Fifty years after she became the first royal to compete in the Olympics, Princess Anne has reunited with her 1976 Montreal Games team – an anniversary that comes as the hardest-working member of the royal family prepares for another gruelling overseas tour.
The Princess Royal, who suffered a serious fall during the cross-country event half a century ago, will travel to South Korea and Thailand in July, just weeks after her son Peter Phillips married NHS nurse Harriet Sperling.
“Princess Anne reunites with 1976 Olympic team as she announces July tour to South Korea and Thailand.”
Anne, accompanied by her husband Sir Tim Laurence, will visit the Republic of Korea from Monday 13 July to Wednesday 15 July, before heading to the Kingdom of Thailand from Thursday 16 July to Friday 17 July.
In South Korea, the princess will attend engagements marking the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Imjin River, honouring British soldiers who died in the Korean War. Her itinerary will also highlight UK–Korea ties in industry, education and innovation, including maritime manufacturing, advanced technologies and research.
She then moves to Thailand, where she will visit a local school in Bangkok supported by Save the Children Thailand, have an audience with the prime minister and Their Majesties the King and Queen, meet Thai female scientists, attend a regional health security showcase, and conclude with a UK–Thailand cultural collaboration.
It is far from Anne’s first visit to the region. She travelled to South Korea in 2018 for the Winter Olympics, and has been to Thailand three times before: in 1979, 1987 and, as a companion to her parents Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, in 1972. The late Queen and Philip also visited the region in 1999, while King Charles hosted the Korean president for a state visit in 2023.
In 2025 alone, the Princess Royal completed ten overseas trips, starting with South Africa in January, then France and Greece in March, Türkiye in April, Barbados in May, followed by Belgium, Ireland and Ukraine between July and September, and finally Australia and Singapore in November.
Her relentless schedule has long earned her the nickname of the hardest-working royal – a reputation cemented as she prepares to mark both a personal Olympic milestone and another major diplomatic mission.