Zara Tindall is celebrating her 43rd birthday today, but back when she was only a newborn baby, her uncle King Charles was the one who selected her unusual name
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Zara and Mike Tindall sit with children at Prince Philip memorial
Today marks a special celebration in the Royal Family: the 43rd birthday of Zara Tindall, daughter of Princess Anne and niece of King Charles.
Zara was one of the late Queen Elizabeth’s first grandchildren, and her first granddaughter to be born, giving cause for royal fans around the Commonwealth and beyond to celebrate her safe arrival into the House of Windsor.
When her name Zara was announced, it was somewhat of a surprise to some royal watchers that Princess Anne and her former husband Captain Mark Phillips had chosen it given it wasn’t a traditional royal name. However, little did many know that it was actually King Charles – then Prince of Wales – who suggested it.
According to Hello magazine Zara’s birth was very sudden and she arrived very quickly, with Princess Anne once recalling: “The baby made a rather sudden and positive arrival.”
It was down to this sudden arrival that she explained that her older brother suggested the name Zara, which is a Greek name meaning as bright as the dawn.
Meanwhile, despite being a granddaughter of the Queen and 21st in line to the throne, mum-of-three Zara, a former world champion equestrian, does not have a royal title. She and husband Mike and their kids Mia, Lena, and Lucas live a low-key life in Gloucestershire, but she despite not being a working royal, Zara is seriously close to the senior royals, including her uncle King Charles.
Shortly after the King, who is still being treated for cancer, was cleared to take on some public engagements by his medical team, Zara and Charles were spotted warmly embracing at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, and one expert noted that their relationship is an “effortless” one full of “joy”.
The Tindall family is regularly spotted at equestrian events, which is no surprise given Zara’s successful career saw her make it to the Olympics in 2012 where she won a silver medal. In 2022 the family of five were spotted to at the Burnham Market International Horse Trials in Norfolk where Zara was competing, marking the first time that royal fans have had a proper glimpse of their one-year-old son Lucas, who was snapped smiling at mum Zara and playing in the grass with dad Mike.
Mike revealed the news of Lucas’ birth on his podcast “The Good, The Bad and The Rugby” hailing his wife as a “warrior” after the boy arrived at the family home.
He said: “Fortunately Zara’s friend Dolly is… actually more important than I am at making sure she’s been at all three of my children’s births, she was there and recognised that we wouldn’t have got to the hospital in time, so it was run into the gym, get a mat, get into the bathroom, towels down, brace brace brace!”
He was baptised in an unprecedented double royal christening alongside Princess Eugenie’s young son August.
The ceremony, which took place at All Saints Chapel in Windsor Great Park, was attended by various members of the Royal Family, including the late Queen.
A version of this article was published in May 2022.
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