well.”
“She’s doing fine — slow but sure,” Laurence, 69, told reporters late last month. “We are both profoundly grateful to the medical team and hospital support staff for their expert care — and to the emergency services who were all so wonderful at the scene.
Laurence continued, “We are both deeply touched by all the kind messages we have received from so many people near and far. It means a great deal.”
Anne married Laurence in 1992. She was previously married to Captain Mark Phillips, with whom she shares son Peter, 46, and daughter Zara, 43. The exes opted against giving their children royal titles despite Anne being the daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.
“I think it was probably easier for them, and I think most people would argue that there are downsides to having titles,” Anne recalled of her decision to Vanity Fair in 2020. “So I think that was probably the right thing to do.”
Both Peter and Zara have their career success outside of being a member of the royal family. Zara, much like Anne, is an accomplished equestrian and even competed for Team Great Britain at the 2012 Olympic Games.
“Her father had been a successful equestrian and won a lot more medals [than I] so you do slightly wonder if having two parents who’ve been in that situation helped,” Anne gushed to the outlet of her daughter’s riding pursuits. “Zara was always a natural and it was really a question of whether she felt that was something she really wanted to do, and she did and she was very thorough and applied herself to it. So she was quite rightly very successful.”
