Princes leads media on a royal two step

IT IS a sort of royal two step. The media arrive well in advance. Then the royal visitor arrives. The media get a brief glance of the VIP with those she has come to meet and then skedaddle at a certain point before the royal departure, according to Buckingham Palace protocol.

And so it was on Saturday, the second day of Princess Anne's twoday "working visit" to Ireland, one of several she has undertaken in recent years and one of the most publicised.

Her first of three appointments was at Newcastle Riding School in Co Dublin where she watched a training session of the Riding for the Disabled Association. She is president of the same association in Britain.

In fact she is president of a lot of things. The two page biography issued by the British embassy lists a raft of them, including the following: president of Save the Children Fund; president of Register of Engineers for Disaster Relief; president of the Missions toe Seamen; president of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts; honorary president of the Chartered Institute of Transport; honorary president of the British Knitwear and Clothing Export Council; president of the Animal Health Trust; president of the Women's Royal Naval Service Benevolent Trust.

She is commandant in chief and colonel in chief of military regiments and corps and is patron of numerous other organisations including the Scottish Rugby Union, whose national team she watched beat Ireland by six points at Lansdowne Road on Saturday.

But it was riding, not rugby which was the first sport of the day - Princess Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise presented rosettes to five students from St Raphael's School, Celbridge, for children with learning difficulties. She had watched them go through a training session with Deirdre De Burgh, cousin of pop singer, Chris.

She also met some of the pupils from Cheeverstown House, Templeogue. Then she was presented with a book by the grandson; of the school's director, Ms Kathleen Dowd.

Then the relentless palace protocol was in place again and the press were ushered away. It was back to Dublin with her six Garda outriders and cavalcade of cars and jeeps and on to Victim Support, the organisation which helps victims of crime.

Her security was assured - at least in theory - with Victim Support housed right beside Garda Dublin headquarters in Harcourt Square. But to be extra sure, three Garda marksmen were located at strategic points, and barriers were in place. Apart from the press, there were just seven onlookers, including three Scottish rugby fans.

The princess had made a request to meet Victim Support in Ireland, being patron of the same organisation in Britain. At Harcourt Square the princess met Mrs Jennifer Guinness, the association's chairwoman and Mr Derek Nally, its founder, and heard about the organisation's assistance for tourists.