Zara Tindall opens up about reality of growing up without royal title
Zara Tindall has opened up about the reality of growing up without a royal title in a new podcast appearance.
The daughter of Princess Anne and her first husband, Captain Mark Phillips, Zara is a granddaughter of the late Queen Elizabeth II and the only daughter of the Princess Royal.
She’s also a niece of King Charles III, making her cousin to Princes William and Harry.
But despite her close ties to the royal family, Zara has never been a working royal - or held a title. So, why?
Advert
Well, when she was born in 1981, her parents chose not to give their children royal titles, allowing Zara and her brother Peter Phillips to live a more private life.
Speaking on the latest episode of Talk Horse, which hit YouTube earlier this week on Wednesday (7 October), the equestrian opened up about her parents' choice
"It's a very well-known fact that the decision was made that you wouldn't have a title when you were younger growing up," host three-time Olympic medalist and MBE Pippa Funnell said.
She continued: "You obviously didn't grow up with a title, and you led as normal a childhood as possible. Did that influence the years you spent in the Pony Club?"
The Pony Club is the world's largest youth rider organisation, which helped build the foundation for Zara's international eventing success, Olympic silver medal, and World Championship titles.
"Yeah, definitely," Zara replied. "We were just part of the group, just having fun.
"Lots of, you know, people around here that we grew up with, the same sort of families involved with the horses.
"I think that's the great thing about sport anyway, but especially eventing or an equestrian sport is like, you're all out there to do the same job, and it doesn't matter who you are and it doesn't matter who you are to the horse or anyone else, you've got to get out there and get it done."
She added: "I love that about it."
Speaking to The Times back in 2015, Zara shared: "I’m very lucky that both my parents decided to not use the title and we grew up and did all the things that gave us the opportunity to do."
She said a few years later that she was 'lucky' not to be a princess.
She said on the Seven: Rob Burrow podcast in 2023: "From my point of view, I was obviously very lucky that my mother didn't give us any titles so I really commend her on that.
"We were very lucky that we got to do it a bit our own way."
Topics: Celebrity, Royal Family, UK News
Rhiannon Ingle