The Princess Royal has been admitted to hospital after she suffered a minor head injury and concussion on her estate in Gloucestershire, Buckingham Palace has said.
Princess Anne, 73, is expected to make a full and swift recovery after an incident at her Gatcombe Park estate on Sunday, a statement said.
Sources suggest her injury is consistent with an impact from a horse’s head or legs.
“The King has been kept closely informed and joins the whole Royal Family in sending his fondest love and well-wishes to the Princess for a speedy recovery,” the statement added.
Princess Anne’s trip to Canada that was due to begin at the end of this week has been postponed.
She was injured on Sunday evening when she was out walking on her estate and horses were nearby.
The cause of the minor head wounds is unconfirmed, with the uncertainty about what happened reflecting that the princess suffered from concussion in the incident.
Emergency services were called to the estate and the princess was taken to Southmead Hospital, Bristol.
The princess is conscious and is expected to stay in hospital until later this week “as a precautionary measure for observation”, a Buckingham Palace statement said.
Her husband Admiral Sir Tim Laurence and her daughter Zara and son Peter were on the estate at the time. Her husband then travelled with her to hospital.
In a statement, Buckingham Palace said: “The Princess Royal has sustained minor injuries and concussion following an incident on the Gatcombe Park estate yesterday evening.”
According to the NHS, concussion can be the result of a “temporary injury to the brain caused by a bump, blow or jolt”.
It can cause forgetfulness, tiredness and a lack of concentration and can take a couple of weeks before a full recovery.
The hospitalisation of Princess Anne is the latest health problem facing the Royal Family.
King Charles and the Princess of Wales both have had a cancer diagnosis this year, limiting their public engagements.
Princess Anne is known as one of the most hard-working royals, carrying out many engagements.
Her sense of public duty combined with a no-nonsense approach has helped her status as one of the most popular royals, with consistently high approval ratings in opinion polls.
She is known for her interest in horses and her achievements in equestrian sports, becoming the first member of the Royal Family to compete in the Olympics, in the games in Montreal in 1976.
As the second child of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip she was third in line to the throne when she was born and she is now 17th in the line of succession.
She has married twice. Her first husband, Captain Mark Phillips, is the father of her two children, Peter and Zara.
