International
Princess Anne: Queen Elizabeth II’s loyal daughter
AFP | by Robin MILLARD
Queen Elizabeth II’s only daughter Princess Anne rarely lets her emotions show but the grief was etched on her face as she accompanied her mother’s coffin.
With her elder brother King Charles III called away to duty, the queen’s second child accompanied their mother’s coffin on its journey through Scotland and back to London.
Anne, 72, was with Queen Elizabeth on Thursday when she passed away aged 96 after seven decades on the throne.
“I was fortunate to share the last 24 hours of my dearest mother’s life,” Anne said in a statement Tuesday.
“It has been an honour and a privilege to accompany her on her final journeys. Witnessing the love and respect shown by so many on these journeys has been both humbling and uplifting.
“To my mother, The Queen, thank you.”
Anne travelled with the cortege on the six-hour drive from Balmoral to Edinburgh on Sunday.
She curtseyed as soldiers carried the casket into the monarch’s official Scottish residence, the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
Anne stood guard at the coffin alongside her siblings at St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh on Monday.
And the princess flew with the casket from the Scottish capital to London on Tuesday.
Anne’s role may now change depending on whether Charles, 73, pursues a slimmed-down monarchy. But he may find his closest sibling a rock of support as he adjusts to his new role.
Anne said she was “grateful for the support and understanding offered to my dear brother Charles as he accepts the added responsibilities of the monarch”.
Learning the hard way
Anne has earned a reputation as the hardest-working royal, squeezing in a career as an Olympic horse rider alongside a lifetime of public engagements.
Cast much in the same plain-speaking mould as her late father Prince Philip, Anne is reported to have once described herself as “not everyone’s idea of a fairy-tale princess”.
“You learn the hard way,” she said. “There isn’t a school for royalty.”
She never sought to please the press, saying she did not “do stunts” and once told photographers to “naff off”.
In 1974, she was the target of a kidnap attempt when her car was ambushed. Two police officers, her chauffeur and a passer-by were shot and wounded.
An account released by the National Archives said assailant Ian Ball pointed his gun at Anne and said: “I want you to come with me for a day or two, because I want £2 million.
“Will you get out of the car?”
The princess replied curtly: “Not bloody likely — and I haven’t got £2 million.”
Anne stuck to a mixture of classic chic and casual, keeping her voluminous, up-do hair style throughout her adult life.
She adopted a business-like demeanour that sometimes meant she came across as frosty, and resulted in her sharp, dry sense of humour often being mistaken.
Gifted horse rider
Born on August 15, 1950, Anne was taught at Buckingham Palace before beginning boarding school in 1963.
She inherited her mother’s passion for horses and the young princess became a skilled equestrian.
Anne won the 1971 European Eventing Championship and the British public voted her that year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
“I certainly saw it as a way of proving that you had something that was not dependent on your family and it was down to you to succeed or fail,” she said of her horse riding career.
She married equestrian Mark Phillips in 1972. The wedding was an international event watched by an estimated 500 million people.
Anne represented Britain at the Montreal 1976 Olympics, returning without a medal after a particularly nasty fall.
She became a member of the International Olympic Committee in 1988 and was on the organising committee for the London 2012 Games.
Anne and her army officer first husband had two children — sports events managing director Peter and 2006 eventing world champion Zara.
Breaking with tradition, the couple decided Phillips should not accept a title so their children would be free to determine their own lives.
Divorce and remarriage
Anne was granted the title of Princess Royal, traditionally given to the monarch’s eldest daughter, in 1987.
She split from Phillips in 1989 and the couple divorced in 1992.
Nine months later, Anne married naval commander Timothy Laurence, a former equerry to Queen Elizabeth.
Anne supports more than 300 charities, organisations and military regiments, including an association with Save the Children that has lasted more than 50 years.
She regularly tops the charts for conducting the most royal engagements, and writes her own speeches.
International
Florida officials warn against raw milk after dozens sickened
Unprocessed milk from a farm in Florida has sickened at least 21 people, prompting state authorities to issue a public health alert, U.S. media reported Monday.
The 21 cases include six children under the age of 10, all diagnosed with infections caused by E. coli and Campylobacterbacteria linked to raw milk from the farm in the southeastern U.S. state. Local authorities have also warned about the dangers of drinking unpasteurized milk.
Seven people have been hospitalized, two of whom have suffered complications, according to multiple reports.
The Florida Department of Health has urged the public to avoid raw milk consumption and blamed the outbreak on the farm involved—without naming it directly—citing poor sanitary practices.
Florida law prohibits the sale of unprocessed milk for human consumption, although it can be sold if labeled for pets. Pasteurization, which involves heating milk to kill harmful bacteria, is required under U.S. federal regulations for any dairy products sold across states.
Despite these regulations, sales of raw milk have been increasing in recent years, fueled by online promotion from wellness influencers and advocates of unprocessed foods.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warn that raw milk can contain potentially deadly bacteria such as E. coli, Campylobacter, Listeria, or Salmonella, which can cause symptoms ranging from diarrhea, vomiting, and indigestion to severe complications like kidney failure.
International
Massive wildfire in Southern France kills one, injures nine
Hundreds of firefighters battled on Wednesday to contain a massive wildfire in southern France that has left one person dead and nine others injured.
The blaze, which broke out Tuesday in the Aude department, is the largest recorded in France during the current summer season. Authorities have deployed 1,800 firefighters in an effort to bring it under control.
An elderly woman died in her home in the town of Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, while two others were injured—one in serious condition due to burns—according to the local prefecture. Seven firefighters suffered smoke inhalation injuries, and one person remains missing. The wildfire has already scorched an estimated 12,000 hectares of land.
“The fire is spreading very quickly due to unfavorable weather conditions. This is one of the driest areas of the department, and strong winds are fueling the flames,” said Lucie Roesch, secretary general of the Aude prefecture. Rémi Recio, subprefect for the city of Narbonne, added, “The fire is still spreading and is far from being contained or under control.”
The A9 motorway, which runs along the Mediterranean coast between France and Spain, has been closed in both directions between Narbonne and Perpignan, along with numerous secondary roads.
In Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, the smell of smoke lingers over the charred hectares. A helicopter was seen drawing water from the river below the village and dropping it several kilometers away, AFP reporters observed.
A campsite and at least one village were partially evacuated, with 25 houses and around 35 vehicles damaged, according to a preliminary assessment.
French Prime Minister François Bayrou announced he will visit the affected area on Wednesday.
International
Japan marks 80 years since Hiroshima bombing with call for nuclear disarmament
Japan observed a minute of silence on Wednesday to mark the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, a solemn reminder to the world of the horror it unleashed, amid heightened tensions between nuclear powers the United States and Russia.
At exactly 8:15 a.m. local time (23:15 GMT), the moment when the U.S. bomber Enola Gay dropped the “Little Boy” atomic bomb on August 6, 1945, the city paused to remember.
The bombing claimed an estimated 140,000 lives, not only from the devastating blast and fireball but also from the deadly radiation that followed. Three days later, another bomb dropped on Nagasaki killed 74,000 more. Japan’s surrender on August 15 marked the end of World War II.
On a sweltering morning, hundreds of students, survivors, and officials dressed in black laid flowers at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. The city’s mayor, Kazumi Matsui, warned of “an accelerating trend toward military buildup worldwide,” citing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing war in the Middle East.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba stated that Japan has a mission “to take the lead toward a world without nuclear weapons.”
Today, Hiroshima is a thriving metropolis of 1.2 million people, yet the skeletal remains of one building still stand at its center as a powerful reminder of the tragedy.
Wednesday’s ceremony was attended by representatives from around 120 countries and regions, including delegates from Taiwan and Palestine for the first time.
Among the attendees was 96-year-old Yoshie Yokoyama, who arrived in a wheelchair accompanied by her grandson. She told reporters that her parents and grandparents were victims of the bombing.
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