This is interesting. Throughout the long holiday, I kept checking in to see if there was any (ANY!) news about Duchess Kate giving birth to the newest little royal baby. There wasn’t any news. But while everyone is paying attention to the royal gestation, Princess Anne’s daughter Zara Phillips announced her first pregnancy too. Incidentally, Zara and Mike Phillips rode on Prince William and Kate’s coattails before – they announced their engagement just a month or so after William and Kate announced theirs. And now Zara has announced her pregnancy just as Kate is about to give birth? It’s interesting. Zara and William and Harry (all first cousins, obviously) have been close all of their lives. But I wonder if there isn’t something slightly passive aggressive about the timing of these announcements:
While they and the rest of the world eagerly awaits the Duchess of Cambridge’s going into labor, the Royal Family already has baby news to celebrate.
Prince William’s cousin, Zara Tindall – commonly known as Zara Phillips – is expecting her first child, due early next year.
The Olympic equestrian, 32, has been married to rugby player Mike Tindall, 33, since July 2011.
A simple statement from the press secretary to Queen Elizabeth, released Monday morning, says, “Mr. and Mrs. Mike Tindall are very pleased to announce that Zara Tindall is expecting a baby in the New Year.
“The Princess Royal and Captain Mark Phillips, Mr. Phillip and Mrs. Linda Tindall, and members of both families are delighted with the news.”
On the eve of the announcement, the sporting pair were at Wimbledon to watch Andy Murray win the men’s title – the first time a Brit has won the championships in 77 years.
This will be the third grandchild for the Queen’s daughter Princess Anne, 62 – following Savannah and Isla, the daughters of Zara’s brother Peter Phillips and his wife Autumn.
Yes, Peter Phillips married a Canadian, and didn’t Autumn give birth to the Queen’s first great-grandchildren? I’m pretty sure that’s right. So Zara already has some experience as an auntie. And none of this really matters all that much because Zara and Peter are so far down the line of succession, and they don’t even have any royal titles. Still, I’m excited for Zara and Mike. They do seem like they genuinely love each other, even though there was some questionable behavior on his part shortly after they were married. They weathered that storm though and now they seem really solid. Hopefully.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I guess I’m one of the strange snowflakes who don’t care much if not at all about Kate upcoming royal burp let alone this one?
*Birth sorry..
You are not lone, strange snowflake 😀
Congratulations to them both. Zara would be about 3 months so she is probably going to or already has started to show. Kate could still be a couple of weeks away from giving birth so now is probably the best time. Zara was supposed to compete in a few weeks I guess she won’t be now she did ride over the weekend. So I am a little surprised she is pregnant she made it seem it was ages away. Zara loves her nieces she should be a great mum.
Holy cow! His nose looks like it’s taking a time out and leaning on a wall!
LOL!
He’s broken it 8 times! I kind of like his lack of vanity, that he doesn’t care about getting it fixed, and neither does she.
Congrats to them, not that I care about royal babies but I like this couple.
He has said in the past that he will get it fixed when he stops playing.
No point in fixing it when it keeps being broken in play.
@LAK – Well, more recently (when Anne asked him if he planned on doing something about his nose for the wedding pics!) he said that after corrective nasal surgery earlier in his career he is unlikely to go under the knife again. I suspect he won’t unless there are medical reasons to do so.
(^ from a DM article in 2011)
Yeah, I am kinda amazed that he hasn’t had it fixed–not for vanity reasons, but, you know, to be able to breathe! Maybe he is waiting until his sports career is over? (I don’t know if it is or isn’t, as I’ve never heard of him before.)
ETA: LAK, we were posting at the same time. 🙂
I am a huge rugby fan, full of trivia information about the game and the players. 🙂
Better a fixable broken nose than unfixable cauliflower ears!!
Guesto – He is asked that question all the time by the sports press, and that’s the answer he always gives. I wasn’t aware that he had given a different answer on that occasion.
His broken nose has become almost iconic, it would be strange to see him with it fixed. 🙂
@LAK – I just liked that story about Anne, made me laugh, it suggests they have a very good, no-nonsense, no-beating-about-the-bush relationship! 🙂 I bet they get on brilliantly together.
ETA: Yes, he should keep it as it is.
Anne and her family are so much more interesting than all the others put together.
Guesto: I agree. Love Zara. And she’s much prettier than she appears in photos. I do think these two really love each other, I really do.
OMG. That is a hilarious way to put it! I was wondering what was up with his face! But to each his own! They look happy so good for them – and his lazy wall-leaning nose! :o)
You know I’ve noticed that but never really looked at it. He’s a walking Picasso. lol I’m such a horrible person.
Anyway, congrats to them. I swear I like the all cousins (and find them more interesting) more than W&K.
I doubt there’s anything in it – they’re all just at that age. My sister and I got engaged 6 weeks apart then married 6 weeks apart and our first borns are 19 days apart and second borns 8 weeks apart. Nothing passive aggressive – we’re just close in age.
This.
I suppose they announced the pregnancy when they did because they wanted to tell people and be in control of how it got to the media.
I don’t get how everyone has to have an ulterior motive in doing something – particularly these two whom have never presented as attention seeking.
Now this is a “Royal” baby to look forward to. And no there is no passive aggressive feud between the cousins or riding of the coatails.
Zara doesn’t have a title because her parents wanted her to have no title, right? Because she is just as much a “blood princess” (what a creepy term) as Bea and Eu, right?
It’s not as simple as that.
As a female, Anne can’t pass on any titles. Their father had no title and he refused to accept one,which is why they have none.
Same scenerio will play out with B & E if they marry untitled men who also refuse titles.
Titles can only pass via the male line. A revision that has been overlooked in the new succession law.
Ah. I see. Thanks!
Stupid misogynistic monarchial rules always make me stabby.
Sad too, that everyone in the family is now going to be compared to William and Kate. Like they made up marriage and babies. 🙄
UsedToBeLulu
Future headline: Nearing the birth of her child, Zara turns to Kate for…. 1.parenting advice 2.Losing baby weight 3.Bringing the passion back into marriage after the birth.
Sadly, FLORC, I think it will be sooner. Zara asks Kate for advice re dealing with pregnancy! Like Zara would ask Kate for anything.
Bluhare
Wasn’t Zara one of the cousins actually named to hate Kate’s fake posh accent? A few months back there was something on how they and the RAF wives can’t stand how she talks and acts.
She seems grounded.
FLORC, I don’t know whether she hates Kate’s new posh accent (but I’d bet she doesn’t think much of her for it), but I have read she’s not a huge fan of Kate’s, and looking at photos where they’re together I’d have to agree.
no, Zara has no title because her father is a commoner and only the kids of the Queen´s male children get titles because they are “Windsors” (Charles= William, Harry; Andrew= Beatrice, Eugenie; Edward= Louise and James).
In the old times “Royal daughters” had to marry in other royal houses/ aristo-families. Broodmares for the husbands line! The children get the titles/styles of the father, not the mother.
The Queen hasn´t given Anne´s first husband a title, so his children are commoners without titles.
If you read up on it, you’ll see that Anne refused to allow her children to have titles.
If I remember correctly, the Queen offered her father a title as it was (or is) usual for non-titled men marrying into the royal family but he refused, so both answers (that she doesn’t have a title because her father isn’t royal only her mother and that she doesn’t have a title because her parents didn’t want her to have one) are kind of correct.
Another royal cousin, Frederick, is expecting soon. I think they are due in August, a few weeks after William and Kate.
I thought that Princess Anne didn’t want them to have titles so she had them “taken away” or whatever. Anyone else remember that?
Not taken away, since they never had any (the father needs to have a title for the kids to inherit one) but it is believed that the Queen offered her father a title as it is usual for non-titled people marrying into the royal family but that he refused it. I guess the Queen also could have given the children a title seperately, but the refusal of the title by Mark Phillips probably was intended to guarantee that future children would be untitled as well.
Yes. Anne refused to allow them to have titles.
She is basically the coolest member of the BRF.
Why are they stealing Kate and William’s thunder? Surely they’re entitled to have a baby too. And it was the Queen’s staff who made the announcement, not them. Maybe her Madge is tired of all the Kate and Willy baby talk, LOL.
Ha! She’s not alone. It’s gone beyond tedious.
BP made this announcement with little fuss as it should be, unlike SJP which made William and Kate’s announcement with so much drama and shenanigans.
Exactly! This was made with dignity, the way a royal announcement SHOULD be.
LAK
BP is acting like they had notice though. The W&K announcement must have sent SJP into a fit! No one wants to be caught with their pants down like that in their profession. It’s embarrassing and i’m sure they were angry to be a kind of pawn in whatever drama was going on between W&K and the time.
I would have typed up my resume at that point.
FLORC – in the past,across the board of different offices, there have been several resignations due to those sorts of shenanigans.
It’s mortifying because they have to defend not just the public image, but also report to BP. You don’t want to be the person who lied to HM’s office even though what you told them was in good faith….
With regards SJP’s announcements, if they would work with BP, there would be fewer screw ups.
Hopefully, with a lot of cousins running around that will be around the same age, W/K’s child will be grounded (or as grounded as possible given the circumstances into which s/he will be born). My fear is that the Mids will give the kid an overinflated sense of self, position, and entitlement.
I think it’s more a case of trying to fly under the radar for them, and they know that Will and Kate will be the big newsmakers, so they can just go on with their lives
Shazbot… Arcane Legends?
Everyone is gonna forget about this pregnancy for a while, as soon as Kate gives birth. It would have been more passive-aggressive if they waited to announce it after the fact.
Well, I still could take weeks till the baby is born. And if they announced it within a month of the birth people would also say that they are trying to steal the thunder. Or if they announced it shortly before or after first pictures were published or a first tv appearance or a first interview or a first public appearance or the Christenning or whatever.
And they probably have to announce it soonish because a: she might be showing or soon be showing b: she can’t compete anymore.
She just competed two horses at Barbury Castle this past weekend. I’d imagine that they released the statement after that, because it was probably the last event she’d be riding in for a while. There are several big fall events, so I’d imagine they’d want to publicize well in advance why she wouldn’t be participating, especially on home turf like Burghley. At this point, to avoid stepping on W&K baby announcement toes, they were probably better off announcing now, and then staying off the radar.
Since it won’t let me edit:
She fell off at Barbury on one of the rides. I’m not sure how it works in Britain vs US, but here if you fall on course, you have to be checked out by EMTs, and get cleared by them to continue riding if you have other mounts. If the rule is the same in the UK, she might have had to disclose the issue then, and they were worried that the news would come out anyway? Hence the official release.
I read she fell this weekend too. I bet it scared the living daylights out of them. Would have if it were me.
Thank the stars above that is not his real face.. however she’s not so fabulous either.. Sheese..!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2358171/Zara-Phillips-Mike-Tindall-expecting-baby-New-Year-Buckingham-Palace-says.html
Check her out at Wimbledon yesterday and tell me if you still think she’s unattractive. She also is one of those people who don’t photograph as well as they look too.
Is she wearing an MST3K poncho as a dress?
he looks like a picasso
LOL! Every time I see a photo of him, I’m mentally sliding his nose back into place. It would drive me crazy if I had to see him every day.
Do you remember their engagement announcement? They’re not passive aggressive, it genuinely seems like they’re pretty low key about this stuff.
I thought the Queen made them wait to announce their engagement until after William & Kate’s was announced? Since William is the heir and Zara is much further down the line, QE wanted his announced first, even though his actual engagement came after Zara’s. But maybe I’m just getting confused…
Anyway, congratulations to the happy couple, babies are always exciting news!
Since Zara’s outside the top ten in the succession line, her marital and baby plans aren’t subject to the Queen’s approval, so there was no request nor need to synchronise her engagement plans with WK.
Peter married in 2008 and has 2 babies now. No need to wait on William’s marital plans.
Since both Zara and William’s weddings happened in the same year, it’s likely that they had to co-ordinate dates since The Queen’s diary is planned six months ahead of time, so that she could attend both weddings.
Congrats to the Tindalls!
Riding on W&K’s coattails? Is that sarcasm, Kaiser? I doubt Zara cares that much about W&K. She may love her cousins, but this is her life.
Zara is a sharp dresser. Refreshing change from Kate and Pippa.
He has got the most crooked nose I have ever seen. Yes I know why, but still …