On an unexpected trip to the United States, Princess Anne has landed in New York City.
On Monday morning, a plane carrying the late Queen’s daughter arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport from London Heathrow.
The Princess Royal, 72, was welcomed by Mrs. Emma Wade-Smith, His Majesty’s consul general in New York, and subsequently served as the guest of honor at a gala dinner for the English Speaking Union at the Cosmopolitan Club.
The English-Speaking Union of the United States, which promotes worldwide understanding and goodwill via educational opportunities and cultural exchange initiatives, is a non-profit educational organization, according to their website.
Although Her Royal Highness spoke at the black-tie affair, riding the Staten Island Ferry was by far the most unusual action she did during her brief visit to New York City.
The New York Department of Transportation tweeted, “We were happy to welcome Her Royal Highness Princess Anne to the #StatenIslandFerry today.”
The five-mile trip takes around 25 minutes on the ferry, which operates around-the-clock between the boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island across New York Harbor.
Every day, around 75,000 people from New York and visitors alike use the free ride.
The National Lighthouse Museum in St. George, New York, which Anne was visiting, is preparing to undergo a significant $20 million expansion.
She is the honorary chair of the National Lighthouse Museum’s Campaign for Illuminating Future Generations and is well recognized for her passion for lighthouses.
She set out on a personal mission to see each and every one of the 215 lighthouses that line the Scottish coast in the early 2000s.
The princess’s passion for sailing is so intense that she and Vice Admiral Tim Laurence go on covert yachting excursions to several spots.
She may have developed an interest in pharology, the study of lighthouses, when she was five years old and joined the Queen on a trip to Tiumpan Head on Lewis, on the Isle of Lewis in the Scottish Outer Hebrides.
Just two weeks had passed since the burial of Anne’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II, before she resumed her royal responsibilities.
At Balmoral in Scotland, the queen passed away on Thursday, September 8 while being attended by her immediate family.
Anne afterwards returned with the casket to Buckingham Palace.
She has praised her late mother countless times during the last two weeks.
‘I was blessed to experience the final 24 hours of my loving Mother’s life,’ the princess wrote after her passing. It has been a delight and an honor to travel with her on her last trips.
It has been both humbling and inspiring to see how much love and respect so many people have exhibited on these excursions. We will all have special memories to share. I extend my gratitude to everyone who understands our feeling of loss.
Perhaps she served as a reminder of how much we took for granted about her presence and contribution to our sense of national identity. I am also very appreciative of the kindness and sympathy shown to my loving brother Charles as he takes on the additional duties of The Monarch. Thank you, The Queen, to my mum.