A senior member of the Royal Family, Princess Anne has always lived her life in the spotlight. That said, she’s never been the type to attract headlines through her work, but rather her personal life and interests.

In her youth, Anne placed perhaps more focus on having fun and enjoying herself rather than her royal duties. Yet over the years, she became – and remains – one of the hardest-working royals in the entire family.

In 1969, aged 18, Princess Anne began taking on public engagements as a working royal. However, she had a number of other passions. By 11, the young princess had already made her debut in horse riding competitions, even winning a jumping event held by the Queen at Windsor Home Park, according to the book Anne, the Princess Royal.

She continued riding at the private Beneden School and tried out horses at the Moat House Riding School as much as she could.

“I thought if I was going to do anything outside of the royal family, horses was likely to be the best way of doing it,” Princess Anne told royal author Katie Nicholl in a piece for Vanity Fair.

“But then you have to find the right horse at the right time. The original horse I rode was bred as a polo pony and should never have been an event horse, but it worked, so that was very satisfying. But I always knew it was going to be limited time.”

Here’s to wishing Princess Anne a speedy recovery from her injuries. Leave a comment in the box if you’d like to send well wishes.