TOUCHING tributes have been paid to Princess Diana’s aunt Lady Anne Wake-Walker who has died.

Lady Anne, the 99-year-old great aunt of princes William and Harry, was devoted to East Bergholt where she lived and was described as a hardworking member of the community always keen to lend a helping hand.

Lady Anne was an active member of St Mary’s Church and a former president of the East Bergholt Barbizon Twinning Association.

The Rev Stephne Van Der Toorn said of Lady Anne: “She was fluent in French and had a wide general knowledge.

“She also loved music and liked attending concerts.

“Stour Valley Arts and Music Society organised regular concerts in the church and Lady Anne was very involved; she loved her music.”

Mrs Van Der Toorn described the community stalwart as a “very organised lady” who liked everything being properly done and loved the countryside.

Lady Anne served as an officer in the Women’s Royal Navy Service in the Second World War.

Mrs Van Der Toorn added: “Just before the war erupted, she went to Austria to study German.

“One night they went to the opera and her host was waiting outside the opera hall because the Germans were coming to invade Austria.

“They were on the last train coming to the UK before the Germans invaded.

“She definitely was an interesting lady.”

Lady Anne married her late husband Captain Christopher Wake-Walker in 1944 at Westminster Abbey.

They lived in an historic building in East Bergholt which dates back to the 1500s.

Mrs Van Der Toorn added: “She was hard working in village causes, anything that went on in the village, she would always be there.

“She was a member of many community groups and the church as well.

“In the last few years of her life I took communion to her. I feel privileged to have known her.”

Lady Anne’s nephew, Charles Spencer, shared a childhood photograph of his aunt and father, John Spencer, from 1925 playing at the family’s Althorp estate on Instagram.

The 9th Earl Spencer described his beloved aunt as a wonderful lady and said she was a much-loved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother as well as sister and aunt.