Princess Anne makes official visit to Arlington National Cemetery

By Jim DresbachNovember 13, 2014

Princess Anne makes official visit to Arlington National Cemetery
1 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, Princess Anne of the United Kingdom lays a wreath at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va., Nov. 6, 2014. Princess Anne laid a wreath at the tomb and unveiled a Victoria Cros... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Princess Anne makes official visit to Arlington National Cemetery
2 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Members of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) take part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va., Nov. 6, 2014. Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, Princess Anne of t... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

The centuries-old British-American relationship added another chapter to its history when Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, Princess Anne of the United Kingdom visited and paid respects to fallen American service members at Arlington National Cemetery Nov. 6.

Accompanied by her husband Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence KCVO CB ADC(P) and Joint Force Headquarters-National Capital Region and U.S. Army Military District of Washington Commanding General Maj. Gen. Jeffrey S. Buchanan, the princess endured an afternoon downpour to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Dressed in a black overcoat, a red scarf and holding an umbrella, the princess spent a moment alone in front of the tombs and finished with a simple bow at the conclusion of the ceremony. Before the wreath-laying, a 19-gun cannon salute by the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) Presidential Salute Battery announced her entrance into the cemetery.

The royal couple also witnessed The Old Guard's hourly changing of the guard.

Members of The Old Guard Honor Guard and The U.S. Army Band "Pershing's Own" also took part in the wreath-laying ceremony.

Following the wreath-laying, Princess Anne unveiled a bronze memorial plaque remembering World War I American service members awarded the Victoria Cross, Britain's highest military honor and the equivalent to the United States' Medal of Honor.

British royalty visits to Arlington National Cemetery have taken place over the past 75 years. The first reigning British monarch to visit the United States, King George VI, laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in June 1939.

Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II has made numerous official state visits to the United States, and her first as sovereign occurred in 1957. Then, she visited Arlington to place a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The queen's husband, Prince Phillip, attended the burial of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 25, 1963, and the queen's grandson, Prince Harry also laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns May 2013 and visited ANC's Section 60 where many American service members who were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are buried.

The Princess Royal is the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip. Princess Anne last made an official visit to the United States in 1994.