Zara Tindall: Husband Mike announces wife’s pregnancy
Zara, Princess Anne’s daughter and the Queen’s granddaughter, is pregnant with her third child, her husband Mike announced yesterday. The couple already have two daughters: Mia, six, and Lena, two. Mike said on his podcast The Good, the Bad and the Rugby, that it had been “a good week” for them, after a “little scan”.
Despite being the eldest granddaughter of the monarch, Zara noticeably possesses no royal titles.
Customarily, the children of a monarch’s daughter are not entitled to the rank of His/Her Royal Highness, unlike the children of sons.
However, it is usual for a monarch to offer courtesy titles, but the fact Zara is without one was not a snub on the Queen’s part, it was actually her mother’s decision.
At the time of their birth, the Queen offered courtesy titles to her grandchildren, but Princess Anne and her husband Captain Mark Phillips did not accept them.
READ MORE: Zara Tindall branded ‘annoying’ for ‘bossing around brother Peter
Zara Tindall and her mother Princess Anne (Image: GETTY)
Zara and Peter have been able to have relatively normal lives (Image: GETTY)
This is because they wanted their children to lead lives as normal as possible.
These courtesy titles could have been like the ones Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex gave their children: Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn.
It was not a surprise that Anne and Mark turned this down, however, as Mark himself had already turned down a royal rank from the Queen when he married Anne.
However, Zara has said she is glad her parents made this decision.
Mark Phillips refused the offer of a title when he married Princess Anne (Image: GETTY)
She told The Times in 2018: “I’m very lucky that both my parents decided not to use the title and we grew up and did all the things that gave us the opportunity to do.”
Peter is actually the first grandchild of a monarch in more than 500 years to be born without a title or courtesy title.
It was in part due to this decision that they were both able to pursue their own careers.
Peter runs his own sports management company, while Zara became a successful equestrian.
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Zara Tindall competing in the 2012 Olmypics (Image: GETTY)
Zara won the Eventing World Championships in 2006, BBC Sports Personality the same year and won a silver medal at the London 2012 Olympics.
She has also hailed her life as fairly “normal” and claimed her lack of royal title added to the work ethic instilled in her by her mother, leading to her professional drive and successful career.
In an interview with New Zealand’s 1 News in 2015, Zara said: “Yes, it’s pretty normal.
“Just getting up and training, doing the horses. And having Mia – it’s great to be able to do them both so closely.
Zara Tindall says family occasions are about ‘hanging out’
“It’s a good lifestyle to have kids around too.
“You’re always outside and, obviously, I’m married to a rugby player so sports is kind of there in the blood.”
Zara may well pass on her love of riding to her children, as it was passed down to her from Anne and the Queen.
Her Majesty famously loved horses, having kept thoroughbreds her whole life and closely follows racing.
Zara is glad her parents didn’t give her a royal title (Image: GETTY)
Mike has said he hopes their third child is a boy, because he has two daughters already.
However, he quickly clarified that he would love them whether it was a boy or a girl.
The family all live on Princess Anne’s Gatcombe Park estate.
