Princess Anne of Denmark (formerly Anne
Anson, Viscountess Anson, née Anne Ferelith Fenella
Bowes-Lyon; 4 December 1917 – 26 September 1980) was a first cousin
of Elizabeth II and the
mother of royal photographer Patrick
Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield and Lady Elizabeth Anson. She
became a Princess of Denmark through
her second marriage. Anne Bowes-Lyon was born in Washington, D.C., in 1917. Her father was the Hon. John Herbert Bowes-Lyon and
her mother was the Hon. Fenella Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis, daughter
of Charles Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis, 21st Baron Clinton.
Anne had three younger sisters, two of whom were Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon,
who were institutionalized from 1941 for severe mental retardation. Anne's
paternal grandfather was Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne,
father of her aunt Queen Elizabeth The Queen
Mother, who was born Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. Anne married
Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas William Arnold Anson (1913–1958) on 28 April 1938. As
her husband held the courtesy title of Viscount Anson, Anne was styled Viscountess Anson upon
their marriage. They were divorced in 1948. They had two children, four
grandchildren and four great-grandchildren:
·
(Thomas)
Patrick John Anson (25 April 1939 – 11 November 2005), who
later succeeded his grandfather as the 5th Earl of Lichfield. He married Lady Leonora
Grosvenor, daughter of the Duke of
Westminster, on 8 March 1975 and they were divorced circa 1986. They
have three children and two grandsons.
·
Lady
Elizabeth Georgiana Anson (7 June 1941), who works as a party planner for
the Queen. She married Sir Geoffrey
Adam Shakerley, 6th Baronet on 27 July
1972 and they were divorced in 2009. They have one daughter and two
grandchildren.
On 16 September 1950, at Glamis Castle she subsequently married Prince George Valdemar of
Denmark, upon which she became Princess Anne of Denmark.
Anne died in 1980, aged 62, in London, of a myocardial infarction.