Princess Anne looked every inch the graceful royal she is yesterday as she donned an all-white ensemble during her visit to a Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka.
The Princess Royal wore head-to-toe white, even down to her socks, before she arrived at the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, as a mark of respect to the Buddhist faith.
During day two of her official visit Anne, accompanied by her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, travelled to the ancient place of worship in the central city of Kandy to pay her respects at the site, which is home to a tooth Buddhists believe is from their deity.
Her helicopter even followed local protocol and avoided landing on a cricket wicket, as cricket in Sri Lanka is hugely popular.
Her official car also kept off the wicket and whisked her a short distance to the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, Sri Lanka’s most significant Buddhist Temple.
After removing her shoes, like all visitors, the princess was given a plate of jasmine flowers by a Buddhist cleric and ushered into an inner sanctum, reserved for the temple’s most important guests, to make her offering to the relic in private.
The tooth is said to be the Buddha’s left canine and is kept within seven caskets and paraded through the streets of Kandy every five years during a 10-day spectacle.
Later, the royal couple visited the northern city of Jaffna, which is rebuilding its cultural heritage after the civil war.
The King’s sister travelled to the former front line of the conflict described as “brutal” and like the Western Front to learn about efforts to make the area habitable.
She and her husband were given lotus flower garlands by a family who had returned to their homeland after being forced to flee the war and performed the namaste greeting which the royal couple returned.
Anne put on a heavy protective vest before she was given a private tour from the perimeter of an active minefield being cleared by workers from the Halo Trust using machines.
The conflict between armed separatist Tamil Tiger forces and the Sri Lankan Army ended in May 2009 after 26 years, with the government troops claiming a victory that left an estimated 100,000 dead.
