Timothy Laurence

Rear Admiral Timothy James Hamilton Laurence, MVO, CSM, ADC (born 1 March 1955) was Equerry to The Queen from 1986 to 1989 and is the second husband of Anne, Princess Royal. He was born in Camberwell, South London, the son of Guy Stewart Laurence (a salesman for a marine-engine manufacturer) and Barbara Alison Laurence, née Symons.

Education

Laurence was educated at Sevenoaks School, Kent, and the University of Durham on a Naval Scholarship, where he received a BSc upper 2nd class honours degree in geography. At university, he edited the university magazine, and was captain of his college cricket team. He was made a Midshipman 1 January 1973, and Acting Sub-lieutenant 1 January 1975.

Naval career

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 1 March 1977.

In 1978 he was attached to the training establishment HMS Vernon and in the next year served on the minesweeper HMS Pollington.

Laurence served briefly as Navigating Officer of the Royal Yacht HMY Britannia, and 1980-1982 in the same role on the destroyer HMS Sheffield. He took command of the patrol boat HMS Cygnet off Northern Ireland in 1982, as part of the patrols for IRA gun-runners.

After attending HMS Dryad for a Principal Warfare Officer course, Laurence was promoted to Lieutenant-Commander (1 March 1985), and posted to the frigate HMS Alacrity. In April 1986 he was appointed to his first staff post, as Equerry to Her Majesty The Queen. He was promoted to Commander on 31 December 1988.

In October 1989 he was posted to the new frigate HMS Boxer, in command. He took over as Commanding Officer 30 January 1990, at the young age of only 34 years.

In 1992-1994 Laurence was with the naval staff in the Ministry of Defence, London. On 16 May 1994 Laurence was appointed the first Military Assistant to the Secretary of State for Defence (Malcolm Rifkind), to provide military advice in his private office.

Laurence was promoted to Captain 30 June 1995, and until 1996 was in command of the frigate HMS Cumberland. In May 1996 the ship was back from the Adriatic, where HMS Cumberland served in the NATO-led IFOR. On 27 August 1996 Laurence was appointed in command of the frigate HMS Montrose, and as Captain of Plymouth-based F6, a squadron of five frigates. Until October 1996 the ship was in the South Atlantic Ocean, on Falkland Islands patrol.

From 15 July 1997 Laurence was again in the Ministry of Defence, London, as part of the 1998 in Strategic Defence Review implementation team.

Later career

In 1998-1999 Laurence was Hudson Visiting Fellow, St Antony's College, University of Oxford. He was then posted to the Joint Services Command and Staff College as a Commodore, as Assistant Commandant (Navy), effective 15 June 1999.

From 2001 to the spring of 2004 he was back at the Ministry of Defence, as Director of Navy Resources and Programmes.

Laurence was promoted to Rear Admiral, and made Assistant Chief of Defence Staff (Resources and Plans) July 2004.

Marriage

He met Princess Anne when he served as an Equerry to The Queen, when her first marriage to Captain Mark Phillips broke down. Laurence and Anne were married December 1992 in a Church of Scotland ceremony at Crathie Parish Church, Ballater, near Balmoral, the Church of Scotland permitting the remarriage of divorced people.

He received no peerage on their marriage. Princess Anne retained her country estate, Gatcombe Park in Gloucestershire after her divorce, but when they first married she and Laurence leased as their London residence a flat in the Dolphin Square complex in Westminster. This experiment was later ended and they returned to apartments in Buckingham Palace.

He was at the time of his marriage a Royal Navy Commander; from 2005 he has held the rank of Rear Admiral.

Medals and other honours

Laurence received the Campaign Service Medal in 1982, with the Northern Ireland bar; was Mentioned in Despatches in the same year. He also received the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002. He has been a Personal Aide de Camp to The Queen since 1 August 2004.

In 2005 he was made the first Companion of the Order of the Star of Melanesia by the Governor General of Papua New Guinea during his wife's royal visit to begin that country's independent honours system.