Zara Phillips (Zara Tindall!) is due to give birth any day now. Her due date is mid-January and my guess is that she will make it into the new year, but just barely. Zara – the daughter of the Princess Royal, Princess Anne – has already weathered a few storms in her marriage to Mike Tindall. He was caught being extra flirty with some random women just months into their marriage, and while their relationship has always seemed strong, the whole thing was pretty embarrassing for Zara. Still, she got knocked up and she’ll be giving birth to the Queen’s FOURTH great-grandchild. So how will it go down? The UK tabloids say it will be no muss, no fuss. Which… I mean, I think that’s the only way Princess Anne’s children do things:
Although the arrival of the Queen’s fourth great grandchild will be the first big royal event of 2014, Zara and husband Mike Tindall want their child to have as “normal” an upbringing as possible.
The baby will be 16th in line to the throne but, like Zara and her brother Peter, he or she will have no royal title.
Zara also wants to resume her equestrian career soon and will take the baby with her on the eventing circuit, without the support of nannies.
Zara, 32, is expected to give birth at the NHS Gloucester Royal Hospital, close to mother Princess Anne’s Gatcombe Park estate where she and Tindall live.
The baby is due on January 14 but friends said the couple wouldn’t be surprised if the boy or girl arrives earlier.
Heavily pregnant Zara accompanied the Queen to church at Sandringham on Christmas Day, riding with her in a car while the rest of the royals walked.
The Cloucester Royal Hospital is also where Zara’s sister-in-law Autumn gave birth to her two babies, apparently. It’s funny to me how Zara and Mike follow the same trajectory as Duchess Kate and Prince William, only several months later and super-casual. My guess is that when Zara gives birth, it will be fast and she’ll be out of the hospital within a few hours, and she and Mike will pose with the baby outside of the hospital, just like Will and Kate, but it will just seem… simpler. So much more low-key. Also: Zara and Mike don’t want to know the baby’s sex, apparently. I’m hoping they have a boy, just because I think their features will mix better on a boy. And yes, I’m sure Zara will be riding a horse again by Valentine’s Day.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
They seem way more chill about everything.
To be fair, they can be more chill. George is in direct line to the throne. A bit more pressure and interest surrounding his birth etc
I don’t feel bad for Kate, she signed up for it. But they’re in very different situations.
Exactly! People cared about George’s birth because he’s a future king. I think Will andKate were as low-key as possible considering the situation.
I’m sure she’ll accomplish that. She’s actually fairly far out of the limelight, and her kid will be even more so.
Can’t help but laugh at the comment that Zara will be back on the horse circuit– without nannies. Um…not sure that’s possible. Will Zara be show-jumping with the baby tucked into a pouch strapped to her chest?
Oh, she’ll have nannies or help of some kind. No doubt about that. I didn’t even take that part of the article seriously.
“The whole thing was pretty embarrassing for Zara”. Oh please.
Zara had no reason to feel embarrassed because she didn’t do anything questionable.
Tindall was doing the flirty stuff and he is the only one who should feel embarrassed.
I agree with you mostly, especially that he is the one who SHOULD feel embarrassed, but I can tell you from first hand experience that it’s not that simple. When your spouse does something that publicly reveals the frailties of your marriage, you do feel embarrassed, or I did, anyway. I’m a private person, and I felt very exposed. And I’m not famous, so it wasn’t in the paper and on the news. I think you would feel embarrassed even though you hadn’t done anything wrong.
Zara has been around rugby guys long enough not to be embarrassed. What’s embarrassing is the papers going on and on about it and strangers insisting she should feel embarrassed.
The first thing you should know about rugby guys is that they drink [a lot], sing rude songs and it invariably ends up naked and chatting up pretty girls who they have no intention of taking home. it’s a rugby cliche. At least the boys had their clothing on.
It’s inexplicable if you know nothing about rugby culture, but it is harmless. It’s how they bond.
I’d trust a drunk rugby BF, but i’d never trust a drunk football BF. *Their* antics are very rarely innocent.
I didn’t know that LAK — about the difference between footballers and rugby players! Wow. Seriously thank you.
That’s interesting. Just to clarify, I’m not saying she should feel embarrassed, just that sometimes one feels embarrassed even when they haven’t done a thing wrong. The exposure is embarrassing. Of course, she may be accustomed to it, I don’t know.
In college, everyone knew the rugby guys had the best parties. They were a lot of fun.
An ex coworker played rugby and the photos from their parties are not for the faint of heart. Which is really funny when you know their wives took most of them!!
Bluhare: Exactly.
My states University rugby team had the best parties too. It’s very much a different culture amongst them.
bluhare: During college, I hated the weekends the rugby team was playing out of town because that meant no rugby game and no after-party, which usually lasted the entire weekend. Ahhh rugby players. Good memories!!
Oi! OK, the beer-swilling and filthy songs…guilty. But I kept my kit on (except when hot tubbing) and never hit on other girls. Of course, my girlfriend played rugby too, and I feared her more than I feared a five-metre scrum in the rain.
What do rugger couples do for foreplay? Tackling drills. I’m not kidding…
I get it–so Zara’s husband was just goofing around (like he’s done hundreds of times with or without her being there)–okay.
This story reminds me of my old pastor, who was foaming at the mouth when those naked pictures of Prince Harry in Vegas showed up. Good times–I giggled and thought of Celebitchy the whole time.
So I now know that whenever I decide to go to college, I need to go to England, and party with the rugby players.
NBD. I’m sure they can pull it off, no problem
About 75% of couples in the UK find out the sex of their baby before birth, so I’m guessing Zara and Mike know too, but just don’t want to share it with the paps.
She’s pretty and her face looks full of character. Aside from the cheating rumors, they make a fine-looking couple.
Best wishes to them and their soon-to-be new baby.
Really? She looks quite rough to me. I don’t know anything about her though. And the husband is very odd looking too. Let’s hope they’ll have a boy.
When I think about it, all Windsors are very unattractive. Even people who married into the family aren’t all that. Kate is the only pretty person I can think of ( and yes, I don’t think Diana was pretty).
Zara is pretty; those photos aren’t her best angles. I love her; she’s down to earth (or as down to earth as someone who’s granddaughter of a Queen with a huge trust fund can be) and I even like her husband. He’ll never be able to live those NZ antics down, but even his teammates say he’s just crazy about Zara. I believe it; sometimes he looks like he’s just won the lottery when he looks at her.
I’ll admit it; I can fangirl about these two all day long.
The BRF doesn’t have the best attractive features in their gene pool, but it could be far worse.
And yes Kate is pretty/ Even moreso being surrounded by the Windsor genes, but she had a fair amount of work done. How she looks now won’t translate into their offspring and will be undone as she ages.
Prince Philip was, in my opinion, by far the best looking person to marry into the Windsor clan (seriously, if you care at all, just Google a young Philip), followed by Kate and Diana, who have different coloring and features but are about equal on the looks scale.
But again, it’s all subjective. I also think a young Queen Elizabeth was very pretty.
Regardless of who marries in, all royal descendants seems to favor the Hanoverian features once they hit thirty, and those are the least attractive aspects of that family.
You’re so right, Suze. Philip was one good looking guy. Not surprised the Queen (no slouch herself in the waitying department) set her cap on him at age 13!
Philip is a crotchety, racist, old guy—but he was damn fine in his prime. He’s still good looking now. He’s got great bone structure. I saw pics of my ninety year old neighbor–he looked like James Dean, but with dark hair. It’s weird to think of him as hot–but he was.
I thought Elizabeth was gorgeous too–she represents to me, not a showy kind of beauty, but classic. She doesn’t have any features that POP when you look at her–but she is beautiful. She’s cute now–I love her. I’m jealous of her jewels.
You’d think their kids would be better looking though–but it could’ve been worse.
Frida_K: I think Zara is very pretty. She has strong features but they’re still soft and feminine. She always looks so natural and effortless, which I love — And even more important, she looks like she has a great personality and can be lots of fun. I could be totally wrong since I don’t know anything about her – but she looks like someone you’d want to have at a party.
So, who’ll watch the baby at the equestrian events? Just someone they won’t call a nanny but for all intents and purposes will be a nanny?
What’s will all the guessing? She’ll barely make it to the new year and will have a quick delivery and exit the hospital within hours? That’s a lot of interesting predicting. These things can be neither predicted nor planned.
I came to say something similar.
If she wants to go back to work soon, she’ll need a nanny. Nothing to be ashamed of, she wants a career and will need help with the baby to accomplish that. Go ahead and hire a nanny and own up to it
she’ll likely be in the hospital over night unless she has nursing staff at home. She’ll need to have her bits checked and such. I don’t know why there’s shame over staying in the hospital? I was out less than 24 hours after giving birth but needed to have everything checked before being discharged. She has to get proper care
Tindall can be the nanny/stay-at-home-dad because I don’t think he has a job. I know he was dropped from the pro sports team he was on.
Ah okay. I wasn’t aware that he is unemployed. He can do baby duty while she rides
He is not unemployed. He is player/coach for Gloucester.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/club/10046426/Mike-Tindall-extends-career-by-signing-new-one-year-player-coach-contract-at-Gloucester.html
Again LAK, your insight is invaluable. 🙂
So how would Zara and Mike manage baby Tindall if both are working? Are they off at different parts of the year (i.e. seasons)? As I stated in another thread (and on other posts), your insight as a Brit gives you knowledge the rest of us cannot easily glean from the internet or books as it’s very cultural based…
(So obviously I need to move to the UK to further my education, eh? Lol)
LAK, I don’t know if the eventing and rugby seasons coincide. Do you? If they don’t, then Mike could look after the baby. And if they do, would Princess Anne look after the baby while Zara’s competing? Mike has parents too, and they might want to be part of their grandchild’s life.
On the other hand, not having a full or part time nanny is one thing. But that doesn’t mean they can’t have a babysitter while they’re working. It’s not like that hasn’t been done before.
Just a thought, but maybe they want to take care of their child themselves for the most part.
bluhare – There is an overlap. Rugby is September – May approx. whilst Eventing is January – October approx. assuming no fixtures during the off season.
Most sports people do 4-5 hrs daily training during season and about half that out of season leaving rest of day for other things including taking care of baby.
Thanks, LAK. So they will need someone to help with baby while they’re working. Perhaps they mean they aren’t going to use nannies when they aren’t working. OR they say it now . . . and then reality hits!
Right, I was wondering the same. There’s no reason to feel embarrassed to have a nanny, especially if you have a career. I don’t get this pretending we don’t have a nanny thing.
Pretend we don’t have a team of nannies while pretending we are super busy with work all day. I don’t get it either. Smoke and mirrors to promote a not fully accurate image is very difficult to sustain in this age of instant access.
Exactly! I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using a nanny, and I really don’t understand why so many royals/celebs insist on lying about it.
Yeah, not really sure where people got this ‘nannies are bad’ thing.
I have seen nannies who were a godsend to the parents they worked for and an emotional rock for their children.
I should have read this string of comments before I posted my own. I agree – nannies aren’t bad and I’m not sure where this whole theme came from.
There has been a growing trend for people to pretend they don’t have help over the past 10-15yrs. An extension of the cult of ‘doing it all’. Ordinary people do it too. I think it’s seen as a moral failing if you admit to having help these days. And admitting to having a nanny reserves you a seat in the 9th circle of hell!!!
LAK,
Mommy wars have been going on in the US for decades. Is this common in the UK as well? Besides nanny vs non-nanny, there’s cloth vs disposable diaper, bottle vs breast, vaginal birth vs elective cesarean, even how long to breast feed. But the worst of all (to me) are the competitive birthing stories. Everyone labored for 48 hours (back labor of course), no pain meds, and pushed for x number of hours. It’s like a badge of honor.
Oh mayamea, You forgot to mention the ‘My baby did X at Y age. Isn’t THAT something?’ Both my kids were preemies and I came to terms very early on that neither would do anything early (and really — like it matters NOW they are teens). But other parents treated every achievement like it was a race or something. *sigh*
They may end up with a nanny, but there’s nannies and there’s nannies. There are still some people in their circle who hand baby straight over to the nanny after coming home from hospital and then just have their child brought to them for an hour or two a day.
There are options other than nannies though. They may use a childminder occasionally or a nursery.
There is no way she would be medically cleared to ride again at four weeks, or less, postpartum.
Yeah, someone has to hold the b aby while she rides, give me a break.
At her mother Princess Anne’s request, Zara Phillips does not have a royal title, nor does she have a royal role. She is therefore not “Princess Zara.” She has to earn a living. It’s not really a matter of being low-key, casual or more ambitious than other royals; it’s a matter of necessity. (Not that she wouldn’t want a career and no nannies and a laid-back lifestyle – judging by her mother, she probably would – but it’s really not a matter of her choosing.) When she got married, rumors were abundant that she and Mike Tindall wanted to sell photos of their wedding for cash because they have to support themselves because, as non-royals, they don’t get support from taxpayers or the Queen. The Queen objected, and they deferred to her. They did not have a state wedding for that reason. There were no diplomats, heads of state, etc., at their wedding because it was a private wedding. Yes, she is well-connected and royal by blood, but she doesn’t have a title or royal duties. It’s similar with the York princesses. Beatrice and Eugenie have the title – “princess” – but they were told in no uncertain terms that they would not have an official royal role and would be expected to earn livings from private industry because they would get only limited financial support from the Palace. The Duke of York was supposedly quite heated about this when he was given the news. One of them is living in New York and working for an auction house and doing quite well career-wise, whereas the other had a promising start but then quit her job to vacation for a few months on her father’s dime. Maybe she’ll get it together again. In any case, I am a big fan of Zara Phillips. I think she’s a fantastic “modern royal.”
It’s also important to note that rumours abounded that both Peter and Zara were offered titles when they married and true to form, they turned them down.
The Princess Royal has done a number of things to make sure her children had as normal an existence as possible. This ‘no fuss’ about them is a direct result of how both their (Peter and Zara) parents raised them. It also shows how much Anne is her father’s daughter too. Philip is not much for fuss either.
LadySlippers, I’m wondering if you have any knowledge of the origin of Zara’s name. I’ve never heard it used other than in The Planet of the Apes.
Zara is derived from Sarah.
I see what you did there Zara! Remember when last year Kate had to stay with mom & dad over Christmas because she was so tired from carrying the baby? Zara got a car and drove, problem solved!!
No fuss is one thing but making guess that includes going against medical advice is totally another.
For example, the quick birth and exiting within a few hours? That’s not great medical advice and the US only does it to save money. It’s not common in the rest of the world to have drive by deliveries. In Japan, hospital stays run from 3-8 days depending in what type of delivery it was.
And competing weeks after birth is probably not likely either. She has to get cleared from her physician to both ride and compete AND still get back into shape for competition. Her job is very physical and that will take a bit of time to build up (not years but more than a few weeks).
I totally agree that Zara, like her mother, will go the no fuss route. But please don’t imply or insinuate anything about the medical or training portion after she delivers. I know it’s a gossip site but let’s not assume anything that has the potential to be harmful.
ETA: My apologies as you only said riding by Valentine’s Day and not competing. Sorry as I misread that.
Lots of women who have healthy vaginally births leave the hospital as soon as they can; there’s nothing really wrong with it. I don’t know about vaginal births, but I know people were in and out of my room three-five times a night after my c-section to check blood pressure, see if I wanted meds, draw blood, check the incision, plus all the noise at the hospital… Many women sleep a lot better at home, even with the recovery from birth and a newborn (many of whom sleep pretty well for the first few days). Had I not had a baby in the NICU, I would have gone home as fast as they would have let me.
BTW she is so far and away above this floozy husband. Busted and triflin’??!? (See: TLC, “no scrubs”)
It’s a lot more low key because they are nobodies in the Royal line. Easy to run your life the way you want when nobody really cares one way or the other. Not true for the future king and his immediate family.
As for the no nanny thing, well unless they plan on leaving the little tyke alone in a hotel room while she pursues her career, then there will be a caretaker of some kind. Call it what you like.
She could have the worlds first equestrian birth.
Wouldn’t be the 1st. There are several accounts throughout history of women riding horses and having very quick labors.
I love Zara, but I’m sorry: Lifelong equestrian or not, there is NO WAY a woman is (literally!) getting back into the saddle a few short weeks after a vaginal birth no matter how much she might want to-even if she doesn’t end up having stitches. EEK. (Anyone who’s ever had a baby-or even those of us who haven’t-know that the womb itself, as well as the vadge, require at least six weeks of peaceful healing and that’s after a healthy birth…Bouncing around or even just sitting in a saddle is not very conducive to this.)
If she’s like my mother in law she might. Some women are somehow able to pop out a baby and not need stitches or an aspirin. Is it likely? No. Is it possible she can saddle up again? Yes.
Even still, when you see how big your placenta is and how big of a bleeding wound you have (albeit shrinking as the days go by) in your uterus, I can’t imagine you get cleared to get on a horse before 6 weeks or until you stop bleeding.
I’m not sure when the “nannies are a bad thing” theme came along, but it’s just stupid. Wealthy people of all kinds have nannies, royals have nannies, celebs have nannies and everyone should just admit it. It’s a bit insulting to pretend that a nanny doesn’t exist when you know the household will have lots of mother’s help – even if they aren’t specifically called “nanny”.
She looks great. She’s due 3 days before me and I feel like a beached whale!
Goodness, Congratulations.
Do you know the sex yet?
Congrats!
I’m not due till July and I feel like a beached whale, too!
Heh. No nannies, getting back on a horse on her way home from the hospital, birth is no big deal…
Let’s don’t get ahead of ourselves here. I wanted four boys until that first labor pain hit. You have NO idea what has just hit you until you actually give birth!