To the average person, Sir Timothy Laurence will not be a familiar name, nor will his face invoke many memories.
However, he is undoubtably one of the harder working members of The Royal Family, and indeed, is married to the person many consider to be the hardest working royal – Princess Anne.
Her Royal Highness has enjoyed a busy start to 2023, visiting Cyprus and Estonia, in addition to an array of engagements in the UK.
Sir Tim has accompanied the Princess on many of these duties, however, the Court Circular simply states that he ‘accompanied’ the Princess.
That is if course technically true – Princess Anne is The King’s sister, she is the star of the show.
But this is at odds with other royal spouses such as the Countess of Wessex, who has her own individual tally of engagements.
Why is this? The simple answer is Sophie is a working member of The Royal Family, and Sir Tim is not.
Princess Anne’s family have always taken a pragmatic approach to royal life.
She and her first husband, Captain Mark Phillips, turned down a royal title, ensuring that their children would be ‘Mr’ and ‘Miss’ growing up.
Likewise, Sir Tim has always preferred to remain in the background, letting his wife take the lead.
But with the departures of Harry, Meghan and Andrew from the working royal roster, and the advancing ages of the royal cousins, perhaps it is time for The King to properly recognise Sir Tim as a working royal.
In theory, this would have no major impact on the royal calendar. Sir Tim would continue to accompany Princess Anne on official visits – except he would be properly recognised for the role he plays.
No longer at the bottom of the Court Circular would it say ‘HRH was accompanied by Sir Tim Laurence’, but it would read ‘The Princess Royal and Sir Tim Laurence visited Estonia.’
However, Sir Tim also has many charitable interests of his own, separate from those of other members of The Royal Family.
He enjoys learning about property and regeneration, and was previously chairman of the English Heritage Trust and vice chairman of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
These are areas in which the 67-year-old is already a great asset to the Royal Family, however, just imagine how much more could be done if he could carry out royal duties on their behalf.
A ‘slimmed down’ monarchy is a novel suggestion, particularly after many decades of the late Queen Elizabeth and her cousins going above and beyond in their roles.
Although it might be an ambition for the future, the monarchy needs working royals to fill the gaps left by the Sussexes and the Duke of York, and to assist the royals who are now of an advancing age.
Making Beatrice and Eugenie working royals, as was once touted, is ridiculous. But Sir Tim Laurence? It sounds entirely sensible to me.
After a lifetime of duty, both in the Navy and for the late Queen and current King, surely it is the least he deserves?
