Malcolm Barker: Sixty years of service from a Princess, a mother and a woman to be reckoned with

She was born on August 15, 1950, the only girl of the Queen and Prince Philip, and is therefore the most exalted female among the baby-boomers who arrived among us in large numbers after the end of the Second World War.

She is probably the brightest of the Royal children, and left Benenden School in 1963 with six O-levels and two A-levels, when such

qualifications did not come as easily as they do today.

Despite being, like Prince Charles, divorced, she has evaded the kind of embarrassments which beset her older brother during the public collapse of his marriage to Diana, Princess of Wales, when both parties indulged their acrimony on television, and the heir to the throne's intimate telephone talk with his mistress entered the public domain.

She did, however, participate to some extent in the Royal Family's peculiar version of the magic roundabout, for her first boyfriend was a young Guards officer, Andrew Parker Bowles, who then married Camilla Shand, who is now the Duchess of Cornwall, wife of the Prince of Wales.

Anne wed another soldier, Mark Phillips, then a lieutenant in the 1st Queen's Dragoon Guards. Their marriage at Westminster Abbey in 1973 was televised world-wide, with an estimated audience of 100 million. I recall speculation at the time about the title that would be conferred on the bridegroom, and young Lt Phillips earned quite a lot of respect by reputedly turning down the Queen's offer of an earldom. The result was that when the couple had two children, Peter and Zara, they became the first grandchildren of a sovereign to carry no title.

Princess Anne and her husband settled at Gatcombe Park, Gloucestershire, and managed to avoid gossip columns and resulting over-intensive public attention.

This, however, was most rudely and spectacularly interrupted on March 20, 1974 when the limousine in which they were travelling to Buckingham Palace was brought to a halt by a man called Ian Ball, who was driving a Ford Escort.

Ball jumped out and began shooting. His first victim was Insp James Beaton, the Princess's personal police officer, who was attempting to shield his Royal passenger. The chauffeur, Alex Callender, was also shot when he attempted to disarm Ball. Brian McConnell, a passer-by who intervened, was hit in the chest.

Amid this mayhem Anne kept her head, and when Ball, brandishing his gun and babbling about a ransom, demanded that she get out of the car, she responded by saying "Not bloody likely!", emerged from the other side, and was led to safety by a man called Ron Russell.

The victims all recovered from their wounds and received gallantry

awards, and the public at large was much taken by the bravery of Princess Anne and her peremptory dismissal of a madman armed with a gun. Plainly she was a young woman to reckon with.

And so it has proved. She undertakes a multitude of Royal duties, carrying out more engagements than any other member of the "firm". She is not content to be a mere symbol. Since she was five years old, when she visited the lighthouse at Tiumpan Head with her mother, she has indulged in pharology, the study of lighthouses, and as patron of the Northern Lighthouse Board developed an ambition to visit each of Scotland's 215 beacons. She works for Save the Children, of which she has been president since 1970, and is involved with upwards of 200 charities and organisations. She is Colonel of the Blues and Royals, and seven other Army units.

Sadly, she divorced in 1992 but on December 12 that year she married for a second time in a compara-tively quiet ceremony at Crathie Kirk near Balmoral. Her husband, Timothy Laurence, is a vice-admiral in the Royal Navy who appears to epitomise the strong silent sailor.

She has appeared on the BBC TV programme A Question of Sport, and her skilled equestrianism was recognised when the public voted her BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1971, the year she won the European Eventing Championship.

She has been hauled before the beaks, first in 2001 for speeding in Gloucestershire (fined 400 with five points on her licence) and then

in 2002 under the Dangerous Dogs Act, when her dog, Dotty, misbehaved in Windsor Great Park (fined 500, and ordered to give Dotty more training). These incidents were taken by the public as evidence of human failings.

The Princess's popularity is at its most marked in Australia. She first visited in 1970, and has been much admired for her wholehearted approach, especially late last year when she represented the Queen at Bush Fire memorials.

She now stands only 10th in line of succession to the throne, but in wishing her a very happy birthday we may also thank her for a life devoted to the service of her mother and her country. Quietly, persistently, this true Leo has, more than anyone, apart from the Queen herself, helped to secure the future of the Monarchy in this country.

Malcolm Barker is a former editor of the Yorkshire Evening Post.