Zara Tindall's lack of princess title is down to her mother refusing Queen Elizabeth II's gesture
"I think that was probably the right thing to do..."There are lots of rules and protocols that members of the royal family follow. But one strict policy The Firm adhere to is who is and isn’t a prince or princess, and it was Princess Anne’s decision as a mother that led to her children Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips not having a title.
The rule over who is automatically a prince or princess was carved out by King George V in 1917. He slimmed down the number of titles given out at birth, and laid out that the children of a son of a sovereign are entitled to these titles. This is why King Charles’ sons were Prince William and Prince Harry when they were born. It’s also the reason behind Meghan and Harry’s children now being known as Prince Archie and Lilibet after Charles ascended to the throne.
However, some royals choose to go against the norm, and that’s exactly what Princess Anne did when it came to Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips.
Why is Zara Tindall not a princess?
The reason stems from an old family tradition that is centuries old. The rule claims that only the father may pass on his title and that only prince and princess in the family have fathers in the line of succession.
If we take Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice as examples, they were born with the title due to their father Prince Andrew being the son of the sovereign at the time – Queen Elizabeth II.
Whereas, Zara Tindall did not become a princess because her father Captain Mark Phillips was not born into the royal family. He also declined an offer of earldom from the late queen when he married The Princess Royal.
Despite Anne’s children having a place in the line of succession, they did not inherit the royal rankings.
The late Queen did extend a sweet gesture to offer Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall the prince and princess title, going against protocol. But their parents decided to opt out.
Princess Anne believes it was the ‘right thing to do’
Anne, who was Elizabeth’s second child, welcomed Peter in 1977. Zara was born a few years later in 1981.
The royal split from Mark Phillips in 1992. Later that year, she married Timothy Laurence, a commander in the Royal Navy. They have been together ever since.
In 2020, Princess Anne reflected on choosing to not give Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall prince and princess titles.
She said to Vanity Fair: “I think most people would argue that there are downsides to having titles… So I think that was probably the right thing to do.”
The lack of titles has allowed the siblings more freedom when it comes to their careers. Zara became a professional British equestrian and Olympian, whereas Peter worked for Jaguar Racing before becoming the director of a sports management company.
Despite Peter being the late Queen’s grandchild, he wasn’t high up in the line of succession as it was Charles’ children that would take up this spot.
Read more: What would actually happen if King Charles chose to resign and announced his abdication
Zara Tindall is grateful she never became a princess
In December 2023, Zara Tindall herself publicly thanked her mother for not giving her a royal princess title.
While she was on The Total Sport Podcast, she explained: “From my point of view, I was obviously very lucky that my mother didn’t give us any titles so I really commend her on that. We were very lucky that we got to do it a bit our own way.
“My family has a great work ethic as well which I’m hoping they instilled in me and is still going to this day.
“Hopefully, we can pass it onto our kids. Now, my brother and my cousins love to go back and do the same things and I hope that our children have the same experiences that we did when we were growing up. You don’t really appreciate that until you’re older and you’ve got kids.”
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