Having been a patron of the Scottish Rugby Union for a number of years, Princess Anne is said to rarely miss a Scotland rugby game, and on November 16 she was joined by a mystery male companion.
Spotted in the crowd watching Scotland take on Portugal at Edinburgh Murrayfield Stadium, Princess Anne was pictured alongside the President of the Scottish Rugby Union, Colin Rigby.
She was not joined, on this occasion, by her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, with whom she shares a love of the sport.
Rigby, the former Rugby Union player, became the 130th president of the Scottish Rugby Union in 2022 and his term in office is scheduled from 2022 to 2024.
He is also a trustee of the Murrayfield Injured Players Foundation and the Scottish Thistle Trust.
There was triumph for the Scotland squad at the weekend as they won 59 – 21 over Portugal in this year’s Famous Grouse Nations Series.
The Princess Royal has been patron of the Scottish Rugby Union since 1986 and rarely misses a match.
Anne wore a navy blue coat and a blue and an iconic green tartan scarf for the match, as well as a special silver brooch. The Princess Royal often reserves the silver accessory, featuring four amethysts, for Scotland’s games.
Princess Anne once revealed on her son-in-law’s podcast, ‘The Good, The Bad & The Rugby’, in 2023, how the title of Patron came about.
She said: “It was an accident, they asked me to go and open the East Stand [at Murrayfield Stadium] when it was built. 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.”
Former England rugby player, Mike Tindall, is very close to his mother-in-law because she is a massive rugby fan, and they love chatting about the game during family get-togethers, he has claimed.
Mike Tindall once revealed: “She has a great sense of humour and she is very knowledgeable about many things, especially rugby.”
Princess Anne has thrown herself into the role as she regularly attends home and away matches – often visiting team training sessions.
Boosting morale comes naturally to Princess Anne too, as she is often seen meeting Scotland rugby players before rugby matches. For instance, Princess Anne met and shook hands with the players before the Six Nations Rugby match between Scotland and Wales on home turf at Murrayfield Stadium on February 11, 2023, in Edinburgh.
Anne wore a tartan jacket too on this occasion, but the print was more subtle and the colours darker. In 2023, she combined this look with a matching pair of trousers, which also featured a subtle tartan print.
