Zara Phillips and husband Mike Tindall. (Photo by Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty Images)Have you heard there's a royal baby on the way? No, not the one who’s already arrived. (C'mon, of course you know about him.)
We’re talking about the future child of Zara Phillips, 32, another one
of Queen Elizabeth’s grandchildren, albeit one not nearly as famous as Prince William.
And the
not-being-as-famous part seems fine with her. After all, this is a woman
who chose to announce her pregnancy on July 8, smack in the middle of
the media hubbub surrounding the impending birth of her cousin William
and his wife Kate Middleton’s royal heir, who arrived exactly two weeks later.
So who is Zara Phillips?
She’s the second (and youngest)
child of Princess Anne, Prince Charles's younger sister. And though
Phillips is the first cousin of Prince William and Prince Harry, she had
a very different upbringing than they did. Her mother married fellow
equestrian Marc Phillips
(whom she divorced when Zara was 10 after discovering he had fathered a
child with another woman during their marriage) and decided not to give
her kids royal titles, reportedly to help them live more normal lives.
Even today, Anne, now 62, seems to want to make it clear she's removed from any royal family mania. "Nothing to do with me," she was quoted as saying after the birth of her new great-nephew, "but very good news."Zara followed in her parents' footsteps and became an equestrian herself, eventually winning a silver medal at the 2012 Olympic games in London, where Will and Kate, along with a few of her other cousins, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, all cheered her on from the stands.
Zara Phillips competing at the Rundle Cup (photo: Getty Images)Though
her future offspring will most likely have athleticism in his or her
blood – thanks to Phillips's own background and the fact that her
husband, whom she married in July 2011, is 34-year-old rugby player Mike Tindall
– he or she won’t have any real shot at the throne. With the birth of
Will and Kate’s little one, Phillips herself has now fallen to 15th in
line, which means her child will be lowly number 16. The baby will,
however, get to say that he or she is the second cousin of the Duke and
Duchess of Cambridge’s son, George, who is currently third in line
(behind his dad William and grandfather Charles) to take over as
Britain's ruling monarch.
Despite the fact that Phillips
might not have been raised in Buckingham Palace, the palace took it upon
itself to make the couple's official baby news announcement earlier
this month. "Mr and Mrs Mike Tindall are very pleased to announce that
Zara Tindall is expecting a baby in the New Year. The Princess Royal
and Captain Mark Phillips, Mr Phillips and Mrs Linda Tindall, and
members of both families are delighted with the news,” the statement
read. "This baby will be the first child for Mike and Zara and the third
grandchild for the Princess Royal."
The announcement caused a bit of a stir when the British media
immediately noted that Zara (who still goes by Phillips professionally)
had taken a spill during an equestrian event just two days earlier and
planned to continue competing in the near-term. A little more than a
week later, she had changed her tune with a spokesperson announcing that
all of her horses had qualified for next year’s events and "she has
done so well already this season, she does not actually need to compete
anymore."
Which means that after her little
one is born next year, Zara Phillips will be back in the saddle with
her kid on the sidelines ... or off playing at the palace with a certain
well-known older cousin.
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