Princess Anne's husband steps in for her at engagement amid no timeline for royal's return

Princess Anne, 73, was hospitalised in June for five nights after suffering a blow to the head from a horse on her Gatcombe Park estate.

Despite being discharged, the mother-of-two has stepped back from royal duties and will not return until being given the green light by doctors.

Princess Anne was originally scheduled to perform 20 out of the 35 engagements for July listed on the Royal Diary.

Her husband, Sir Timothy, attended the Royal Academy of Engineering Awards dinner on Tuesday in place of the Princess Royal.

The 69-year-old handed out the MacRobert Award to the winners, Google Deep Mind.

The Princess Royal became a Royal Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2010.

Watch the moment that our President Professor Sir Jim McDonald revealed our 2024 #MacRobertAward winner @GoogleDeepMind at last night's #RAEngAwards Dinner. Find out more about their award-winning GraphCast innovation: https://t.co/6R2Mdrdp5f pic.twitter.com/uFruE4UWZN

— Royal Academy of Engineering (@RAEngNews) July 10, 2024

Her father, Prince Philip, was the Senior Fellow of the Academy after it was founded as the Fellowship of Engineering in 1976.

Anne is a patron of more than 300 organisations, including several in the engineering sphere.

For instance, she is Royal Patron of Women into Science and Engineering (WISE), President of RedR (Engineers for Disaster Relief) and a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Royal fans were thrilled to see Sir Timothy step out in place of Princess Anne.

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One said: "How lovely to see Sir Tim and his wonderful smile in action.

"Wishing Princess Anne continued and full recovery."

Another wrote: "He looks fabulous! Very dapper."

In addition, someone commented: "He’s very hardworking."