Zara Tindall, the eldest granddaughter of the Queen, is pregnant with her third child, making way for another royal baby.
But while the 39-year-old is pals with both Prince William and Prince Harry, she has led a very different life from her royal cousins.
From attending a local elementary school to marrying a commoner, here are five things to know about the daughter of Princess Anne and Mark Phillips.
Zara’s tongue is pierced
Zara sports a decidedly un-royal tongue piercing. She reportedly received the stud at a tattoo parlor near her boarding school. While Princess Anne was said not to mind, she reportedly asked if Zara was still able to speak properly.
She’s an Olympic medalist
Like her mother, Zara is an accomplished equestrian. She won a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics and was presented with it by Princess Anne. Anne also competed in the 1976 Olympics but failed to medal.
She’s no princess
Even though she is currently sixteenth in line to the throne, Zara, along with brother Peter holds no royal title. “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 told The Times in 2015. Indeed Zara and her sibling were sent to the local primary school because her mother wanted her children to mix with ordinary local kids.
She had a dysfunctional relationship
Before marrying Mike Tindall, Zara had an infamously tempestuous relationship with jockey Richard Johnson. One mutual friend claimed that all the couple had in common was horses and sex. The two even got into a public spat that saw them swap punches and kicks while hurling insults at each other. Police were called but no action was taken. The couple also raised royal eyebrows when they cut a six-figure deal with Hello magazine that saw them posing on a rug in front of a roaring fire.
She and her husband have both lost their drivers’ licenses
Both Zara and her husband have had trouble holding onto their drivers’ licenses. In November 2019 Zara was banned from driving for six months because she was caught speeding and had already racked up demerit points for other driving offenses. Tindall has been convicted of drunk driving twice which resulted in him losing his license for three years.
