Britain's Princess Anne has cast aside the controversy surrounding her nephew Harry and carried on with her royal duties by visiting British soldiers serving with a United Nations peacekeeping force on Cyprus.
Anne planned to meet members of Britain's Royal Logistic Corps, the army unit which she serves as colonel-in-chief, to recognise their service as one of the UN’s longest-serving peacekeeping forces.
The peacekeepers invited Anne to visit and planned to lead her on a tour of a section of the UN-controlled buffer zone that separates the island nation’s breakaway Turkish Cypriot north from the internationally-recognised Greek Cypriot south.
Anne will also lay a wreath at a cemetery in the buffer zone where many Commonwealth soldiers who died in conflicts including both world wars are buried.
The visit came the day after Harry’s ghost-written memoir Spare went on sale around the world. The book exposes bitter divides inside Britain's royal family.
Earlier on Wednesday, Anne met with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades.
They discussed climate change-related issues, the energy crisis spurred by Russia’s war in Ukraine and efforts to restart stalled talks to reunify Cyprus, a government statement said.
Mr Anastasiades gifted the princess a silver copy of a cup from the fourth century BC and a photo album of Cypriots who volunteered to fight with British forces during the Second World War. Anne reciprocated with a portrait of herself.
The princess was also scheduled to meet with soldiers and their families at Dhekelia Garrison, one of two military bases that the UK retained after Cyprus gained independence from British rule in 1960.
Media access during her visit was limited to Anne’s brief meeting with Mr Anastasiades. She did not make any public remarks.
British High Commissioner to Cyprus Irfan Siddiq said in a statement that the visit was “an important opportunity to showcase the strength of the enduring links between our two countries”.
