Zara? She is still the family wild child, says her Papa
Richard Palmer THE Queen’s granddaughter Zara Phillips is still a “wild child”... according to her father.
Captain Mark Phillips’s daughter was famed as a royal rebel in her teens, even sporting a tongue stud.
“She still is,” said her father, the man she refers to as Papa.
Zara has told of her gratitude to her mother Princess Anne for ensuring she had the freedom to pursue her equestrian career as a commoner.
Anne and Zara’s father are said to have both urged the Queen not to give their children titles.
Now married to rugby star Mike Tindall, Zara, 34, an Olympic silver medallist and former world equestrian champion, has made millions from commercial sponsorship.
But she is offi cially plain Mrs Tindall.
Zara, who has a one- year- old daughter, Mia, with Mike, 36, said “I’m very lucky” not to be for instance Lady Zara. Being commoners allowed her and her brother Peter, 37, to do “all the things that gave us the opportunity to do”, she added.
Parents
Her royal connections and good looks have helped with sponsorship, but it is her work ethic that has kept her at the top of her sport and in the hunt for a place in Britain’s Olympic team in Rio next year.
She says in the interview to promote this weekend’s Festival of British Eventing at Princess Anne’s Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire: “I probably get it from my parents. Papa said to me: ‘ If you want to get to the top you’ve got to do it properly, and to stay at the top it’s even harder’.”
Captain Phillips, 66, himself an accomplished equestrian, has remained close to Zara and Peter despite his divorce from Anne in 1992 after his affair with New Zealand art teacher Helen Tonkin resulted in him fathering an illegitimate daughter, Felicity.
He commented in the same interview on the split, saying: “Well, I know we got divorced but the one thing we did really well when we got divorced was how we handled the Peter and Zara situation.”
But Zara tried to play down the wild child tag. “I don’t know if I was that wild. I guess it looked like that because of my family background. I’m sure that is what it’s probably compared to,” she said.
Her father won team equestrian gold for Britain at the 1972 Olympics in Munich but thinks his daughter has done better than him.
He, Zara, Peter, and Anne all operate out of Gatcombe Park, which the Queen bought for Mark and Anne in 1976, but he suggested they had been given no favours. “From sport, I was APPRENTICE star Stuart Baggs died as a result of the asthma he suffered from, it was revealed yesterday.
The 27- year- old, who ran a communications fi rm on the Isle of Man, was found dead at his home in the island’s capital Douglas late last month.
A statement released by the Isle of Man Constabulary said a coroner found Baggs died of natural causes.
The statement added: “Mr Baggs had suffered from asthma for many years and lucky enough to win a gold medal when I was young and that opens so many doors all around the world,” he said. “And Zara’s carried it to another level. She’s more successful.”
He added: “All sport is the same. There are no friends. There are no favourites. You either do it or you don’t. If you’re good enough you win and if you are not, you don’t. Simple.”
Captain Phillips, who left his died as a condition.”
At 21, Baggs was the youngest candidate to appear on the BBC One show in 2010.
He was knocked out at the interviews stage and the series was eventually won by Stella English but he became a cult favourite with his stream of catchphrases and his description of himself as “Baggs the Brand”.
Inspector Michelle McKillop
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his second wife, Sandy Pfl ueger, in 2012 for US show- jumper Lauren Hough, 28 years his junior, is boss of the US eventing team and designs equestrian courses around the world.
He is said to have built up a personal fortune of around £ 20million.
He has remained on good terms with his fi rst wife Princess Anne who works with him on the annual festival at Gatcombe Park. said: “From the reaction we have encountered during our inquiries it is clear that this is a tragic and premature loss of such a hardworking and visionary young man.
“We extend our thoughts to the family at this sad time.”
During his time on The Apprentice, he became best known for a series of quirky quotes such as: “I’m not a onetrick pony... I’m a whole fi eld of ponies,” and “I’m Stuart Baggs The Brand – I’ve got a certain type of charisma”.