Last week, Zara Phillips (married name: Zara Tindall) caused a stir at the Royal Ascot when she made an appearance in this incredibly unflattering yellow Paul Costelloe dress. Ordinarily, just the fact that the dress is yellow would be enough for me to hate it, but the shade of yellow actually looked good on Zara. But the dress was still poorly designed, poorly tailored and simply wrong for Zara’s athletic build. The high waist and excess fabric made everyone speculate that Zara was knocked up again – she welcomed her daughter, Mia Grace, in January 2014, a year and a half after Zara won a silver medal at the London Olympics.
As you can imagine, the pregnancy speculation was unwelcome. Zara’s spokesperson told media outlets: “Zara is not pregnant – her plans remain the same in terms of preparation for Rio 2016.” As in, Zara plans on competing as an equestrian next year at the Rio Olympics. So, Zara is not preggo and has no plans to have another child until after the Olympics next year. Was it rude for all of the British sites to run pregnancy speculation? Yes… but I see why they did it. It legitimately looks like she has a baby bump, and by that I mean that this is a really unflattering dress.
Meanwhile, Zara chatted this weekend with the Sunday Times about how she’s seen as more “normal” than the rest of the royal family.
The 34-year-old granddaughter of the Queen said she enjoys being perceived as more ordinary than some of her famous family. In an interview with the Times, Zara said: “That’s nice. I’ve been very lucky. My parents didn’t give us titles, so we’ve been able to have a slightly more ‘normal’ upbringing. As soon as you’ve got a title it’s very difficult to shed it.”
She added: “My brother and I have been very lucky like that, being able to find our own way.”
Zara – who has one-year-old daughter Mia with husband Mike Tindall – also revealed she doesn’t even consider herself to be royal.
“Probably not, but then they are my family, so I obviously kind of am,” she conceded.
Yeah, she’s not really royal in that she doesn’t have a title, she married a “commoner” who didn’t take a title (I think the Queen offered Mike Tindall a title) and Zara’s daughter doesn’t have a title. But still, Zara’s grandmother is the Queen, Zara’s uncle will be king and Zara’s cousin will be king. So she’s right in there. And yes, people do see Zara and her brother Peter as more “normal” than the royals.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I like her. A lot. But that dress is so bad. She legitimately looks to be about 4-5 months pregnant. I hope she’s burned it.
Yikes, I said the exact same thing at the same time. Great minds and all.
It really is terrible. From all angles, it does her no justice at all. Yikes
She also needs a better bra.
Yes, but what’s the distinction between looking pregnant, bloated, stuffed, or fat from the first kid? Yes, the dress is hideous, but these people rush to find a story like they can tell if she had a sixteen inch pizza by herself the night before or is having major hormone swings. Get real.
I’ve always liked her. That dress – burn it.
Love Zara – she really doesn’t give an eff what people think of her (which is a great attitude) but that dress did nothing for her. She should get a stylist for some occasions.
Just like her mum – whom I also adore.
I certainly would not wear anymore outfits by the person that designed that dress. Zara certainly takes after her mother. No nonsense, straight talking, but hard working. Training for the Olympics is not easy
She reminds me of William. Blond, long nose.
Seriously? I think Zara is attractive.
I think she’s attractive too though it’s kind of a “handsome beauty” – some of her features are strong and can come off as masculine, though it fits well with her sporty and affable image.
If she were a guy, she’d probably be more handsome than William. Her features look more symmetrical and balanced.
The Windsor features are so easy to pass on, it seems. Every one of Elizabeth’s grandkids bear some kind of resemblance to her, especially in the eyes.
Don’t really get her taste in clothes, but she still looks good enough in the hideous outfits she picks. Must be the Jennifer Garner effect.
Look back at pictures of Queen Mary, the current Queen’s grandmother. Interesting how certain features keep showing up in the family.
This what an actual normal woman looks like after being pregnant, shocking! She is an athlete too, imagine what slothy types like me must look like in photos, so glad I am not famous.
See, I disagree with this statement specificially because she is an Olympian. That means she’s in better shape than a regular, non exercising post-pregnant woman. Before AND after birth. You can’t compare her to an ordinary woman.
And this photo comes 18mths AFTER baby’s birth, not a year or 6mths or days.
Now, Zara has never been a skinny minny, and she had a big tummy before she was pregnant irrespective of her fitness level, so I will give her a break as far as not snapping back to a completely flat tummy because she never had in the first place.
Ps: yes, i’m this judgemental where women are Olympian levels of fitness. There is no excuse to look this bad without a medical condition when you were in the 1% of the female population as far as fitness levels are concerned.
Is she in the 1% as an equestrian though? Doesn’t the horse do most of the work? (honest question, nor snark)
You act like she’s a 400 pound gorilla. And maybe she has given up her super active lifestyle to take care of her baby? You sound almost angry or insulted that she looks this way. Some people care wayyy too much about what other people look like.
But you have to control a very large animal. There’s a level of fitness and strength involved, most definitely. And riders of Zara’s caliber have to have enough strength to control that horse on a tight course.
Look for photos of Nick Skelton and Peter Charles from Team GB 2012 Olympics. At some angles, those two men’s bellies are straining the buttons on their jackets. And they took home gold.
Yes, you need strength to control the horse, but you do not need to be at the same level of fitness as say, a volleyball player.
No offense, but have you seen the diversity of bodies amongst Olympic Athletes? The Adonis and Venus look that fitness competitors and models sport does not represent the full spectrum of athleticism. One well known Gold Medal winner relayed a story years ago about how she was invited to be the cover model for a fitness magazine (think Shape) and was told to be in competition shape when it was time to shoot. When she actually showed up to shoot, they told she was too fat. What they meant by “competition shape” was to look like a fitness model, not like how she looks when she competes in the games. Even the fitness industry and fitness-based media has a narrow construct of what “fit” looks like when in actuality, fit bodies are very diverse looking.
She actually does probably have a medical condition- diastasis recti. Look it up.
Hey all, I was being sarcastic…i think Zara looks fine, that was my point. Sometimes Australian to US translation does not compute! lol i wont try sarcasm here again.
Easily my favourite royal. While it might be easy for her to follow her own path, given her level of privilege, she still had to work hard to become as accomplished at her chosen sport as she is. And after her team was successful at the 2012 Olympics she really took a back seat in the interviews and gave the other members a chance for the spotlight. She seems like she might be good fun in person.
Is that a label hanging on her bag? LOL, that’s totally a move i would pull. Though surely she has ‘help’ that would/should take care of pressing matters like that. I know she doesn’t have a title and is at pains to say hoe normal she is, but does anybody really believe she’s out there doing her own laundry? She still grew up with a Princess as her mother – i doubt she is without domestic help.
I don’t really care for any of these people but at least Zara works at SOMETHING and is successful at it, even if she did have every privilege and expense taken care of. It’s not like she had to take loads out to pay for lessons. Same with Bruce Springsteen’s daughter who is also doing well – he pays millions for her her horses. It’s kind of nauseating to see how easy they have it, but at the same time when they are out there doing the jumps daddy and mummy cannot help them. They obviously have talent and work hard.
perhaps it’s a bag tag from the event? it’s the same color as the nametag
.
When you’re racing you have a little tag that looks through itself to get into whatever (upper) level you’re in. Men usually tie them on to their jackets or belt loops. Women tie them on to their purses normally. It’s a pain to have to take them out each time you come and go (you’d go down to look at horses before the race and back up to watch generally).
I guess the difference a title makes is money since Peter and Zara had to sell stories about themselves (wedding/baby) to Hello to get fast cash.
Not really. Being free of a title means she and Peter don’t have as many strings that bind them. I’d bet money they still get trust funds all Royal grandchildren are given when they are born.
One of our friends knows her and has nothing but great things to say about her. Like truly great things about how much fun she is and how nice. She seems pretty laid back to me…Just wants to be with her family and her horses!
Zara and Mike seem like they are a lot of fun.
I think he was caught cheating before.
I respect the fact that she passed on a title for her husband but let’s be real. She is still reaping the financial benefits of being royal. Does anyone have any idea how much money it costs to have a career in the sport of equestrian Olympic level riding? Um it’s the most expensive sport out there to do professionally. All you need is money and some talent. The trainers the horses and travelling around the world competing? So much money. Those horses are worth more than a house in Vancouver!! (The most expensive real estate in Canada 🙂
She didn’t really seem to deny that she’s royal. Even though she doesn’t feel royal, she admits she’s royal by family connection.
I wasn’t sure why the original article was padding what she said or possibly even putting additional words into her mouth because her own words seemed to show a balanced and realistic perspective of how she approaches her royal lineage.
That dress is kardashian levels of ill-fitting and unflattering. Definitely get rid of it. She had a much cuter outfit later at Ascot.
Zara rocks!! luv her and her mum who’s one of our hardest working royals – William, take note….
She may not be able to pull off skinny jeans like the DOC but I would pick Zara over Kate ANY DAY. She is fun, she works hard, she’s talented, she’s got it all. Call me Z, lets go out for Bloody Marys!
Just out of curiosity, what happens if you are given a title? Are you limited in the kinds of jobs you can take on? (even if you’re not the future King of England). What exactly does the title prohibit you from doing if you’re lower down the line of succession? (Is Zara out of the line of succession because she doesn’t have a title — is that the benefit of not having a title?) Ultimately, I’m wondering why having a title would be a disadvantage since people like Kate’s mom obviously wouldn’t mind having one.
having a title basically means you have a responsibility towards the Crown, and it heavily influences upbringing and life choices.
Zara and her brother have a thinner link to the family brand, they are free to do what they want much more than their cousins. Can’t see Harry marrying a famous athlete for instance, it wouldn’t be considered proper.
Apparently she’s still in the line of succession though.
Zara did choose to be in the public eye herself, and supports some charities of her mother.
In a nutshell, titles come with both pros and cons. There’s a boost that comes with them but also a lot of expectations too. Winston S Churchill reportedly turned down a title (Duke of London) because he didn’t feel he could live up (or his descendants) to those expectations.
As for the line of succession, you don’t need a title at all (plenty of people in the line don’t have one). It’s strictly based on ancestry/how close of a relation you are to the British Sovereign.
I love Zara soooo much! I would love to be girlfriends with her. She seems so awesome and definitely the most normal and fun of all the royals. More articles on Z!