Royals

The royal family honour Princess Anne’s birthday with two incredible throwback photos

Happy 71st to the Princess Royal.
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Princess Anne has just celebrated her 71st birthday and the British Royal Family have wasted no time to pay tribute to the royal.

Royals including the Queen and Prince Charles took to social media to share their well wishes on the Princess Royal’s special day.

Her Majesty kicked off the celebrations with a simple post to Twitter which read: “Wishing HRH The Princess Royal a happy birthday today 🎈.”

The message was shared alongside four recent photos of the Princess Royal, including one of her and the Queen sharing a laugh together.

Anne’s elder brother Prince Charles took to Instagram to mark her special day, sharing a touching throwback photo of them as children.

In the black-and-white snap, a young Charles reaches across from his pram to hold his baby sister’s hand as Anne giggles.

The beautiful moment between the siblings was shared to the Clarence House Instagram page with the caption: “Wishing The Princess Royal a very Happy Birthday today.”

“In this photo from 1951, The Prince of Wales squeezes his younger sister’s hand while sitting in their prams in the Clarence House garden.”

Charles and Anne are understood to have a strong bond, having grown up together for 10 years before their younger brothers came along.

Prince Andrew was born 10 years after Anne, Prince Edward another four years after that.

As such, Anne and Charles spent many of their formative years together before their younger brothers were brought into the mix.

The Prince of Wales shared another throwback photo that shows his sweet bond with Anne just days before her birthday this weekend.

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Taking to the Clarence House Instagram page, he posted a photo of them as small children having a picnic with their parents, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in the 1950s.

“Taken 70 years ago this month, this photo shows The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and Princess Anne enjoying a warm summer day in the Clarence House garden,” it was captioned.

These days, Charles and Anne continue to hold very different royal roles to their siblings.

While the Prince of Wales will one day be King, the Princess Royal is widely regarded as one of the hardest working members of the monarchy.

On several occasions she has recorded the highest number of engagements attended by one royal over the course of a year – she really doesn’t stop!

Even as she celebrates her 71st birthday, Princess Anne shows no signs of slowing down.

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