The Princess Royal at home: Anne pictured at Gatcombe Park to mark 70th birthday

Three images of Princess Anne at her country home of Gatcombe Park have been released to mark her 70th birthday.

Anne, the only daughter of the Queen, has been a working royal for more than five decades, and is regularly crowned among the hardest working, carrying out upwards of 500 engagements each year.

The three official portraits were taken by renowned photographer John Swannell who has taken pictures of people from Diana, Princess of Wales and her sons and the Queen’s official Diamond Jubilee portrait in 2012 to Tony Blair, Sir Michael Caine and Sir Elton John.

In one image, she is dressed casually, in a checked shirt, over a red polo neck, as she stands in front of a tree.

But in the other two, she is far more glamorous, in one wearing a Maureen Baker evening dress and Sue Palmer bolero jacket, as she sits in a gilded chair and smiles broadly into the camera.

In the final image she wears a Sue Palmer emerald green dress and a gold ribbon knot brooch, set with 12 diamonds.

The pictures were taken in February, before the lockdown in the UK.

Read more: Seven stunning throwback photos of Princess Anne as she turns 70

The three outfit changes reflect the multi-faceted royal - one who is as comfortable dressed to feed her chickens in Gloucestershire as she is to sit at a formal banquet.

Known for her no nonsense approach, Anne was the last royal still out on in-person engagements before the coronavirus lockdown, and has been driving herself to visits since they began again.

Interviews and documentaries marking her milestone birthday reveal she sometimes clashes with older brother Charles, particularly over climate change and organic farming.

Her son, Peter Philips, described her as “tenacious”.

Anne looks likely to spend her birthday, on Saturday, in Scotland, though any large celebrations have had to be postponed.

Earlier this week, her son-in-law Mike Tindall told The One Show: “We did have plans – it would’ve been up in Scotland – but obviously with COVID and Aberdeen being locked down a bit, I think everything’s been scaled back a little bit.

“It’s a shame. I’m sure we’ll do something as a family to celebrate her 70 amazing years, she’s just an incredible woman in terms of how much work she can get through in the year.

“We will be doing something, as yet I don’t know whether she knows – so my lips are sealed.”

Anne is known to enjoy a regular summer sailing trip with her husband Vice Admiral Timothy Laurence, and may be able to do the same this year.

Christened Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise she was born at Clarence House on 15 August 1950, the Princess Royal has gone onto live a varied life, from representing Team GB at the Olympic Games, to winning Sports Personality of the Year, to shrugging off a kidnapping attempt and getting a criminal record.

She was a trailblazer, opting not to give either of her children a royal title, something they have been grateful for.

Read more: Nine quotes that show Princess Anne has never been a traditional royal

In 1971 she was named Sports Personality of the Year and in 1976, won a place in the Montreal Olympics as a three-day eventer in the British equestrian team.

Anne and her first husband Captain Mark Phillips survived a kidnapping attempt in 1974 and have two children together - Peter and Zara.

She’s called Gatcombe Park home since 1977, and as well as being a working farm, it’s hosted many equestrian events over the years, including the Gatcombe horse trials.

Both Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall and their families have homes in the grounds.

She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia in 1990 for her work as president of the charity Save The Children.

In 2002, she became the first senior Royal Family member to get a criminal record, after she pleaded guilty at East Berkshire Magistrates’ Court in Slough to a charge under the Dangerous Dogs Act.

Her dog Dotty bit two children in Windsor Great Park, for which she was fined £500.

Mother to two, grandmother to four, the Princess Royal shows no signs of slowing down as she enters another decade of royal service.