Princess Anne Looks Like a Badass Riding Horseback at Trooping the Colour
The accomplished equestrian is the Colonel of the Blues and Royals.
Princess Anne is once again participating in Trooping the Colour on horseback, and not riding in a carriage. She departed on a horse named “Noble” from Buckingham Palace alongside her brother, Prince Edward, and her nephew, Prince William. (Noble was ridden by King Charles at Trooping the Color 2023.) Her husband, Sir Timothy Laurence, rode in a carriage with her sister-in-law, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh
Per Buckingham Palace, Anne “wears the Full Mounted Ceremonial uniform of the Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons).” She also wears the Garter Star and Sash, Thistle Star, GCVO Star, full-sized medals with CMM neck decoration, aiguilettes as a Personal Aide-de-Camp to her brother the King. The Princess Royal also carries the Gold Stick as Gold Stick-in-Waiting, a honorary bodyguard position, for this year’s parade, and a Blues and Royal Sword.
The Princess Royal has ridden on horseback since Trooping the Colour 1999, and every Trooping since. Anne became Colonel of the Blues and Royals in 1998, and she has worn that uniform for every subsequent Trooping, thus forgoing any Trooping fashion decisions. At King Charles’s coronation, she also rode horseback in the parade, serving in the ceremonial role of Gold Stick in Waiting, a bodyguard to the monarch. At the time, the Princess Royal said in an interview, “Gold Stick was the original close protection officer. So that is a role I was asked if I’d like to do for this coronation, so I said yes. Not least of all, it solves my dress problem.”.
Before the 90s, Princess Anne actually rode in a carriage, and did not wear military uniforms.
Despite the uniform so associated with her public image, especially at Trooping, Princess Anne has never served in the military, but she holds many honorary positions, and is Colonel-in-Chief of more than 20 British and Commonwealth regiments. She notably holds the rank of Admiral in the Royal Navy, General in the British Army, and an Air Chief Marshal in the Royal Air Force.
She competed in the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games as a member of the British equestrian team.
