Love Letters & Lighthouses Inside Anne And Tim's Royal Romance

How the Mysterious Naval Officer Mended Her Broken Heart

- Andrew Mackintosh

If the Duke and the Duchess of Sussex really want to know how to fulfil their public duties and maintain a completely private life, they should look no further than the marriage of Princess Anne and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence.

Over the last 27 years, they have managed to let very little light into their home life. It helps that they have very discreet friends – and, even within the royal family, nobody would dare cross the Princess Royal (68).

“They have survived simply by not talking about, or even hinting at, anything personal,” says a courtier. “They embody the Queen’s dictum: ‘Never complain, never explain.’”

They first met on the Royal Yacht Britannia in 1986. Tim, now 64, was a navigation officer when Anne was on a royal tour. She was taken with him and he was soon a personal advisor to her charitable trust.

At the time, she was married to Captain Mark Phillips and the union was breaking down. He was having affairs – a year before Tim came on the scene, he fathered a child here in New Zealand with art teacher Heather Tonkin.

“They stayed together mainly for the sake of the children, Peter and Zara,” claims one acquaintance. “They’ve said that they were the best thing to come out of their marriage and both parents love them dearly. As a family group, they’re intensely loyal to each other.”

Anne and Tim became close, with the princess visiting him when he was laid up with a bout of shingles in 1988.

“The princess was extremely worried about his health and went around to his home to cheer him up,” says one of his Royal Navy colleagues. “This happened several times, and Tim was grateful for her interest and caring attitude.”