Timothy Laurence is well known as the second husband of Princess Anne, the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, KCVO, CB, ADC is a retired Royal Navy officer.
He was born on March 1, 1955 in Camberwell, London, United Kingdom to Guy Stewart Laurence and Barbara Alison Laurence. He has an older brother, Jonathan Dobree Laurence (born 1952).
Laurence was educated at The New Beacon Preparatory School and then at Sevenoaks School, Kent, and University College, Durham, on a Naval Scholarship, where he received a Bachelor of Science upper 2nd class honours degree in geography.
At university, he edited the student newspaper, Palatinate, and was captain of his college cricket team.
Laurence was commissioned a midshipman in the Royal Navy on January 1, 1973, and made an acting sub-lieutenant on January 1, 1975. Upon leaving Durham, he completed his initial training at the Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth and was posted to HMS Aurora, a Plymouth-based frigate. He was promoted to lieutenant 10 months early, on March 1, 1977.
In 1978, Laurence was attached to the training establishment HMS Vernon and in the next year served on the minesweeper HMS Pollington.
Laurence then served briefly as the second Navigating Officer of the Royal Yacht HMY Britannia, and between 1980 and 1982 as Navigating Officer of the destroyer HMS Sheffield.
After attending HMS Dryad for the Principal Warfare Officer course, Laurence was promoted to lieutenant commander on March 1, 1985, and posted to the frigate HMS Alacrity.
He attended the Royal Australian Navy Tactics Course at HMAS Watson, Sydney, in March 1986 during which he was notified of his first staff appointment as Equerry to the Queen. Laurence was equerry to the Queen from 1986 to 1989.
Timothy Laurence was promoted to commander on December 31, 1988, and promoted to Captain in 1995.
He retired from the navy in August 2010 and now pursues a portfolio of mainly non-executive and charitable interests, with a particular emphasis on property and regeneration.
Laurence has been chairman of the English Heritage Trust since April 2015 and until June 30, 2019, was vice chairman of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Laurence met Princess Anne while he was serving on the Royal Yacht Britannia in 1986. The relationship blossom in 1989 and subsequently tied the knot on December 12, 1992 at Crathie Kirk near Balmoral Castle in Scotland.
Sir Timothy Laurence and Princess Anne currently live in an apartment at St James’s Palace.