The Princess Royal began her week with visits to Blackpool and Cumbria yesterday, spending time at a horse rehoming centre, the local delivery unit and a charity shop.
In her capacity as President of World Horse Welfare, Anne visited Blackpool to open the newly remodelled visitor centre for the Penny Farm Rescue and Rehoming Centre.
World Horse Welfare is an international horse charity that seeks to enhance the lives of horses throughout the world and to stop the avoidable and needless suffering that befalls an immense number of these creatures. Creating a world where every horse is treated with dignity, compassion and understanding is their central hope. It is believed that by working and educating everyone from the horses themselves to owners, communities, organisations and the government, the WHW will be able to help greatly improve the welfare standards for these animals and in turn, will decrease the unthinkable number of torturous circumstances that these innocent animals are subjected to.
The Princess Royal at Penny Farm (Photo courtesy of The Royal Family)
The World Horse Welfare organisation strives to adhere to their three basic but vital values: they first and foremost are realistic in their approach. While being mindful of exactly what the future may look like, the WHW is extremely pragmatic about what they can realistically achieve.
Not one to just talk the talk, the Princess Royal is definitely one who walks the walk as well! In 2013, while visiting the charity and meeting some of the horses who were being rehabilitated, Anne became smitten with one of the horses named, coincidentally, Annie.
Annie had been rehomed once before but was brought back to the farm in need of additional rehabilitation. The spark was instantaneous and as Anne had been looking for an older horse, the 14 year old Annie was the perfect fit for her. Annie is now a happy member of the Princess Royal’s family and a perfect companion for Anne.
Next stop for the Princess Royal was the South Lakes Birth Centre in Barrow, Cumbria. As Patron to The Royal College of Midwives, Princess Anne met with the midwifery staff at Furness General Hospital.
The Royal toured the hospital’s state of the art birthing unit and was welcomed by Cumbria’s HM Lord Lieutenant Mrs. Claire Hensman, RCM President Kathryn Gutteridge, RCM Chief Executive Gill Walton. Local stakeholders and senior leaders of the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust were also there to welcome the VIP.2
Over 1700 babies have been born at the South Lakes Birth Centre since its official opening in February 2018.
Following this, Princess Anne made a stop to Ulverston, where she visited a Save the Children shop. In her role as patron of the charity – one of her longest-standing connections – Anne met and chatted with some of the volunteers who help out at the shop.
Save the Children is the first global charity dedicated to improving the lives of all children around the world. Founded in 1919, Save the Children is consistently the first on the scene to help out vulnerable children caught up in times of crisis.
Their belief is that every child deserves a future and over 120 countries benefit from the life-saving programs that STC endorses to help the hardest-to-reach and most vulnerable lives. Each child’s unique needs are met and life changing results are produced through the latest health, education, and protection programs. Throughout the world, millions of children are now able to have a healthy start in life, have the opportunity to learn and are protected from violence and abuse, thanks to the work of Save the Children.
The Princess Royal has long been associated with Save the Children. She has been serving as the charity’s President since 1970 and became patron in 2016, succeeding her mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
A significant amount of Anne’s time is spent visiting projects for this charity all around the world. When speaking of her work for the group, Anne expressed: “I am proud of my long association with Save the Children. It is an organisation that embodies a spirit of compassion, openness and excellence. Its values are an inspiration; it’s achievements, a source of hope for millions of children. Their efforts to ensure that every child survives to live a happy, healthy life are outstanding”
Because of her work with the organisation, the Princess Royal was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.
