The Laurences descend from Zaccaria Levy, a Jewish merchant who arrived in England from Venice (and possibly initially from Baghdad) in the late 18th century.

Upon leaving Durham he completed his initial training at the Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth, and was posted to HMS Aurora, a Plymouth-based frigate.

He attended the Royal Australian Navy Tactics Course at HMAS Watson, Sydney, in March 1986 during which he was notified of his first staff appointment as Equerry to the Queen,[7] a post he held from 11 October 1986 until 16 September 1989.

[6] From January 1999, Laurence was Hudson Visiting Fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford, where he wrote a paper on the relationship between humanitarian assistance and peacekeeping.

[18] Chairman of the English Heritage Trust between April 2015 and December 2022, Laurence also served Vice-Chairman of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission until 30 June 2019.

[19][20] A Trustee of the HMS Victory Preservation Company,[21] his transport interests also include membership of the Great Western Advisory Board.

[24] In January 2025 Laurence was forced to pull out of an official visit to South Africa with Princess Anne after suffering from a torn ligament while working on their estate, Gatcombe Park.

[25] Laurence met Princess Anne when he served as an equerry to Queen Elizabeth II in 1986, at a time when it was much rumoured that her first marriage to Captain Mark Phillips was breaking down.

Buckingham Palace issued a statement: "The stolen letters were addressed to the Princess Royal by Commander Timothy Laurence, the Queen's Equerry.

He received no peerage on marriage, but was made a personal aide-de-camp to the Queen in 2008 and invested in June 2011 as a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order.