PRINCESS Anne is no stranger to Dorset – she chose to educate her children here at the Port Regis school near Shaftesbury and her love of sailing and presidency of the Royal Yachting Association has made for close links with the Weymouth Olympic project.

In recent years it seems she has rarely been out of the county, visiting Poole, Gillingham and Weymouth last spring, opening Gillingham’s re-vamped RiversMeet leisure centre which she first visited during the 1980s and joking that she barely recognised the place.

In December 2010 she unveiled a plaque to mark the opening of Weymouth’s relief road, telling well-wishers how she had travelled down the old A354 many times and was looking forward to seeing the new road open.

“I’ve been here enough to experience the road as well and I expect that a lot of people have been waiting patiently for this,” she said.

Earlier in the day she opened the Citizen’s Advice Bureau’s new Kinson Hub.

Anne is a dedicated repeat visitor: in May 2006 she opened Dorset’s new heart centre at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital and on her way in spotted the two plaques put up to commemorate her opening of the first phase of the hospital in 1990 and the second phase two years later.

In June 2005 she opened the Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy, telling guests: “I'm really pleased to be here for this opening. I’ve slightly lost track of how long I’ve been president of the Royal Yachting Association but I do know this has been on the agenda for such a long time.”

And surely she won’t be able to resist a visit when the Olympic games are officially on!