Princess Anne rocked rule-breaking mini dress to controversial second wedding

It's been more than three decades since the Princess Royal's second marriage to Sir Timothy Laurence, which saw her become the first child of a British monarch to remarry.

At the time, the Church of England forbade members of the church to remarry after divorce during the lifetime of their former spouse. But a defiant Princess Anne bent the rules in more ways than one, marrying her love in Scotland and wearing a very unroyal mini dress for the occasion.

Practicality reigned supreme for Princess Anne's second wedding dress, which was worlds apart from her trumpet-sleeved Tudor-inspired dress worn for her first marriage.

Eschewing a billowing train, ethereal veil and spectacular royal wedding tiara synonymous with most royal bridal attire, she opted instead for an off-white jacket and flippy matching skirt.

The rebellious Princess, who tied the knot in front of 30 people at Crathie Kirk church in Aberdeenshire, wore her hair in a voluminous beehive pinned with a delicate bloom of white flowers - a far cry from the £5 million Queen Mary Fringe Tiara she donned for her first nuptials.

In a further departure from bridal tradition, Princess Anne slipped into black court shoes for her special day, ditching an age-old tradition of wearing white, ivory or neutral-toned shoes.

By the 90s, short wedding dresses were no longer eyebrow-raising after the mini skirt's fashion evolution in the 60s had paved the way for trailblazing brides to turn away from tradition.

For a royal bride, however, Princess Anne's thigh-grazing wedding skirt was no doubt considered a questionable choice for the daughter of a monarch at the time.

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During Queen Elizabeth II's reign, royal protocol favoured a longer hemline, with senior members of the royal family's skirts expected to fall at least to the knee.

To this day, she remains the only British royal to wear a short wedding dress, taking inspiration from iconic sartorial muses like Audrey Hepburn, Sharon Tate and Mia Farrow who opted for bridal minis years before her.

Princess Anne's eyebrow-raising early relationship with Sir Timothy Laurence

The Princess Royal met the late Queen's equerry in the late 1980s, when Anne was still married to her first husband Captain Mark Phillips, with whom she shared children Peter and Zara.

They exchanged personal letters that were leaked to The Sun, but their contents were never published - and it's not known if they were of a romantic nature.

Buckingham Palace issued a statement that read: "The stolen letters were addressed to the Princess Royal by Commander Timothy Laurence, the Queen’s Equerry. We have nothing to say about the contents of personal letters sent to Her Royal Highness by a friend which were stolen and which are the subject of a police investigation."

Despite the drama, Princess Anne and Sir Timothy are still happily married. They live together at Gatcombe Park Estate, a magnificent royal residence in Gloucestershire.