Britain’s Princess Anne is recovering well in hospital, her husband says, after the King’s younger sister suffered a head injury thought to have been caused by a horse.

Anne, 73, the only daughter of the late Queen Elizabeth, suffered minor injuries and a concussion in the incident on Sunday at her Gatcombe Park estate home in west England.

She was taken to hospital in nearby Bristol.

“She is recovering well, thank you,” the Princess Royal’s husband, Tim Laurence, told a well-wisher after a visit to see her at the hospital on Tuesday (local time).

“We are both profoundly grateful to the medical team and hospital support staff for their expert care – and to the emergency services who were all so wonderful at the scene.

“We are both deeply touched by all the kind messages we have received from so many people near and far. It means a great deal.”

Buckingham Palace said Anne had been kept in hospital as a precautionary measure, but was expected to make a full recovery.

A royal source said her injuries were consistent with impact from a horse’s head or legs.

The princess is expected to return home this week. But her upcoming engagements have been postponed and Anne will not fly to Canada as planned at the end of the week, the source said.

It also meant she was absent from the state banquet on Tuesday at Buckingham Palace in honour of the visit of Japanese Emperor Naruhito and his wife.

The Princess Royal is a keen horse-rider and former Olympian.

She was most recently seen riding a mare called Nobel alongside her brother Prince Edward and nephew the Prince of Wales at the Trooping the Colour earlier in June.

Video of Anne and Noble went viral after the horse started throwing its head and cantering in place. But the princess handled the moment of concern with her customary calm.

-with AAP