Zara Anne Elizabeth Phillips, MBE (born 15 May 1981) is the second child and only daughter of Princess Anne, Princess Royal and her first husband, Captain Mark Phillips. She is the eldest granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and is twelfth in the line of succession to the British throne.
An equestrian,1 Zara is the reigning Eventing World Champion who won the World Championship in Aachen and was voted 2006 BBC Sports Personality of the Year that year by the British viewing public (an award her mother, Princess Anne, won in 1971). Zara was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2007 New Year's Honours List for her services to equestrianism.2
Zara has an older brother, Peter Phillips, born 15 November 1977, and two half-sisters: Felicity Tonkin, born in 1985 to her father and his former mistress Heather Tonkin; and Stephanie Phillips, born 2 October 1997 from her father's second marriage to Sandy Pflueger.
She later qualified as a physiotherapist specialising in Equine Physiotherapy from the University of Exeter.3
During her time at school, she excelled at many sporting activities and represented her schools in hockey, athletics and gymnastics.4
Equestrianism
Following in both her parents' footsteps, Zara 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.
However, 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.5
It was announced by the British Olympic Association that Zara would be riding Toytown as one of five riders for the British equestrian team at the Beijing Olympic Games 2008 in Hong Kong.6 However, an injury sustained by Toytown during training led to Zara being forced to withdraw from the team. Zara previously missed the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens when Toytown suffered a similar injury during training.7
On 25 October 2008, Zara 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.8
Royal engagements
As the eldest granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, Zara supports many charitable causes. In 2003, Zara 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 Zara named its sister ship Adonia.
Zara 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.
Zara is also linked to INSPIRE, (http://www.inspire-foundation.org.uk), 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.
Zara also appears at events for The Caudwell Charitable Trust, which is targeted at children with special needs, disabilities and serious illnesses.
Zara has continued her family's long patronage of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and has visited on many occasions.
In 2006, Zara took part in a special charity day for Cantor Index, whose staff were killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks.
In 2007, Zara became patron of the Mark Davies Injured Riders Fund.9
To help with Sport Relief 2008, Zara posed for her first official royal portrait by artist Jack Vettriano.10
In 2009, Zara attended a celebrity poker tournament in Monaco in aid of Darfur, Sudan.11
Relationships
Her often stormy relationship with former fiancé and National Hunt jockey Richard Johnson attracted the unwelcome attention of the British paparazzi, and the couple's split in November 2003 became front page news.
She is currently in a relationship with Mike Tindall who plays for Gloucester Rugby and was part of the England World Cup winning squad in 2003.3
On 8 January 2009 Tindall was banned from driving for three years and fined £500 for drunk-driving, with £75 costs. This was the consequence of an incident on the M4 motorway on 15 March 2008, at 10.45am the morning after a day out at the Cheltenham Racing Festival with Zara Phillips.12
In popular culture
- The graphic novel V for Vendetta contains a reference to "Queen Zara"; it is implied that following a nuclear war in the 1980s she was the most senior survivor in the order of succession. The novel incorrectly refers to "Queen Zara's" 16th birthday being in June; it is possible that this not a reference to Zara's actual birthday, but rather to the observed Queen's Birthday, which does take place in June.
- 2004 Zara showed support for the British motor company Land Rover during the launch of the new Freelander.
- 2008 Zara starred in 'viral' video to promote the British Eventing Olympic team.13
Ancestry
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Ancestors of Zara Phillips |
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References
External links
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