The Princess Royal has been welcomed to Sri Lanka with a dazzling performance by traditional dancers – and carried some of her bags off the plane.
Anne had a bag in each hand and a handbag as she walked down the plane’s steps with husband Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence for the start of a three-day visit celebrating the UK’s ties with the Commonwealth country.
A large group of dancers and musicians performed for the couple, with drummers playing a hypnotic beat in the hot and humid conditions.
The princess is visiting the country at the request of the Foreign Office and will begin a whistle-stop tour to mark the UK’s bilateral relations with the nation, including a meeting later with President Ranil Wickremesinghe and First Lady Maithree Wickremesinghe.
Andrew Patrick, British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, was among the dignitaries who formally welcomed the princess and said afterwards: “This visit is the best possible way to mark 75 years of diplomatic relations with Sri Lanka.”
Anne will undertake engagements and meet local communities and faith groups in the capital, Colombo, the city of Kandy in the centre of Sri Lanka, and Jaffna on the northern tip of the island, home to many of the country’s Tamil community, from Wednesday to Friday.
Mr Patrick added: “That’s the aim, to show her as much of the country, as much of the diversity as we can, and we think it’s the first visit by a member of the royal family to Jaffna, certainly in many, many years, so that will be historic.”
In 1948 Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, gained its independence after more than a century of British rule.
The 73-year-old princess has been dubbed the King’s “right-hand woman” thanks to her support for her brother, and her reputation as one of the hardest-working royals in Charles’s slimmed-down monarchy.
The trip is the royal family’s first overseas tour of 2024.
Anne’s first stop in Colombo was a visit to the factory of MAS, a company producing sportswear and active lifestyle clothing – including tops for tennis star Novak Djokovic.
It has also been manufacturing underwear and lingerie for Marks & Spencer for 30 years, and the princess was shown some of the garments by Jehan Jayasuriya, chief marketing officer for MAS Intimates, and held a bra cup as they chatted.
She was shown the polo shirt made for Djokovic for last year’s Australian Open, featuring material bonded rather than stitched together to remove seams and thus reduce friction during his intense training sessions.
Anne is president of the UK Fashion and Textile Association, and she heard about the efforts of MAS, which works with Loughborough University to develop its cutting-edge sports clothing, to create sustainable products.