Zara Phillips extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia

Zara Phillips
Full name
Zara Anne Elizabeth Phillips
Royal house	House of Windsor
Father	Captain Mark Phillips
Mother	Anne, Princess Royal
Born	15 May 1981 (1981-05-15) (age 27) St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London
Baptised	27 July 1981 Windsor Castle, Berkshire

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

An equestrienne, 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 made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2007 New Years Honours List for her services to equestrianism.^[1]

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.

Contents 1 Childhood 2 Equestrian 3 Royal engagements 4 Relationships 5 In popular culture 6 Ancestry 7 References 8 External links

Childhood

Zara was born in the private Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital of Paddington, London. She was baptised on 27 July 1981^[2] and has five godparents: her uncle Prince Andrew, Duke of York, Leonora Anson, Countess of Lichfield, Lady (Helen) Stewart (wife of Sir Jackie Stewart), Andrew Parker Bowles and Hugh Thomas.

Zara began her education at nursery school in Minchinhampton. She then progressed to Beaudesert Park School and Port Regis Prep School, before completing her education at Gordonstoun.

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]

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.^[5]

It was announced by the British Olympic Association that Zara will be riding Toytown as one of five riders for the British equestrian team at the Beijing Olympic Games 2008 in Hong Kong, China.^[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]

Royal engagements

As the eldest granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, Zara carries out duties on behalf of The Royal Family. In 2003, Zara and 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 September 11, 2001 attacks.

In 2007, Zara became patron of the Mark Davies Injured Riders Fund.^[8]

To help with Sport Relief 2008, Zara posed for her first official royal portrait by artist Jack Vettriano.^[9]

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 Tindall who plays for Gloucester Rugby and was part of the England World Cup winning squad in 2003.^[3]

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.
• Nick Copeman's 2005 memoir, *King Nicholas and the Copeman Empire, is dedicated to Phillips, and she is mentioned extensively throughout.

Ancestry

v • d • e Ancestors of Zara Phillips

16. William Garside Phillips               8. Joseph Herbert Phillips                       17. Emma Grundy               4. Peter William Garside Phillips                             18. William Henry Land               9. Dorothea Mary Land                       19. Kate Eliza Moore               2. Mark Phillips                                   20. John Gerhard Tiarks               10. John Gerhard Edward Tiarks                       21. Ada Constance Helen Harington               5. Anne Patricia Tiarks                             22. Percy Roland Cripps               11. Evelyn Florence Cripps                       23. Mary Howard Tripp               1. Zara Phillips                                         24. George I of Greece               12. Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark                       25. Olga Konstantinovna of Russia               6. Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark                             26. Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven               13. Princess Alice of Battenberg                       27. Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine               3. Anne, Princess Royal                                   28. George V of the United Kingdom               14. George VI of the United Kingdom                       29. Mary of Teck               7. Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom                             30. Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne               15. Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon                       31. Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck

References

External links

• Zara Phillips at the Internet Movie Database
• Zara follows mother's trail to the top

Preceded by Peter Phillips	Line of succession to the British throne 12th position	Succeeded by David Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Andrew Flintoff	BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2006	Succeeded by Joe Calzaghe

v • d • e BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners 1954-1959 1954 Christopher Chataway · 1955 Gordon Pirie · 1956 Jim Laker · 1957 Dai Rees · 1958 Ian Black · 1959 John Surtees 1960-1969 1960 David Broome · 1961 Stirling Moss · 1962 Anita Lonsbrough · 1963 Dorothy Hyman · 1964 Mary Rand · 1965 Tom Simpson · 1966 Bobby Moore · 1967 Henry Cooper · 1968 David Hemery · 1969 Ann Jones 1970-1979 1970 Henry Cooper · 1971 HRH The Princess Anne · 1972 Mary Peters · 1973 Jackie Stewart · 1974 Brendan Foster · 1975 David Steele · 1976 John Curry · 1977 Virginia Wade · 1978 Steve Ovett · 1979 Sebastian Coe 1980-1989 1980 Robin Cousins · 1981 Ian Botham · 1982 Daley Thompson · 1983 Steve Cram · 1984 Jayne Torvill / Christopher Dean · 1985 Barry McGuigan · 1986 Nigel Mansell · 1987 Fatima Whitbread · 1988 Steve Davis · 1989 Nick Faldo 1990-1999 1990 Paul Gascoigne · 1991 Liz McColgan · 1992 Nigel Mansell · 1993 Linford Christie · 1994 Damon Hill · 1995 Jonathan Edwards · 1996 Damon Hill · 1997 Greg Rusedski · 1998 Michael Owen · 1999 Lennox Lewis 2000-2009 2000 Steve Redgrave · 2001 David Beckham · 2002 Paula Radcliffe · 2003 Jonny Wilkinson · 2004 Kelly Holmes · 2005 Andrew Flintoff · 2006 Zara Phillips · 2007 Joe Calzaghe