Princess Anne has left hospital following several days of treatment for a concussion and other head injuries, Buckingham Palace said Friday.
The 73-year-old Princess Royal—King Charles III’s younger sister—was thought to have been kicked or headbutted by a horse while she was walking in the grounds of her Gatcombe Park estate in southwest England on Sunday. She received treatment from emergency services called to the scene before being taken to a hospital for what proved to be a five-night stay.
She’s now set to recuperate on the estate and will return to public royal duties once her doctors recommend that it’s safe to do so.
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“I would like to extend my warmest thanks to all the team at Southmead Hospital for their care, expertise and kindness during my wife’s short stay,” Sir Timothy Laurence, Anne’s husband, said in a statement.
The palace has confirmed precious little information about how Anne—an Olympic equestrian—was hurt. A royal source said earlier this week that horses had been in the area where she was walking when she was injured, adding that the injuries were consistent with being struck by a horse’s legs or head.
Buckingham Palace broke news of the incident on Monday, saying at the time that Anne was “expected to make a full and swift recovery.” Her appearances scheduled for this week were nevertheless axed in the wake of her hospitalization.
Laurence, who traveled to the hospital with his wife over the weekend, made another visit on Tuesday. He said the princess was “doing fine, slow but sure,” and that he’d brought her “a few little treats from home.”
Zara Tindall, Anne’s daughter, also visited her injured mother at the hospital this week. King Charles did not follow suit but the palace said he was being kept “closely informed” about the situation and had sent his “fondest love and well-wishes to the princess for a speedy recovery.”
