It seems another royal wedding is in the works, as Zara Phillips announces her engagement to her longtime boyfriend, Mike Tindall.
Phillips is the daughter of Princess Anne and Granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, but not a royal herself. Princess Anne decided not to bestow titles, such as Princess or her royal highness, on her children in an effort to give them a more normal life.
Perhaps as a result, Phillips, much like her cousin Prince William, has chosen Tindall, a rugby player for England without ties to the aristocracy, as opposed to a blue blood. However unlike her cousin, who reportedly kept his engagement to Kate Middleton quiet for a month, Phillips told her royal relatives right away.
“’The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are delighted. They got engaged yesterday evening at the couple’s home in Gloucestershire and a date has yet to be set,” a spokesman for the Royal family said.
And while it is true, a date has not yet been chosen, the couple will most likely exchange wedding rings in 2011, and after seven years together a long engagement doesn’t seem necessary.
The pair met in 2003 at a bar in Australia during the Rugby World cup, where Tindall was a player and Phillips, an International Event Rider, was a spectator.
“He met me just after I’d found out my horse had injured himself, so I was quite low and vulnerable,” she had previously said in an interview.
Tindall in the past has been known to say that it is more a matter of when, not if the couple will get married, claiming only the timing needed to be right.
The timing was apparently right this week, and Tindall proposed at the townhouse the couple currently shares in Gloucestershire, where his rugby club is located.
“And yes, it probably would be a white wedding, although sometimes I can see the attraction of sneaking away without telling anyone,” The rugby player shared in August.
Any other year it may be tough for Phillips to sneak off for an elopement, royal title or no, however with this year being the year of Prince William, she may just be able to pull it off.