Who are the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence?

Prince Richard and wife Birgitte will ride with Vice Admiral Laurence in the third carriage during the coronation procession

The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. PA

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The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence will ride in the third carriage for the coronation of King Charles III.

The Gloucesters are a low-profile senior royal couple who are known to be among the hardest-working front-line members of the family.

Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, is the second son of Prince Henry and Princess Alice, and a cousin to Queen Elizabeth II.

He attends national and international events in support of the head of state, and also takes part in many public duties and charity engagements each year.

The prince is the youngest of the nine grandchildren of King George V and Queen Mary.

That makes him, as a first cousin once removed to King Charles, 30th in line to the British throne.

Henry, Prince Richard’s father, was the younger brother of King George VI, Queen Elizabeth’s father.

Prince Richard never expected to be Duke of Gloucester or a “working royal”.

He was what is commonly known in royal circles as a “spare”. In line with the title of Prince Harry's autobiography, British aristocratic families refer to the second son as a “spare” — a family's fortunes are secured by having an heir and a spare.

But in 1972, his elder brother, William, died in a plane crash, making him the heir when their father died two years later.

The prince, 78, and Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester, live at Old Stables, a cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace in London.

Tim Laurence

Vice Admiral Laurence, a retired Royal Navy officer who was equerry to the queen from 1986 to 1989, is the second husband of Princess Anne. They were married in 1992.

He joined the Royal Navy in 1973 as a midshipman and was promoted to lieutenant in 1977. He was made rear admiral in 2004.

He has served on several ships, including the HMS Cumberland and the HMS Montrose, and was briefly the navigating officer on the royal yacht Britannia.