The children of Anne, Princess Royal, were as close to the late Queen Elizabeth as it got. So why didn't the queen give Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall royal titles?
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00The children of Anne, Princess Royal, were as close to the late Queen Elizabeth as it got.
00:05So why didn't the queen give Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall royal titles?
00:10While the Daily Mail's Richard Kaye says Queen Elizabeth had been careful about not showing any
00:14favoritism among her grandchildren, sources close to the queen said she had a special bond with both
00:20Peter and Zara. Back in 1978, Peter even played an important role in the queen's Christmas speech.
00:26As for his sister, Express quotes one British body language expert as saying,
00:31"...it's pretty clear from the queen's body language that she adores Zara and that,
00:35importantly, she feels super comfortable in her presence."
00:39The lack of royal titles all comes down to their mother, Princess Anne. After Peter was born,
00:44the BBC reported that both Anne and her husband at the time, Captain Mark Phillips,
00:49turned down the queen's offer to give the children the right to be peers.
00:52"...my parents instilled in both myself and my sister that
00:55that we were never going to get anything handed to us on a plane."
00:58Princess Anne had her reasons. According to the Daily Mail, she once described her children as
01:03not royal, but enjoyed a relationship with the queen who, in Anne's words,
01:08just happens to be their grandmother. When asked about the matter decades later,
01:12the Princess Royal explained to Vanity Fair,
01:14"...I think it was probably easier for them and I think most people would argue that there are
01:18downsides to having titles. So I think that was probably the right thing to do."
01:23Edward and Sophie, Duke and Duchess of Wessex,
01:25made a similar decision after their children, James and Louise, were born.
01:30In 2020, Sophie told Good Housekeeping,
01:32"...we tried to bring them up with the understanding they are very likely to have
01:36to work for a living. Hence, we made the decision not to use his and her Royal Highness titles.
01:41They have them and can decide to use them from 18. But I think it's highly unlikely."
01:46The fact that both Peter and Zara don't have titles may have even been what made them closer
01:52to the queen, with Peter singled out as her supposed favorite. An insider told Gloucestershire
01:57Live,
01:58"...the queen thinks Peter especially has inherited the resilience that is so
02:02characteristic of Anne. She sees him as dependable."
02:05"...they say you're the favorite grandson."
02:08"...who's they?"
02:11Even though they don't have titles, that doesn't mean they aren't in the order of succession.
02:15And both Peter and Zara seem to have enjoyed the best of both worlds as a result.
02:20When he was born, Town & Country said Peter was fifth in line to the throne.
02:24Today, per the order of succession, he is 17th, while his sister, who is listed as Mrs. Michael
02:30Tyndall, is 20th. Peter and Zara aren't considered working royals, or the royals who can represent
02:36the sitting monarch, at public engagements. Instead, Peter has worked at the Royal Bank
02:41of Scotland and Jaguar, and he has his own sports management company. Zara is a talented
02:46equestrian with an Olympic silver medal. She is also an entrepreneur. Both Zara and her husband,
02:52former rugby player Mike Tyndall, are wealthy in their own right, according to Marie Claire.
02:57In 2016, Peter shed some light on how the lack of any titles didn't have an impact
03:02on his relationship with Queen Elizabeth, telling The Telegraph,
03:06"...I've always been very close to my grandmother, and we speak often.
03:09She has been an inspirational person throughout my life."