Zara Phillips

Zara Phillips MBE
Born	Zara Anne Elizabeth Phillips 15 May 1981 (1981-05-15) (age 30) St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London
Alma mater	University of Exeter
Religion	Christian (Church of England)
Spouse	Michael James Tindall (m. 2011–present) «start: (2011)»"Marriage: Michael James Tindall to Zara Phillips"
Parents	Mark Phillips Anne, Princess Royal
Relatives	Peter Phillips (brother) Elizabeth II (grandmother) Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (grandfather)

Zara Anne Elizabeth Phillips, MBE (born 15 May 1981) is the second child and only daughter of Princess Anne and her first husband Captain Mark Phillips and is thirteenth in the line of succession to the throne. She is married to England rugby union player Mike Tindall, but has elected to keep her maiden name for professional and sponsors, referring to herself otherwise as "Mrs Tindall".

An equestrienne, Phillips is the former Eventing World Champion, who won the World Championship in Aachen and was voted 2006 BBC Sports Personality of the Year by the British viewing public (an award her mother won in 1971). She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2007 New Year's Honours List for her services to equestrianism.

Family life

She is the eldest granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. At the time of her birth she was sixth in line to succeed her grandmother, the Queen. As of the birth of her niece Savannah Phillips in 2010, she is 13th in the line of succession to the thrones of 16 independent countries.

She has an older brother, Peter Phillips, born 15 November 1977, and two half-sisters, Felicity Tonkin, born in 1985 to her father by his brief affair with Heather Tonkin, and Stephanie Phillips, born 2 October 1997 from her father's second marriage to Sandy Pflueger.

At the request of their mother, the children of the Princess Royal do not hold any royal or noble title, nor are they automatically entitled to royal status by right of birth, as they are the grandchildren of a monarch in the female line.

During her schooldays, latterly at Gordonstoun, she excelled at many sporting activities. She represented her schools in hockey, athletics and gymnastics. She later qualified as a physiotherapist specialising in Equine Physiotherapy, from the University of Exeter.

On 21 December 2010, Buckingham Palace announced her engagement to rugby union player Mike Tindall, who plays for Premiership side Gloucester and the England national team. She lives with Tindall at their home in Gloucestershire. The couple met during England's Rugby World Cup-winning campaign in Australia in 2003, being introduced by Zara's cousin, Prince Harry. The wedding was held on 30 July 2011 at the Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland. The bride wore a Stewart Parvin dress and the Meander tiara. This tiara belonged to her great-grandmother, Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark. It was a tiara that her mother also wore.

On 8 July 2013, it was announced by Buckingham Palace that Phillips and Tindall were expecting their first child. With her husband present, Phillips gave birth to a daughter, Mia Grace Tindall, on 17 January 2014 at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital. She is 16th in the line of succession.

It has been reported that on account of her professional interests in equestrianism, she will continue to use her maiden name.

Equestrian

Zara Phillips riding Glenbuck at Badminton Horse Trials 2010

Following in both her parents' footsteps, Phillips is an accomplished equestrienne. In June 2003, she announced that she had secured a sponsorship deal with Cantor Index, a leading company in spread betting, to help cover the costs of her equestrian career.

Together with her horse Toytown, she collected individual and team gold medals at the 2005 European Eventing Championship in Blenheim and individual gold and team silver medals at the 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany, making her the reigning Eventing World Champion.

Despite winning team gold at the 2007 European Eventing Championships in Italy, she failed to defend her own individual title after a problem in the show jumping phase of the competition.

It was announced by the British Olympic Association that Phillips would be riding Toytown as one of five riders for the British equestrian team at the Beijing Olympic Games 2008 in Hong Kong. However, an injury sustained by Toytown during training led to her being forced to withdraw from the team. Zara previously missed the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, when Toytown suffered a similar injury during training.

On 25 October 2008, she fell from her horse, Tsunami II, at the 15th fence of a cross-country event at Pau, France, and broke her right collarbone. The horse had broken its neck after it had tipped over the hedge and so had to be put down.

Royal engagements

As the eldest granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, Phillips supports many charitable causes. In 2003, she and Princess Anne took part in the first UK double ship-naming ceremony in Southampton. Princess Anne named the P&O Cruises liner Oceana, and Phillips named its sister ship Adonia.

She frequently attends various events for charity and has taken to supporting certain causes herself, mainly for spinal injuries, equestrian charities and children's causes. In 2005, she auctioned one of her evening gowns (worn at the London premiere of the film Seabiscuit) to raise money for tsunami relief. She also undertook a visit to New Zealand in her role as patron of The Catwalk Trust. From 1998 to 2005 she served as the president of Club 16-24, a group which encourages young people to take an interest in racing. She is linked to INSPIRE, the Salisbury based medical research charity which helps to improve the quality of life of people with spinal cord injuries, and Sargent Cancer Care for Children, the UK's leading children's cancer charity.

She appears at events for The Caudwell Charitable Trust, which is targeted at children with special needs, disabilities and serious illnesses. She has continued her family's long patronage of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and has visited on many occasions. In 2006, she took part in a special charity day for Cantor Index, whose staff were killed in the 11 September 2001 attacks. In 2007, she became patron of the Mark Davies Injured Riders Fund. To help with Sport Relief 2008, she posed for her first official royal portrait by artist Jack Vettriano. In 2009, she attended a celebrity poker tournament in Monaco in aid of Darfur, Sudan. In September 2010, she attended the 2012 London Olympic Ball alongside cousin Prince Harry of Wales. In October of the same year she attended another celebrity poker tournament, this time in London, in aid of Cancer Research UK, of which she is Royal Patron.

Clothing design

In 2009 it was announced that Phillips would be designing her own range of equestrian clothing for Musto Outdoor Clothing. The range is named ZP176 after the team number Zara was given when she first represented her country. The range was officially launched in July 2010.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Arms

Arms of Zara Phillips Notes Zara Phillips bears her father's arms on a lozenge Escutcheon Per chevron azure and Or, in chief a horse courant argent, and in base a sprig of forget-me-not flowers, slipped and leaved proper.

Ancestry