Zara Anne Elizabeth Phillips (Born 15 May 1981, Paddington, London) is a British equestrian and the second child and only daughter of Princess Anne and her first husband, Captain Mark Phillips. She is the eldest granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
Phillips is the former 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 ( her mother won this award in 1971). She 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.
During her time at school, Zara excelled at many sporting activities and represented her schools in hockey, athletics and gymnastics. She later qualified as a physiotherapist specialising in Equine Physiotherapy from the University of Exeter.
Following in both her parents' footsteps, Phillips is an accomplished equestrian. 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.
Zara Phillips collected individual and team gold medals at the 2005 European Eventing Championship in Blenheim with her horse Toytown 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.
It was announced by the British Olympic Association that Phillips would be riding Toytown as one of five riders for the British equestrian team at the Beijing Olympic Games 2008 in Hong Kong. However, an injury sustained by Toytown during training led to her being forced to withdraw from the team. Zara previously missed the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens when Toytown suffered a similar injury during training.
On 25 October 2008, she 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.
In 2009 it was announced that Phillips would be designing 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.
On 21 December 2010 Zara's engagement announced with rugby union player Mike Tindall, who plays for Premiership side Gloucester and the England national team and weeding held on 30 July 2011 at the Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland. Zara lives with Tindall at their home in Gloucestershire.
Zara Phillips missed the last two Olympics due to injuries to her horse. Zara is looking to win a medal with two or three horses at the London Olympics in 2012.
