Princess Anne wears Queen Elizabeth II’s Admiral’s Cloak to a church service in London

• Princess Anne sported the cape at the Temple Church in London this week
• READ MORE: Watch out Kate! England has had five Queen Catherines so far – and it HASN’T always ended well…

Princess Anne paid a touching tribute to her mother as she sported Queen Elizabeth II’s Admiral’s Cloak for Choral Evensong at the Temple Church in London earlier this week.

Wearing the stunningly elegant cape donned by the late monarch in several portraits – including a famous set of photographs by Cecil Beaton – the Princess Royal, 73, read out a Bible Passage from 1 Corinthians.

The Queen – who passed away in September last year – can also be seen wearing it in an iconic 2007 Annie Leibovitz portrait. 

Anne appeared moved by the evening service at the Temple Church, which is a royal peculiar – meaning that it is under the direct jurisdiction of the monarch rather than the province in which it lies.

Her voice was confident as she read the scripture, which started with the words: ‘Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.’

Princess Anne paid a touching tribute to her mother as she sported Queen Elizabeth’s Admiral’s Cloak for Choral Evensong at the Temple Church in London earlier this week

‘And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.’

A passages from 1 Corinthians was also read out at the Queen’s funeral.

Anne’s sleek black cloak is understood to have been enjoyed by her mother, as she opted to wear it in more than one portrait. 

It features golden buttons and intricate detailing on the collar fasteners but is an otherwise simple but regal design. 

Anne wore a patterned blue dress underneath the cloak, and styled her hair in a classic neat up-do. 

Photographer Cecil Beaton, who became high society’s favoured photographer through the years, pictured her wearing it in a selection of images from 1968. 

Snaps from the year show the monarch smiling to the side, in her element as she dons the black cape.

A description of one of the images on the V&A website describes the intentions behind the fashion choice.

Wearing the stunningly elegant cape donned by the late monarch in several portraits – including a famous set of photographs by Cecil Beaton (pictured)

Anne wore a patterned blue dress underneath the cloak, and styled her hair in a classic neat up-do

‘Beaton eliminated the magnificent regalia and sparkling gowns seen in other portraits to produce a contemplative and timeless image of the monarch,’ it reads.

A commemorative Time Magazine cover pictured the Queen, in the cloak, as shot by Cecil, when she passed away. 

Annie Leibovitz’s infamously theatrical shot of the Queen, shot in 2007, also shows her wearing the cloak. 

The photographer has since recounted the experience in a memoir, and admitted that she was inspired by Cecil Beaton.

Writing in Annie Leibovitz at Work, she recalled how the royal had appeared to be in a bad mood during the shot, and that the picture in the cloak was the last one taken.

That photo was later digitally imposed onto pictures of the garden. 

The Queen is also understood to have donned the cape at her Diamond Jubilee in 2012, wrapping herself up in its warmth at the occasion’s Buckingham Palace concert.

The Queen is also understood to have donned the cape at her Diamond Jubilee in 2012, wrapping herself up in its warmth at the occasion’s Buckingham Palace concert

Anne’s touching fashion tribute to her mother follows an emotional interview from the Princess Royal earlier this year.

In May, she spoke of her heartache upon leaving Balmoral after the Queen’s death, telling of the ‘touching’ moment she saw thousands of mourning Briton’s lining the streets to say farewell.

In a rare, candid interview the stoic Anne spoke of her relationship with Elizabeth and paid tribute to ‘sheer numbers of people’ who lined the roads from Balmoral to Edinburgh, and later from London to Windsor in the wake of her death.

The Princess, who was visibly moved as she accompanied her mother’s coffin in a funeral cortege last September, said she ‘took a lot of it in’ as she passed mourners, adding she ‘spotted people she knew on the way’.

She told Canada’s CBC News: ‘It was such an impressive sight, and it was more than that because it was really touching (to see) how people responded and how they did things. 

Anne’s touching fashion tribute to her mother follows an emotional interview from the Princess Royal earlier this year

‘The sheer numbers of people turned up in quite extraordinary places, you were never going to miss that and the atmosphere it created.’ 

The Princess spoke of the number of people from rural communities across Scotland who brought out their ponies and horses, having plaited their tails.

Tractors had also lined the road in a Guard of Honour.

When asked how she felt leaving the Queen’s beloved Balmoral with her mother for the last time, she spoke of her own pain.

She said: ‘Leaving Balmoral was never easy, but then it never has been, I mean I was just as bad when I was leaving as a child.’

The Queen had chosen her only daughter to accompany the funeral cortege, seeing Princess Anne take on perhaps the hardest role in the wake of the monarch’s death.

Pictured being driven in a Bentley behind the hearse, Anne, who was accompanied by her husband of 30 years Sir Timothy Laurence, was visibly moved as she looked out onto those members of the public who had come to pay their respects.

Anne and Zara Tindall pictured standing outside Balmoral Castle, following the passing of the late Queen 

The mother and daughter had enjoyed a close bond, which was evident each time they were seen together.

Poignantly reflecting on their exceptionally close mother-daughter bond, she said: ‘The relationship tends to remain if you are lucky very similar throughout your life.’

In the interview, which took place just days before her brother’s Coronation and ahead of her visit to New Brunswick in a few weeks time, the Princess spoke with sadness about the tragic photo of the Queen sitting alone in grief at Prince Philip’s funeral.

When asked by the interviewer whether she believed it was ‘thievery’ that her mother was forced to alone at a time of enormous grief, she agreed.

She said: ‘Yes, you’re quite right. In some ways I’m glad we didn’t see that, at that moment. When you see the photograph it’s much worse somehow’.

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