Royal Profile: Zara Philips-Tindall

Zara Anne Elizabeth Phillips-Tindall was born 15 May 1981, the daughter of Princess Anne, The Princess Royal and Capt. Mark Phillips {Source}. She has an older brother, two paternal half-sisters, a sister-in-law, and two nieces {Source}:

  1.  Peter Phillips (1977)
    1. Autumn Patricia Kelly Philips (1978, m. 2008)
      1. Savannah Anne Kathleen Philips (2010)
      2. Isla Elizabeth Philips (2012)
  2.  Felicity Tonkin (1985, by his brief affair with Heather Tonkin)
  3. Stephanie Phillips(1997 from her father's second marriage to Sandy Pflueger)

 Among her godparents were {Source}:
 
  • Colonel Andrew Parker-Bowles, ex-husband of her uncle's second wife
  • Mrs Jackie Stewart, wife of the racing driver
 
During her schooldays, latterly at Gordonstoun, she excelled at many sporting activities {Source}. She represented her schools in hockey, athletics and gymnastics. She later qualified as a physiotherapist specializing in Equine Physiotherapy, from the University of Exeter{Source}.
 
Like both her parents, she is an accomplished equestrian {Source}. 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 until 2010 {Source}. She was set to participate in the 2004 Athens Olympics and 2008 Beijing Olympics, but had to pull out at the last minute due to injury of her horse during training both times {Source}.
 
As a non-titled member of the British Royal Family, she supports many causes, many of which are related to children, spinal injuries or equestrianism. In 2003, she and her mother 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 {Source}. 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. Zara was appointed as a Member of Order of the British Empire by her grandmother in the annual New Year's Honours list in 2007 for her role in equestiansim.
 
In 2009, she became a business woman and fashion designer when she began to design 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.
 
She is named Zara at the suggestion of her uncle, Prince Charles-it's Greek meaning "radiance", her second and middle names come from her mother and grandmother. At her birth, she was 6th in line for the throne, but after the births of her cousins Prince William, Prince Harry, Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie, Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor, James Viscount Severn, and the children of Prince William and Catherine, The Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, and her nieces Savanah and Isla, she is presently 17th in line of Succession.
 
She met her now husband, Mike Tindall, through her cousin, Prince Harry at England's Rugby World Cup-winning campaign in Australia in 2003. They lived together near Princess Anne's Scotland estate for several years. Buckingham Palace announced their engagement on 21 December 2010. They were married on 30 July 2011. In January 2014, she gave birth to her first child, Miss Mia Grace Tindall, who is in line for the throne. In 2018, they are expecting their second child {Source}. Whether a boy or a girl, this child will not displace his or her elder sister in succession.

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