Princess Anne made a heartfelt gesture to her late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, on Sunday.
The royal, 72, was spotted curtsying in front of her mom’s coffin, which was draped with the Royal Standard of Scotland, as it was being taken into the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.
Anne, who is the only daughter of the late Queen, has been visibly heartbroken in the days since her mother’s death at the age of 96.
The grandmother-of-five looked tearful as she spent time with other royal family members – including her children, Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall, and husband Timothy Laurence – reading tributes and admiring floral tributes left in honor of the long-reigning monarch.
Anne, who is often called the hardest working member of the royal family, has also taken on the heartbreaking task of accompanying her mother’s casket as it begins the long journey to its final resting place in Windsor.
On Sunday, she was driven alongside the hearse carrying her mother’s coffin as it made the slow sojourn to Edinburgh.
“In accompanying her late mother’s coffin on the six-hour journey from Balmoral to Edinburgh on Sunday, the 72-year-old once again lived up to her reputation as a royal trooper who always goes the extra mile,” The Telegraph reported.
And Anne’s devotion doesn’t stop there.
It was announced Saturday that Anne will accompany her mother’s coffin when it’s transported to Scotland via a Royal Air Force plane to RAF Northolt Tuesday.
From there, the coffin will be taken to Buckingham Palace, where it will rest in the Bow Room.
While Anne was always thought of as a “Daddy’s girl” – due to the no-nonsense temperament she shared with her father, late Prince Philip – she also had much in common with the Queen, including a love of horses and horse racing.
Prince Philip, who died in April at the age of 99, once famously said of his daughter: “If it doesn’t fart or eat hay, she isn’t interested.”
The Queen also appreciated her daughter’s dogged work ethic.
The two reportedly grew even closer in recent years, especially following the deaths of the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret, who both passed within months of each other in 2002.
Princess Anne, along with her brother, King Charles III, was at the Queen’s bedside when she passed at age 96.
