Zara Phillips Biography

Summary

"Zara Anne Elizabeth Phillips", MBE (born 15 May 1981) is the second child and only daughter of Princess Anne, the Princess Royal and her first husband, Captain Mark Phillips. As the eldest granddaughter of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and The Duke of Edinburgh, she is 11th in the British Order of Succession.

An elite equestrienne, Zara is the reigning Eventing World Champion and was voted 2006 BBC Sports Personality of the Year by the British viewing public (an award her mother, Princess Anne, won in 1971). Zara was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2007 New Years Honours List for her services to equestrianism.

Zara has an older brother, Peter Phillips, born in November 1977, and two half-sisters, Felicity Tonkin, born in 1985 to her father and his former mistress, and Stephanie Phillips, born in 1997 from her father's second marriage to Sandy Pflueger.

Childhood

Zara was born in the private Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital of Paddington, London. She was baptised on 27 July 1981 and has five godparents: her uncle Prince Andrew, Duke of York, Leonora Anson, Countess of Lichfield, Lady Helen Stewart (wife of Jackie Stewart), Andrew Parker Bowles and Hugh Thomas.

Zara began her education at Nursery School, Minchinhampton. She then progressed to Beaudersert Prep, Port Regis, before completing her education at Gordonstoun.

She later qualified as a physiotherapist from the University of Exeter.

During her time at school, she excelled many sporting activities and represented her schools in hockey, athletics and gymnastics.

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Outside school she was a keen enthusiast of ballet.

Equestrian

Following in both her parents' footsteps, Zara is an accomplished equestrian sportswoman. In June 2003, Zara 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.

Royal Engagements

As the eldest granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, Zara carries out duties on behalf of The Royal Family. In 2003, Zara and the HRH The Princess Royal took part in the first UK double ship-naming ceremony in Southampton. HRH The Princess Royal 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 off one of her evening gowns (worn at the London premiere of the film Seabiscuit) to help with tsunami relief. She also undertook a royal 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, the Salisbury based medical research charity that 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 Cauldwell 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 attacks on September 11, 2001.

In 2007, Zara became patron of the Mark Davies Injured Riders Fund.

Relationships

Her often stormy relationship with former fiancé and National Hunt jockey Richard Johnson, with whom she lived for five years, attracted the unwelcome attention of the British paparazzi, and the couple's split in November 2003 became front page news.

She is now dating Mike Tindallname='Hello_Magazine'> who plays for Gloucester Rugby and was part of the England World Cup winning squad in 2003.==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 1996; 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.*Nick Copeman's 2005 memoir, "King Nicholas and the Copeman Empire" is dedicated to Phillips, and she is mentioned extensively throughout.==References====External links==* * (Zara follows mother's trail to the top) * (Zara Phillips photo gallery)