London 2012: Equestrian Zara Phillips Is Queen's Granddaughter, Tabloid Favorite

Update: Zara Phillips, the featured competitor in this article, has won silver in team eventing at the London Games.

Here's the profile we published earlier:

Zara Phillips has never been one to shy away from the spotlight, and she'll get her chance to grace one of the world's biggest stages in her own backyard at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Phillips is the granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II. She is the daughter of Princess Anne, and she's following in her mother's footsteps by competing in the equestrian discipline—specifically eventing—for Great Britain this summer in London, according to the Guardian.

Hopefully Phillips will fare better than her mother did, as Princess Anne unfortunately took a royal tumble in Montreal back in 1976, receiving a concussion for her troubles (h/t BBC.com).

What is Eventing?

According to USEventing.com, eventing could be described as an "equestrian triathlon. It involves working with a horse both on the flat and over fences. The three phases are: dressage, endurance (or cross-country), and show jumping."

Cross country and show jumping speak for themselves, so I won't go into any more detail on those fronts. Dressage, on the other hand, requires more explanation.

From USEventing.com:

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"Originally designed to show the horse’s ability to perform intricate movements on the parade involved with reviewing troops, today the dressage test comprises a set series of movements performed in an enclosed arena. Precision, smoothness, suppleness and complete obedience show off the horse’s obedience."

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Eventing is no picnic, and Phillips is certainly no pansy. This is a tough sport that requires both horse and athlete to be in peak physical shape, and Phillips is one of the best in the world.

Life in the Spotlight

Phillips, 31, has been a media obsession in Great Britain ever since she showed up to her grandmother's 100th birthday party with a pierced tongue. Phillips has never been shy about being herself, though, no matter how badly the tabloids slammed her. 

She was considered by many to be somewhat of a wild child during her late teens and into her early 20s, but as this report from the Daily Mail clearly shows, Phillips did nothing to dispel the notion.

Often showing up in public wearing skimpy outfits, Phillips was constantly being hounded by the tabloids .

Phillips was passionately involved with jockey Richard Johnson for a few years, and there were reports of some violence, according to the Telegraph. 

She moved on from Johnson and got engaged to England's rugby captain, Mike Tindall, in December of 2010. 

The Daily Mail hammered Phillips for her non-manicured hands when she was showing off her engagement ring, just one more example of how hard it must be to be in the spotlight all the time. In her defense, it's got to be hard to keep fingers well manicured when you're constantly training and working with horses, like Phillips does.

Things have settled down significantly for Phillips in the media since she got married to Tindall on July 30, 2011. 

Tindall didn't help, though, when he was seen kissing another woman in a New Zealand pub while partying with his rugby mates in September last year (h/t the Daily Mail). Phillips laughed off her husband's drunken behavior, according to the Telegraph. 

Such is the life of a royal.

Personal Achievements 

Though Princess Anne declined Queen Elizabeth in the matter of bestowing titles upon Phillips, Phillips has been known to carry out royal duties. She is also involved in a number of children’s charities including Inspire, Cauldwell Charitable Trust and the Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, according to BritRoyals.com.

Additionally, Phillips has her own line of equestrian clothing with the clothing company Musto, according to HorseandHound.co.uk. 

Phillips won the 2006 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award due to her gold-medal victory in that year's World Equestrian Games, according to the Guardian. 

After winning that high honor, Phillips was given an even greater one by Queen Elizabeth II, who named her a Member of the Order of the British Empire, according to the Inquirer.

To cap it all off, Phillips is now finally heading to the Olympic Games after missing out on her chance in 2004 and 2008 due to injuries to her horses. She was also honored to be selected to carry the Olympic torch at the Cheltenham Racecourse in Gloucestershire in May. 

Reaction to Olympic Bid

Phillips was chosen to compete in these Olympic Games due to her merits as an equestrian, and nothing more, according to the Telegraph's Pippa Cuckson. She wrote:

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"Some say the decision to pick Zara is a piece of star-struck tokenism, or that she got the sympathy vote for missing out before. Other riders—under enough pressure to deliver at a home Games—will also now have to work with fevered press attention on their sport. I expect the selectors discussed these considerable down-sides. But sound sporting reasons for picking Zara have prevailed."

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Given the incredibly long and arduous road she's taken to get to this point, I can't believe many people would think she was picked for any other reasons. 

As for her part, Phillips is "very excited, honoured, but also nervous," according to the Daily Mail, and, before she was selected to this year's Olympic team, she wondered if her experience carrying the torch at Cheltenham would be the closest she ever got. 

Her mother, Princess Anne, spoke about the prospect of her daughter competing at home in London, according to BBC.co.uk, when she said, "I would have found it really difficult, I suspect, to do it on a home patch—much easier to have done it elsewhere. I'd hate to be doing it now—that's all I can tell you!"

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