Princess Anne was the first royal to attend court in over 100 years

Over two decades ago, Princess Anne became the first member of the royal family to attend court for over 100 years

• Princess Anne was the first senior royal to be convicted of a criminal offence
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Prince Harry is expected to spend a gruelling day or two in the witness box this week as part of his case against Mirror Group Newspapers.

While it is rare for a senior member of the Royal Family to appear in court, it is not unique.

In this respect, his aunt Princess Anne has rather led the way, particularly when it comes to motoring offences.

Aged 21, Anne was given a written warning after being caught driving at up to 90mph on the M1 in 1972, although Thames Valley police chose not to prosecute.

Five years later, the Princess, then 26, was not so lucky. She was fined £40 at Alfreton Magistrates in Derbyshire for doing 96mph in a 70mph limit on the M1.

The Princess Royal was the first senior royal to be convicted of a criminal offence after her dog attacked two children back in 2002. Pictured with Tim Laurence and Peter Phillips at Slough Magistrates Court

Anne was fined £500 for the attack and was ordered to pay £250 in compensation to each of the victims and £148 in court costs

Princess Anne seen driving her Land Rover Discovery car at Gatcombe Park on August 4, 2006

Then, on October 22 1990 she was fined £150 and banned from driving for one month by magistrates in Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire, after admitting two speeding offences. She said she had been late for an engagement.

More recently, Anne became the first member of the Royal Family to convicted of a non-motoring criminal offence after her dog attacked two boys in 2002.

This time she appeared at Slough Magistrates Court in person.

Accompanied by her husband Time Laurence and two children, Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips, Anne pleaded guilty to being in charge of a dog that was dangerously out of control in a public place under the Dangerous Dogs Act.

During the one-hour-long hearing, it was admitted that her bull terrier, Dotty had got dangerously out of control but it was said to be a great a shock to Anne.

The dog, who was three-years-old at the time, was described as a good-natured animal ‘lacking in malice’.

The court heard a 12-year-old suffered a bite on the collarbone and two bites to the left leg and that a seven-year-old had scratch marks on his right forearm, on the back and the left leg.

The Princess Royal was subsequently fined £500 for the attack and was ordered to pay £250 in compensation to each of the victims and £148 in court costs.

The dog, who was three-years-old at the time, was described as a good-natured animal ‘lacking in malice’. Pictured: Anne walking her dogs in Gloucestershire

Dotty the English bull terrier was ordered to be kept on a lead in public places and to undergo training following the incident 

The family of the injured boys immediately criticised the sentence and said the dog should have been put down. But Dotty escaped with an order that she be kept on a lead in public places and undergo training.

Princess Anne has been caring for bull terriers for decades and this would not be the first time one of her dogs has turned violent.

The following year Dotty’s mother, Florence, bit housemaid Ruby Brooker on the knee, before later mauling one of the Queen’s corgis, Pharos, so badly it had to be put down.

The Princess Royal’s (pictured) first fine was for speeding in 1977 on her way to an engagement

Princess Anne pictured driving her Scimitar car at Crookham in Hampshire in March 1971

Florence and Dotty were sent for retraining, but Anne’s bull terriers developed such a reputation that Queen Elizabeth II banned them from the house at Sandringham.

In 1993, her dog Eglantyne went for a spectator at Gatcombe, having attacked a smaller dog two years earlier in Windsor.

And in January this year, it was reported that one of Anne’s bull terriers had attacked another dog during a Boxing Day pheasant shoot.

An insider said the King’s sister had taken her pet to the family meet at Sandringham when it sank its teeth into the gamekeeper’s dog and bit its ear in a ‘frenzy’.

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