Queen chose Princess Anne to accompany funeral cortege on first leg of journey back to London 

Princess Anne, the Queen’s only daughter, was chosen by her mother to accompany the funeral cortege on the six-hour journey from Balmoral to Edinburgh.

The Princess Royal, 72, had a forlorn expression but remained composed as she was driven behind the hearse in a royal Bentley alongside her husband of thirty years, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence.

Nothing was left to chance in the Queen’s funeral arrangements, meaning Her Majesty likely personally requested that her daughter accompany the coffin to the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

Princess Anne will also travel to London with her mother’s coffin tomorrow, when it will leave Scotland by air, Buckingham Palace confirmed.

Anne watches as the hearse carrying the coffin of her mother is readied to be carried into Holyrood House today

The Very Reverend Professor David Fergusson, dean of the Chapel Royal in Scotland, will also be on board the flight to RAF Northolt in Ruislip, west London, when it departs Edinburgh at 6pm.

From there, it will be taken to Buckingham Palace by a waiting state hearse. 

Anne is regarded by many as the hardest-working member of the royal family, having completed more than 20,000 engagements.

She is also a close confidante of her brother, King Charles III.

The Princess Royal is regarded by many as the hardest-working member of the royal family and is a close confidante of her brother King Charles III (pictured together in 2017)