Timothy Laurence Vice Admiral Sir Timothy James Hamilton Laurence ( born 1 March 1955 ) is a retired British naval officer and the second husband of Princess Anne , the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II . Laurence was Equerry to the Queen from 1986 to 1989 . Early life and education . Timothy James Hamilton Laurence was born in Camberwell , South London , the son of Commander Guy Stewart Laurence ( also salesman for a marine engine manufacturer ) and Barbara Alison Laurence , née Symons . Laurence was first educated at The New Beacon Preparatory School and then at Sevenoaks School , Kent , and University College , University of Durham , on a Naval Scholarship , where he received a Bachelor of Science upper 2nd class honours degree in geography . At university , he edited the student newspaper , " Palatinate " , and was captain of his college cricket team . Naval career . He was promoted to midshipman on 1 January 1973 , and acting sub - lieutenant on 1 January 1975 . Upon leaving Durham he completed his initial training at the Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth , and was posted to HMS " Aurora " , a Plymouth - based frigate . He was promoted to Lieutenant 10 months early , on 1 March 1977 . In 1978 he was attached to the training establishment HMS " Vernon " and in the next year served on the minesweeper HMS " Pollington " . Laurence served briefly as Navigating Officer of the Royal Yacht HMY " Britannia " , and 1980 to 1982 in the same role on the destroyer HMS " Sheffield " . He took command of the patrol boat HMS " Cygnet " off Northern Ireland in 1982 , as part of the patrols for IRA gun - runners . After attending HMS " Dryad " for a Principal Warfare Officer course , Laurence was promoted to Lieutenant Commander ( 1 March 1985 ) , and posted to the frigate HMS " Alacrity " . He attended the Royal Australian Navy ( RAN ) Tactics Course ( RANTACCS ) at HMAS Watson , Sydney in March 1986 during which he was notified of his first staff appointment commencing April 1986 as Equerry to The Queen . He was promoted to Commander on 31 December 1988 . In October 1989 he was posted to the new frigate HMS " Boxer " , and took over as Commanding Officer on 30 January 1990 , at the age of 34 . Between 1992 and 1994 Laurence was with the naval staff in the Ministry of Defence , London . On 16 May 1994 he was appointed the first Military Assistant to the Secretary of State for Defence ( Malcolm Rifkind ) , to provide military advice in his private office . Laurence was promoted to Captain on 30 June 1995 , and until 1996 was in command of the frigate HMS " Cumberland " . In May 1996 the ship was back from the Adriatic , where HMS " Cumberland " served in the NATO - led IFOR . On 27 August 1996 Laurence took command of the frigate HMS " Montrose " , and was captain of Plymouth - based F6 , a squadron of five frigates . Until October 1996 the ship was in the South Atlantic , on Falkland Islands patrol . From July 1997 he was back in the Ministry of Defence , initially on the Naval Staff and then from June 1998 , on promotion to Commodore , as a member of the Implementation Team for the 1998 Strategic Defence Review . Later career . From January 1999 he was Hudson Visiting Fellow at St Antony ' s College , Oxford , where he wrote a paper on the relationship between humanitarian assistance and peacekeeping . He was then posted to the Joint Services Command and Staff College as a Commodore , as Assistant Commandant ( Navy ) , effective 15 June 1999 . From 2001 to the spring of 2004 he was back at the Ministry of Defence , as Director of Navy Resources and Programmes . Laurence was promoted to Rear Admiral ( effective 5 July 2004 ) , and made Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff with responsibility for Resources and Plans , July 2004 . On 30 April 2007 he was promoted to Vice Admiral , and made Chief Executive of Defence Estates ( since renamed Defence Infrastructure Organisation , as of 2008 ) . He became Head of Profession for the British Government ' s Property Asset Management community in July 2009 . The community includes practitioners in construction procurement , estates & property management and facilities / contracts management . The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors ( RICS ) has made Laurence an Honorary Member in recognition of this very significant span of asset management responsibility . He retired from the Navy in August 2010 and now pursues a portfolio of mainly non - executive and charitable interests , with a particular emphasis on property and regeneration . He is on the Board of the project management company , Capita Symonds , is non - executive Chairman of the property developers , Dorchester Regeneration , and is acting Chairman of Saturnland , a newly established company specialising in site reclamation and regeneration . As a Senior Military Adviser to PA Consulting , he contributes to their property work as well as advising on defence issues . He is on the Boards of English Heritage , the Commonwealth War Graves Commission , the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and the HMS Victory Preservation Company . Transport interests include membership of the First Great Western Advisory Board . Other activities include tennis , golf , sailing , field sports and battlefield tours . Marriage . He met Princess Anne when he served as an Equerry to Queen Elizabeth II , when her first marriage to Captain Mark Phillips broke down . Commander Laurence and Anne were married on 12 December 1992 , in a Church of Scotland ceremony at Crathie Parish Church , Ballater , near Balmoral , the Church of Scotland permitting the remarriage of divorced people . He received no peerage on marriage , but was knighted by the Queen in June 2011 as a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order . Princess Anne retained her country estate , Gatcombe Park in Gloucestershire , after her divorce . After they were married , she and Laurence leased as their London residence a flat in the Dolphin Square complex , in Westminster . They later returned to apartments in Buckingham Palace and now have an apartment at St James ' s Palace . Titles , styles , honours and arms . Honours . " See also List of honours of the British Royal Family by country "