Zara Phillips, the daughter of HRH The Princess Royal, made a quick visit to Australia earlier this week to attend the 2009 Emirates Melbourne Cup at the Flemington Race Course in Victoria.

View the image at the Daily Mail

Zara attended the event on Tuesday November 3rd as one of the year’s international guests (others included Good Charlotte rockers Benji and Joel Madden), and was a prominent fixture in the Birdcage (the place to be). Wearing a royal blue frock by American brand Thread Social and a resplendid fascinator by British milliner Philip Treacy, Zara had no problems enjoying her day at the races and mingling with Australian celebrities.

“Ascot has a lot of rules about dress codes, so it’s nice to be able to be a bit more relaxed and for women to able to wear skirts that are a bit shorter,” Zara told a reporter from The Australian. And with some of the short skirts and questionable fashion choices at the Racecourse on the day, one could not be blamed if they missed the race that stops a nation and didn’t know that Shocking took out the Cup.

Later that evening, Zara was seen at Melbourne hot-spot Spice Market with a group of friends. She avoided being photographed, but was happy to chat with others at the post-Race party, including the winning jockey Corey Brown.

Click here to view Zara’s current events thread.

JessRulz British Royals Australia, Horse Racing, Zara Phillips

Click the image to see the photo at the Hereford Times

 This week was an eventful one for Zara Phillips, daughter of the Princess Royal. Fans who were used to seeing Zara on Toytown or Ardfield Magic Star were surprised on Thursday to see her with some new faces at the Lackham horse trials in Wiltshire, England (see this article for more news). This was followed by a rousing win at the racetrack on Saturday of a Zara-trained horse at Bredawardine (see this article for more news). Racehorse owner and proud mum, Princess Anne the Princess Royal, was on hand to enjoy the win and give credit to her daughter for her horse’s amazing finish.

The atmosphere at the Lackham College grounds was so conducive to the younger, green horses that famous riders we saw at Badminton brought their younger horses for a good, low-stress competition. Zara brought out two of her lesser-known horses, Young Smoke and Petition, to compete at the lower-level event for the first time. Though they finished at 10th and 14th, Zara was very pleased with their performance, for Petition finished the trials for the first time in his young career. Aussie star Sam Griffiths brought his one year old horse, Deanes San Ciro Hit. Sam mentioned, “At this level, it is so important to give the horse plenty of confidence and that’s exactly what this venue affords.” Given Toytown’s injury and Ardfield Magic Star’s going lame at Badminton, it is probably wise for Zara to give her two younger horses some experience. Anything can happen in eventing, and in the event that her two star horses become too aged to compete, it’s certain that Zara will have another special horse or two ready to take the baton, and the trophy!

The day after the horse trials, Zara (bearing a striking resemblance to her cousin Prince William) and her mother went to the track at Bredawardine, and watched the maiden win of the Princess’ mare, Dhu Loch. Anne took no credit for the win, saying Zara did all the work training the five-year-old mare to win her first race in convincing fashion.

ysbel British Royals Horses, Princess Anne, Princess Royal, Zara Phillips

From the Royal Forums avatar collection

 The reigning world champion 3 day eventer, Zara Phillips, granddaughter of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, had a cruel disappointment at the famed Badminton Horse Trials this weekend. Her father, Capt. Mark Phillips, had won 4 prestigious titles here but for Zara the trials represented only heartache.

Her first horse Ardfield Magic Star was unnerved by the spectators during the dressage phase. Zara lost her ordinary cool when she yelled at some paparazzi that this was a competition, not a #$^% social event. In fairness to Zara, her horse reared on her as a camera clicked near his ear while they were going into the starting gate, but older royal followers were reminded of the time that her mother Princess Anne once told reporters to ‘naff off’ during a horse trial.

But Toytown tried to rear also during the dressage phase when Zara attempted to back him up, so dressage wasn’t a good day for either of her horses.

Click the image to see the photo at the Daily Mail

Click the image to see the photo at The Times Online

The cross-country phase looked more promising. However, Ardfield Magic Star pulled up lame and Toytown had a frightening collision against a very solid obstacle. Luckily neither Toytown nor Zara were hurt, but given Toytown’s injury last year that kept her from the Olympics, Zara quite wisely pulled both horses out of the competition and waited for another day to show. Luckily Zara didn’t have the problem of young Aaron Millar who had to suffer a small dog chasing him and his horse across the course. Badminton is a favorite event for dog owners to bring their pets but when the dogs get loose, it can have severe consequences for the rider, horse, and dog. Despite Zara’s poor showing, the Brits did well, with Oliver Townsend winning on the last ride of the showjumping competition on Sunday.

ysbel British Royals Horses, Sport, Zara Phillips

Click the image to see the photo at The Daily Telegraph

 Recently in the Independent, Terence Blacker criticized European and World Champion eventer, Zara Philips, of exploiting her connections to get lucrative sponsorship deals for this very expensive sport. And what were these so-called connections? Zara’s grandmother, the reigning Queen Elizabeth II and her mother, Princess Anne, the Princess Royal.

No doubt that when the world first heard of Zara, eventing was probably far from amyone’s mind since she was just born. As the second child of Princess Anne and Olympic equestrian, Mark Philips, Zara’s birth was bound to cause attention, although not as much as her older brother, Peter, the Queen’s first grandchild, and William, the future heir to the throne. Yet during her childhood, the world heard little of Zara and her brother Peter as their mother kept them out of the spotlight.

It wasn’t until Zara started her equestrian career that she started to gain headlines on her own; this was no surprise though. Even though to make it as a top equestian, it helps to be wealthy, not all wealthy families have a passion for horses, yet the Queen’s passion for all horse sports that was inherited by daughter Anne was well known before Zara was born. The Queen is a keen racehorse owner and Anne in addition to her eventing career was known to follow the hounds (foxhunting) before it was banned in Britain. It followed then that Peter and Zara would be exposed to horses from a young age.

What wasn’t apparent was how good Zara turned out to be. Tongues had wagged at Princess Anne’s inclusion in Britain’s Olympic team of 1976, saying that she was a good third level eventer but nowhere near Olympic standards. No one says that about Zara now; she and her horse, Toytown, enjoyed outstanding success, first as European champion in 2005, then as World Champion in 2006 beating out such eventing superstars as veteran Mary King and William Fox-Pitt. Read more…

ysbel British Royals Horses, Sport, Zara Phillips

Click here to see more from the Daily Mail

In a new article in the Daily Mail, Jordan, the British glamour model and equestrian enthusiast, has struck up another royal connection: Zara Phillips, the granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth, and daughter of Princess Anne, the princess royal. According to Jordan, Zara Phillips has been her friend ever since the two met last year at the Burghley Horse Trials. This is not the first time that Jordan has mingled with royalty. Earlier this year, the glamour model claimed that she had been invited to have lunch with the Queen, but had to turn down the opportunity due to a previous commitment. She later stated that she would be meeting with Princess Anne at a later date.

Just like Princess Anne, Zara Phillips is an avid equestrienne, who competes in events regularly. Jordan has also been riding horses throughout her life, and is trying to make a name for herself in the equestrian world. When asked about the new friendship, Zara Phillips’ spokesperson initially admitted that it was true; although, he later denied it. Click here to read more from the Daily Mail.

For more information about Zara Phillips and Princess Anne, click here.

sgl British Royals Princess Anne, Princess Royal, Zara Phillips

 The young Windsors sweep the top three positions in the latest ranking of the hottest young royals by Forbes.

Brothers Prince William and Prince Harry are #1 and #2, followed by their cousin Zara Phillips. The list is compiled according to the royals’ “international Web and media presence and family wealth”, and is limited to those who are 18 to 25 years old.

The hottest young royals of 2009 are:

1. Prince William, United Kingdom

2. Prince Harry, United Kingdom

3. Zara Phillips, United Kingdom

4. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, Dubai

5. Princess Beatrice, United Kingdom

6. Princess Sirivannavari, Thailand

7. Princess Eugenie, United Kingdom

8. Andrea Casiraghi, Monaco

9. Charlotte Casiraghi, Monaco

10. Prince Azim, Brunei

Maricar British Royals Prince Harry, Prince William, Zara Phillips

   A high-profile crusade has been launched to stop the Olympic equestrian events taking place at Greenwich in 2012. NOGOE accuses the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) of being ‘inconsistent and inept’ and says that to close Greenwich Park for six to eight weeks while the cross-country course and a 23-seat arena are being built is ‘socially unjust in a relatively deprived inner-city area’ and would cost £17 million.

The campaigners also raise concerns about damage to the turf, to ancient trees and to a Roman archaeological site, and points out that closing 44 roads and 27 bus routes.

Princess Haya, president of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI), has said that British negativity about Greenwich is damaging the sport, and she has highlighted the risk to equestrianism of staying within the Olympic movement. The FEI was quick to respond to NOGOE, saying: ‘‘We would like to reiterate our confidence in LOCOG to ensure that environmental considerations and the local community are placed at the top of the agenda.’

Zara Phillips, has been quoted this week as saying that the Olympic equestrian events should relocate to Windsor, a proven competition site that is hosting the European Jumping and Dressage Championships in August.

dazzling British Royals, Jordanian Royals, UAE Royals Olympics, Princess Haya, Zara Phillips