You are here: Home » News » World » Europe » Another Royal Wedding

Another Royal Wedding

Posted by: Linda Carbonell on July 29, 2011.

07-29-2011 by Linda S. Carbonell

Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall (photo by Chris Jackson, Getty Images)

Exactly three months and one day after Cousin William’s little wedding in London, Zara Phillips will marry rugby star Mike Tindall in Scotland.

Zara Phillips is the thirty-year-old daughter of Princess Royal Anne and second-born of Queen Elizabeth’s eight grandchildren. Like her mother, Zara is a competitive equestrian. Because Zara’s father Captain Mark Phillips refused a royal title, neither Zara nor her older brother Peter have them. They are official commoners. Peter married Canadian Autumn Kelly in 2008 and they have one daughter, Savannah, the Queen’s first great-grandchild.

The wedding is expected to be as low-key as Peter’s was, beginning this evening with a small party aboard the former royal yacht Brittania which was rented for the occasion. The entire family has been invited and there is certainly room in the Palace of Holyroodhouse to put all of them up for the weekend.

Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh

The wedding will take place tomorrow morning at Canongate Kirk, whose construction was completed in 1691. The church was busy today as white roses, carnations, stargazer lilies and beech tree branches were being delivered. The couple, along with Princess Anne were at the church early in the evening for rehearsal.

Zara and Peter Phillips were raised very much outside the public eye, with almost no royal duties and the freedom to pursue whatever careers they chose. After jobs at Jaguar and WilliamsF1, Peter is currently employed by the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Peter’s job isn’t the family’s only connection to Scotland. Princess Anne married her second husband, Vice-Admiral Timothy Laurence, in Scotland, and the family estate at Balmoral is where the Royals spend most of their summer holidays.

Following in her mother’s boot prints, Zara hopes to make the U.K. Equestrian Team for the 2012 Olympics in London.