Princess Anne marks Armed Forces Day at National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire

The Princess Royal was seen with her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, at the celebrations

(PA)

The Princess Royal was seen celebrating Armed Forces Day on Saturday with her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.

The royal couple joined roughly 100 service personnel and their families at a VIP lunch to thank them for their services in the last year during the pandemic.

Princess Anne, 70, was pictured at the event in her official military uniform.

The annual Armed Forces Day, which has been going on for 30 years, celebration is marked across the country to honour troops, cadets, veterans and their families.

Several other members of the royal family also marked the annual occasion, with a tweet from the official account of the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall reading:

“Since the start of the pandemic, our Armed Forces have been there to help the nation through the difficult times, from setting up Covid-19 testing sites to supporting the NHS by assisting ambulance workers.

“Thank you all for your service.”

The sighting of Princess Anne comes just a few months after the death of her father, the Duke of Edinburgh, who passed away at the age of 99 on 9 April.

Anne paid tribute to her father as “my teacher, my supporter and my critic’’ and called him an example of a “life well lived and service freely given that I most wanted to emulate.”

Princess Anne said: “You know it’s going to happen but you are never really ready.

“I regard it as an honour and a privilege to have been asked to follow in his footsteps and it has been a pleasure to have kept him in touch with their activities.

“His ability to treat every person as an individual in their own right with their own skills comes through all the organisations with which he was involved.”