Zara Tindall Smiles at Equestrian Championships, Her First Outing Since Queen Elizabeth's Funeral
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Zara Tindall is back in the saddle.
The eldest granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth competed in the Osberton International and Young Horse Championships in Worksop, England on Thursday, her first public appearance since the late monarch's funeral on Sept. 19. Zara, 41, united with the rest of the royal family for the Queen's funerary events and observed royal mourning through the week after her grandmother was laid to rest.
Zara was all smiles astride her grey gelding Classicals Euro Star, who is affectionately nicknamed Casper. Competing in a dressage event, the pair kept their cool when it started to rain during their time in the ring.
A dedicated equestrian, Zara won a silver medal with Team Great Britain at the 2012 London Olympics in the discipline of three-day eventing. She had the honor of receiving her medal from her mother, Princess Anne, who serves as President of the British Olympic Association. An avid athlete herself, Anne, 72, became the first member of the royal family to compete in the Olympics when she rode in the three-day event at the Montreal Games in 1976.
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A love of horses runs deep in the royal family, with the mother and daughter inheriting their passion from Queen Elizabeth. During a special segment on the latest episode of his podcast The Good, The Bad & The Rugby, Zara's husband Mike Tindall spoke about grieving the Queen and the close bond the three generations shared.
"I'm not even a direct family member... but watching what my wife, what Zara had to go through, obviously she loved the Queen beyond everything else," Mike, 43, explained. "Their connection with horses, the same with the Princess Royal, they had a real sort of bond around that."
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In a heartbreaking tribute, one of Queen Elizabeth's favorite horses joined the thousands of mourners that watched her coffin process to Windsor Castle on the day of her funeral.
The late monarch's beloved fell pony Carlton Lima Emma, whom the Queen rode into her nineties, solemnly stood on the grounds of Windsor as Her Majesty's coffin made its final journey to St. George's Chapel.
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The Queen, who died on Sept. 8 at age 96, had a lifelong love of horses, receiving her first pony at age 4. The late monarch rode and owned hundreds of her horses during her reign, but a special few left a lasting impression.
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In a 2020 interview with Horse & Hound, the Queen's head groom Terry Pendry shared that the monarch counted Emma as one of her favorite horses and that the animal served as one of the Queen's riding ponies for years.
Emma also participated in the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, parading in the Windsor Horse Show's "A Gallop Through History," a televised event celebrating the late monarch's 70 years on the throne.
