There was disappointment for the Princess Royal over the weekend as Scotland’s rugby team narrowly missed out on winning the Six Nations title.
Loyal supporter Princess Anne, 73, was pictured in the stands at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday with President of the Scottish Rugby Union, Colin Rigby, and IRFU senior vice-president, Declan Madden.
She donned a dark blue ensemble and a tartan scarf, along with her silver and amethyst brooch she wears to games.
The Princess has been patron of the Scottish Rugby Union since 1986 and rarely misses a match.
But sadly, after taking an early lead, Scotland were later defeated by Ireland, with the match ending 17 – 13 to the home side.
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Anne revealed how the patronage came about when she appeared on her son-in-law Mike Tindall’s podcast, The Good, The Bad & The Rugby, last September.
“It was an accident, they asked me to go and open the East Stand [at Murrayfield Stadium] when it was built,” she said. “I had about two weeks’ notice because they had been let down, I can’t remember who by, and as it happened, the horse was lame and I wasn’t competing at the weekend, so I went. About a month later, they asked me if I wanted to become patron.”
Speaking about her passion for the sport, Anne said: “Everything that rugby gives, I’m talking about exercise and team sports in general, but I do think rugby offers a variety of talents in one team. And you have to look out for each other and that’s a different sort of responsibility within a team structure. They’re not all the same, you can have different skills.”
Anne’s attendance at the Six Nations final came after the four-day Cheltenham Festival, where the Princess made three appearances.
She joined her children, Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall, at the racecourse in Gloucestershire, and wowed in an array of bold coats and hats for her outings.
Anne had a successful equestrian career in her youth, becoming the first member of the British royal family to compete in the Olympics, taking part in the 1976 Games in Montreal. She also won a gold medal in 1971 and two silver medals in 1975 at the European Eventing Championships.
Zara has followed in her mother’s footsteps, winning the Eventing World Championship in Aachen in 2006 and bringing home a silver medal at the London 2012 Olympics as part of Team GB’s eventing team.
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