Princess Anne followed the late Queen’s coffin, dutifully and resolutely, as she was by her mother’s deathbed on Thursday when she was the first to sound the family alarm

Princess Anne

For six hours all she could do was gaze through the glass at a landscape she had, for 72 years, shared with her mama, and simply remember.

With nowhere to turn inside her royal Bentley except to the circling cinema reel of her own thoughts, the Princess Royal followed the late Queen’s coffin as it made its slow progress from Balmoral to Edinburgh on Sunday.

With all eyes trained on the hearse and the grief of the well-wishers who lined the route, it was easy to forget the small figure who travelled and grieved behind; easy, indeed, not to realise she was there at all.

Yet all the time, She, alongside her husband Sir Timothy Laurence, was absolutely there, dutifully and resolutely, as she was by her mother’s deathbed on Thursday.

Princess Anne – the rebel daughter who was with her right up to the end – Mirror Online