Princess Anne remains pivotal to King Charles's Royal Family - analysis by Cameron Walker

The Foreign Office sent Princess Anne, accompanied by her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Lawrence, on the Royal Family's first overseas tour of 2024 to mark the 75th anniversary of Sri Lanka's independence from the UK.

Since then, the two Commonwealth countries have benefited from good diplomatic relations, and The Princess Royal's power of soft diplomacy has proved a hit with locals.

Despite her 'Princess' status, Her Royal Highness insisted on carrying her own weight - quite literally.

Having touched down on a Sri Lankan Airlines flight, who took the marketing opportunity to publish photographs of the no-nonsense royal boarding the aircraft on social media, Princess Anne carried two heavy-looking holdalls down the aircraft steps.

It appears The King's sister doesn't need unnecessary staff to carry her luggage - music to the ears of King Charles who's rumoured to want the monarchy to provide better value for money.

The Princess delivered a letter to Sri Lanka's president, from His Majesty, who warned the world is facing challenges of "maintaining peace, prosperity and democracy", but reassuringly told President Ranil Wickremesinghe the UK was committed to "building an even stronger, modern partnership with Sri Lanka".

As young children, Charles and Anne could rely on each other for support.

Their mother, Queen Elizabeth II, ascended the throne unexpectedly early and spent months away from Britain in the early days with their father, The Duke of Edinburgh, on Commonwealth visits.

Their strong sibling bond continues to this day; the recent fly-on-the-wall BBC film, documenting behind the scenes of the Coronation, revealed Princess Anne's nickname for Charles is "old bean".

The Princess Royal's willingness to travel overseas on her brother's behalf shows her dedication to him and the Crown, despite being well above the age of retirement.

If The Duke and Duchess of Sussex had not moved to California, or Prince Andrew wasn't living in disgrace, perhaps a high-profile Commonwealth visit such as this would have fallen to the younger generation.

But Princess Anne knows her duty, and she has carried out her engagements without any complaints.

Despite her age, The Princess is showing no signs of slowing down and her visit to Sri Lanka's capital Colombo, to pay her respects to fallen service personnel, is one such example.

In November, she took over the presidency of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) from the Duke of Kent, who is approaching his nineties.

This morning, she visited a CWGC site for the first time as President and laid a wreath in memory of those who gave their lives in service to their country.

Echoing Princess Diana, The Princess Royal also put on a heavy protective vest before she was shown an active minefield near the northern city of Jaffna.

The minefield was being cleared by workers from the Halo Trust, using machines.

Sri Lanka's civil war left behind a deadly mine legacy, and The Princess highlighted the work of the Halo Trust attempting to make the area safe.

In January 1997, Princess Diana famously walked across a cleared landmine field in Angola, which was described as "transformational" by the Halo Trust in raising awareness and much-needed funds.

It appears the Halo Truss continues to benefit from royal support. 2024 is expected to be a busy year of travel for the Royal Family.

The Prince and Princess of Wales are expected to visit Italy this spring, with a Kensington Palace spokesperson telling GB News: "We look forward to announcing the Prince and Princess' travel plans in due course".

Perhaps more of a challenge will be the King and Queen's expected visits to Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Buckingham Palace has not confirmed any plans, but all those countries share King Charles as their Head of State, and republican rumblings continue to fluctuate.

Will the King's reported 'royal charm offensive' quash the anti-monarchists' arguments? It is up to the people to decide.