‘We are both map and chart people. We like to know where we are and see where we are going.’ So said Sir Timothy Laurence ahead of his wife, Princess Anne ’s 70th birthday back in 2020. Five years on, could either of the pair have foreseen the unprecedented honour that King Charles has just bestowed on the retired Navy Officer?

Quietly, Buckingham Palace have revealed that Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, who has been married to Princess Anne for 33 years, had been made a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order by His Majesty at Balmoral Castle. The highest title available within the Order, which recognises personal service to the royal family or the monarch, the new insignia puts Laurence on par with the likes of Queen Camilla, the Princess of Wales , and the Duchess of Ed

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