Ahead of Princess Anne's 70th birthday on August 15, we're taking a look back the Princess Royal's headline-making moments...
Princess Anne may seem like a straight-laced royal lady, but even she has faced royal scandals through the years.
From an attempted kidnapping to several romantic connections and a set of stolen love letters, these are Princess Anne's biggest royal scandals.
An attempted kidnapping
In the early evening of March 20, 1974, Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips, her husband of four months, were on their way to Buckingham Palace after attending a charity event.
The couple was sitting in the back of a Rolls-Royce limousine along with Princess Anne's lady-in-waiting and her bodyguard, Inspector James Wallace Beaton.
As the driver turned into the Mall, between Trafalgar Square and the palace, a white Ford Escort cut in front of the royal vehicle, forcing the driver to stop, just metres away from the palace.
26 year old Ian Ball, the driver of the Ford Escort, jumped out of his car and ran towards the limo.At first, Beaton assumed the man was just an irritated driver, so he stepped out of the car to see what was wrong. What he didn't expect to see was Ball pointing a gun at him — as soon as Beaton got out of the car he was shotin the right shoulder.
Beacon tried to shoot Ball too but, due to his wounded shoulder, he wasn't able to aim properly so he missed his target (then, apparently his gun jammed). Ball went to the rear door of the limo, shouting, "Open or I'll shoot!"
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While Captain Phillips tried to keep the door shut, the Princess' lady-in-waiting got out of the opposite passenger door, which gave Beacon a chance to get back into the limo, placing himself between Ball and the Princess.
Ball fired another shot, hitting Beacon in the hand, before hitting him a third time, forcing him out of the car and onto the ground.Driver Alexander Callendar, who was also one of the Queen's drivers, confronted Ball but he was shot in the chest and collapsed.
By this time Ball was telling Anne to get out of the car.
"You've got to come with me," he said. Seeing the commotion, others stopped to help, including a former boxer, an unemployed labourer and a journalist.
Daily Mail journalist John Brian McConnell had recognised the royal insignia on the limo, and when he realised Princess Anne was in danger he tried to reason with Ball. But McConnell was shot, becoming the third man injured.
But it was 23-year-old Anne who managed to keep Ball distracted.Years later, Anne appeared on the Parkinson show and said this of her ordeal:
"He opened the door, and we had a sort of discussion, about where or where not we were going to go. He said I had to go with him, I can't remember why. I said I didn't think I wanted to go.
"I was scrupulously polite because I thought it's silly to be too rude or that sort of thing. We had a fairly low-key discussion about the fact that I wasn't going to go anywhere and wouldn't it be much better if he moved away and we'd all forget about it?"
Anne apparently also replied, when Ball asked if she would like to come with him, "Not bloody likely!"
Luckily, former boxer Ronald Russell approached Ball from behind, punching him in the back of the head. As police officers approached, Ball made a run for it before he was eventually caught and arrested.
Newspaper headlines included, 'Lone Gunman Charged in Royal Kidnap Plot' and 'Queen is Horrified at Attack on Princess.'
Following Princess Anne's ordeal, security for the royals was stepped up. Ball was later sentenced to life in a mental institution and, when he appeared in court, he made a statement about the motivation behind his crime.
"I would like to say that I did it because I wished to draw attention to the lack of facilities for treating mental illness under the National Health Service," he said.
Anne's rocky love life
While Princess Anne has always been one of the most "low key" royals she's had her fair share of trials and tribulations when it comes to the romantic side of life.
Let's take a look at some of the highs and lows of Anne's love life.
Gerald Ward
Ward was the first man to be officially linked to the Princess. The soldier, banker, businessman, farmer and sportsman was regularly seen with Anne when she was aged 18. Their relationship was never officially confirmed by the palace but the general "word around town" was that the two shared a "close bond."
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Gerald, who went on to marry twice and have two children, and he was also Prince Harry's godfather which says something about his ongoing relationship with the royal family.
The keen sportsman died in 2008 after collapsing on a golf course. Following her romance with Gerald, Anne was linked to Olympic champion horseman Richard Meade (whose son became one of Prince Williams close friends.)
Andrew Parker Bowles
There's long been a rumour that Anne dated Andrew Parker Bowles in the early 1970s, before he married Camilla. Author Penny Junor claimed in her book The duch*ess: The Untold Story that Andrew and Anne did have a brief yet stormy relationship.
Junor claims the main reason Camilla first started chasing Prince Charles was to get revenge on Andrew for allegedly cheating on her with Anne. Andrew married Camilla in 1973 and Anne married Captain Mark Phillips three months later.
Andrew and Anne are said to still be very friendly, sometimes spotted at sporting and social events enjoying a chat.
Mark Phillips
When Anne married Mark in 1973, they seemed like the perfect couple. The bonded over their love of horses and were engaged very quickly.
Their wedding was a lavish affair, at Westminster Abbey; around 500 million people watched the event on TV. They had two children; Peter, born in 1977, and, Zara, born in 1981.
WATCH: Princess Anne and Mark Phillips are interviewed by Parkinson. (Post continues.)
In the mid-1980s, Michael Parkinson interviewed Anne and Mark Phillips asking them aboutmedia reports that their marriage was in trouble.
Anne replied, "Gossip has been going on for years. And when they've got nothing better to do, they'll just think of a story along the lines of 'they don't do this or that together. But we are apart for a lot of the time, just like other working couples.'"
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But the marriage was rocked by rumours and at least one scandal.
Around 1979 there were stories flying around that Anne was having an affair with a personal bodyguard, Sergeant Peter Cross of the Royal Protection Squad. He was quickly "relieved of his duties" but then sold his story to newspaper News of the World in 1984.Peter told the newspaper he and Anne enjoyed a brief affair which included an alleged rendezvous in a house in Surrey.
Ten years later, Anne was hit with another scandal.Letters addressed to the Princess, written by her current husband Sir Timothy Laurence, were stolen. The palace didn't even try to deny the existence of the letters; preferring to release the statement below.
"The stolen letters were addressed to the Princess Royal by Commander Timothy Laurence, the Queen's Equerry," the statement read. "We have nothing to say about the contents of personal letters sent to Her Royal Highness by a friend which were stolen and which are the subject of a police investigation."
The statement led to media speculation about Anne's relationship with Timothy and, while no more statements were made, Anne and Mark separated a short time later. The couple officially divorced in 1992 and Anne married Timothy a few months later. So far, this marriage has flourished and been completely scandal-free, which must be a relief for the Princess who clearly prefers life out of the spotlight.
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