Palace: Zara Phillips engaged to be married

Tuesday, December 21, 2010 9:51:00 PM CET


Photo: AP

LONDON (AP) — Prince William and Kate Middleton will soon have company on the royal wedding calendar. Buckingham Palace announced Tuesday that Zara Phillips, Queen Elizabeth II's eldest granddaughter, is engaged.

Phillips, an accomplished equestrian, said she was shocked but "very happy" that her rugby-playing boyfriend Mike Tindall had proposed.

No date has been set yet. Phillips is close friends with her cousin, Prince William, who plans to marry Middleton at Westminster Abbey on April 29. Their engagement was announced last month.


Phillips, 29, is 12th in line to the throne.

The 32-year-old Tindall has played 66 times for England and was in the team that won the 2003 World Cup. It was during the tournament that he first met Phillips in a Sydney bar. Tindall plays for club side Gloucester and is still a regular in the national side.

The palace said in a statement that the couple got engaged Monday evening at their home in western England.

In a statement, Phillips said she was "really shocked when Mike proposed but I am very happy."

Tindall said: "I am delighted that Zara has agreed to marry me. We are both very excited about the next stage of our lives together."

Buckingham Palace said the queen and her husband Prince Philip "are delighted with the news."

Phillips, the daughter of Princess Anne, has won medals in world equestrian championships and was once voted BBC sports personality of the year — as was her mother, who shares her loves of horses.

She was due to compete at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, but pulled out of the competition because of an injury to her horse.

The marriage between Princess Anne and Phillips' father, Mark Phillips, ended in divorce in 1992. Princess Anne has since remarried.

Zara Phillips and her older brother Peter are among the most low-profile members of the royal family, and the only ones among the queen's eight grandchildren not to hold royal titles. Princess Anne turned down her mother's offer of the honors for her children.

As soon as the engagement was announced, bookies began taking bets on the date and venue.

August was the early favorite, with St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle the odds-on venue. Zara's brother, Peter, married his wife Autumn there two years ago.

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By GREGORY KATZ, Associated Press Gregory Katz, Associated Press – Wed Dec 22, 12:55 pm ET
LONDON – Here come the grandkids, marrying up a storm.

After a quiet two-year stretch on the family wedding front, Queen Elizabeth II can look forward to the nuptials of grandson Prince William, set to marry Kate Middleton in April, and granddaughter Zara Phillips, who this week announced her engagement to rugby star Mike Tindall.

The two young royals, though friends, are as different as their engagement pictures: Prince William and Middleton, both 28, released retouched photos taken by master lensman Mario Testino, while Phillips, 29, and Tindall, 32, chose casual outdoor shots of them wearing jeans.

William is world famous, a heartthrob, formerly the most eligible man in England if not the world. Phillips has carefully cultivated a "Zara Who?" persona, which seemed to spring naturally from her mother, Princess Anne, who decided early on that her two children would not use any royal titles.

The lack of royal formality has not hindered Phillips, who has become a master equestrian in her own right, winning several titles and earning a BBC sports personality of the year award for her horsemanship.

She has not announced the time and place of her wedding — etiquette suggests she will not schedule it close to William's big day on April 29 — and her wedding is likely to be a much smaller, more informal event.

"Zara Phillips doesn't use the royal title, and that was reflected in the low-key way they announced their engagement, with no special photograph, no special hairdo, very laid back, so already the tone of their wedding is very different than Kate and William's," said Deborah Joseph, editor of Brides magazine. "They will have more freedom to do what they want, they won't have to adhere to protocol."

She said Phillips will not have to be as cautious as Middleton in her wedding choices because Middleton is marrying into the royal family and will have to make a good impression.

Click image to see photos of Zara Phillips


AP/Steve Parsons, Pool, File
"Kate can't put a foot out of place, but Zara doesn't need to worry as much, she's grown up with it, the queen's her grandma," said Joseph. "Zara's very quirky, and quite rebellious — remember she once had her tongue pierced. Kate's the opposite, much more classic and safe."

The queen has eight grandchildren. The oldest, Peter Phillips, 33, married Canadian Autumn Kelly in 2008. His younger sister Zara is now engaged, as is Prince William. Red-haired Prince Harry, 26, is single, as are Prince Andrew's two daughters, Princess Beatrice, 22, and Princess Eugenie, 20. Prince Edward has two young children: Lady Louise, 7, and 3-year-old James, whose title is Viscount Severn.

Having two members of the same family get married during a short period of time can sometimes lead to tensions and rivalry. And it's not easy to compete when your cousin's wedding ceremony is expected to be televised live around the world.

Wedding planner Mark Niemierko said he advises clients in similar situations to let several months or more elapse.

"You don't want it anywhere close to the other person's date," he said. "In Zara's case, I would go to autumn — wait the whole summer, it's kind of nice to let the dust settle, so you and your friends can be excited about it. You want to have some time."

He also would urge her to choose a country wedding in contrast to William's gathering at London's Westminster Abbey.

"If your cousin is doing it in London, maybe do it outside of London," he said. "You don't want to be drawing comparisons, you want to avoid that at all cost. Zara doesn't have to conform."

But in one case — the dress — Niemierko says Phillips should not try to anticipate what kind of gown Middleton will wear.

"The less you know about the other person's dress, the better," he said. "If Zara finds the designer who is her style, she should pick it."