Early Life
Phillips is the eldest granddaughter of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. At the time of her birth, she was sixth in line to succeed her grandmother, HM The Queen. As of the birth of her younger niece, Isla Phillips, in 2012, she is 14th in the line of succession to the thrones of 16 independent countries.
Phillips has an older brother, Peter Phillips (born 15 November 1977) and two half-sisters, Felicity Tonkin (born in 1985 to her father by his brief affair with Heather Tonkin) and Stephanie Phillips, born 2 October 1997 from her father's second marriage to Sandy Pflueger.
The children of the Princess Royal do not hold any royal or noble title, nor are they automatically entitled to royal status by right of birth, as they are the grandchildren of a monarch in the female line, while their father has no title in his own right.
During her schooldays, latterly at Gordonstoun, Phillips excelled at many sporting activities. She represented her schools in hockey, athletics and gymnastics. She later qualified as a physiotherapist specialising in Equine Physiotherapy, from the University of Exeter.
Read more about this topic: Zara Phillips
Famous quotes related to early life:
“Many a woman shudders ... at the terrible eclipse of those intellectual powers which in early life seemed prophetic of usefulness and happiness, hence the army of martyrs among our married and unmarried women who, not having cultivated a taste for science, art or literature, form a corps of nervous patients who make fortunes for agreeable physicians ...”
—Sarah M. Grimke (1792–1873)