Zara Phillips
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| Zara Anne Elizabeth Phillips | |
| Born | May 15, 1981 (age 25) Paddington, London, England |
|---|---|
| Parents | Mark Phillips (father) Anne, Princess Royal (mother) |
Zara Anne Elizabeth Phillips, MBE (born 15 May 1981) is an elite standard equestrienne and is the current European and World Champion in eventing. She is the only daughter of Princess Anne, the Princess Royal and her first husband, Captain Mark Phillips. She is the granddaughter of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and is currently 11th in the British Order of Succession. Zara was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year in December, 2006.
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Phillips was born in the private Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital of Paddington, London. She was baptised on 27 July 1981. Her godparents were her uncle Prince Andrew, Duke of York, Leonora Anson, Countess of Lichfield, Helen Stewart (wife of Jackie), Andrew Parker Bowles (husband of Camilla), and Hugh Thomas. Phillips 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.
Following in both her parents' footsteps, she is an accomplished equestrian sportswoman. In June 2003, Phillips 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. This was the first commercial deal involving a member of the Royal Family.[citation needed]
In 2006 she won individual gold and team silver at the World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany and is therefore Eventing World Champion.
On December 10th she was voted 2006 BBC Sports Personality of the Year by members of the viewing public. The award was given at the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre; her mother, Princess Anne won the award in 1971. She was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2007 New Years Honours List.
Her often stormy relationship with former fiance 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 living with Mike Tindall[1] who plays for Gloucester Rugby and was part of the England World Cup winning squad in 2003.
- 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. Although in the novel, the authors incorrectly refer to "Queen Zara's" 16th birthday being in June 1996.
- Nick Copeman's 2005 memoir, King Nicholas and the Copeman Empire is dedicated to Phillips, and she is mentioned extensively throughout.
| Preceded by Peter Phillips |
Line of succession to the British throne 11th in line |
Succeeded by Viscount Linley |
| Preceded by Andrew Flintoff |
BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2006 |
Succeeded by Most recent |
1954: Christopher Chataway · 1955: Gordon Pirie · 1956: Jim Laker · 1957: Dai Rees · 1958: Ian Black · 1959: John Surtees · 1960: David Broome · 1961: Stirling Moss · 1962: Anita Lonsborough · 1963: Dorothy Hyman · 1964: Mary Rand · 1965: Tom Simpson · 1966: Bobby Moore · 1967: Henry Cooper · 1968: David Hemery · 1969: Ann Jones · 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: Robin Cousins · 1981: Ian Botham · 1982: Daley Thompson · 1983: Steve Cram · 1984: Torvill & Dean · 1985: Barry McGuigan · 1986: Nigel Mansell · 1987: Fatima Whitbread · 1988: Steve Davis · 1989: Nick Faldo · 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: Steve Redgrave · 2001: David Beckham · 2002: Paula Radcliffe · 2003: Jonny Wilkinson · 2004: Kelly Holmes · 2005: Andrew Flintoff · 2006: Zara Phillips
Categories: Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | 1981 births | Living people | Alumni of the University of Exeter | BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners | British equestrians | Event riders | Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year award winner | Members of the Order of the British Empire | Old Gordonstounians | People from London | Physiotherapists | Godchildren of members of the British Royal Family