Princess Anne's lighthouse love

Jul 14, 2008, 11:25 GMT

Britain's Princess Anne has vowed to visit all of Scotland's lighthouses.

The princess - patron of the Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) - has reportedly visited almost half of the 207 buildings on her list already.

She has visited around 80 lighthouses as part of her work with the NLB and an additional 20 with her husband, Vice-Admiral Tim Laurence.

The princess travelled to Pladda, off the Isle of Arran, and the nearby Holy Island inner and outer lights on a private trip last week as part of her hobby, known as pharology.

Next week she is expected to visit two more lighthouses off the Isle of Skye.

Roger Lockwood, NLB chief executive, said: "She must have visited over 80 with us and takes her role as patron very seriously.

"It is not just about ticking off another light on the list - she also likes to see the places and conditions in which the technicians have to work.

"The princess has done all the major lights now and it will not be easy to do them all because there are many that are scattered all over the place. But it will be a remarkable feat if the princess ticks them all off. Other than some of our technicians I doubt if anybody else has been to all of them."

The 57-year-old princess is said to have developed an enthusiasm for lighthouses at the age of just five when she accompanied her mother, the Queen to Tiumpan Head in Lewis.