Zara Tindall's forgotten half-sister and her glamorous life away from palace

29 May 2023 , 16:40

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Zara Tindall's forgotten half-sister and her glamorous life away from palace

Her uncle is the King, her mum is the hardest-working royal and her husband is a World Cup-winning rugby player turned I'm A Celebrity contestant.

So it's fair to say that Zara Tindall has a whole host of relatives that have very well-known faces.

However, she has one family member - who she is extremely close to - who you've probably never heard of her.

Zara and older brother Peter also have a sometimes forgotten non-royal half-sister called Stephanie, who appears to lead a quiet life away from the spotlight.

The 25-year-old is the daughter of Zara and Peter's dad Captain Mark Phillips - Princess Anne's first husband.

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Zara Tindall's half sister Stephanie Phillips (Stephanie Phillips/Instagram)

Stephanie at a fancy dress party with Zara and older brother Peter (Stephanie Phillips/Instagram)

Anne and Mark were married from 1973 to 1992 and five years after their divorce in 1997, Mark married second wife Hawaiian equestrian Sandy Pflueger.

They welcomed their daughter Stephanie later that year, with them all living on Anne's Gatcombe estate in Gloucestershire.

Stephanie attended fee-paying Dean Close School in Cheltenham before earning a degree in business management from the University of Worcester.

She even supplemented her earnings during her studies by quietly working as a barmaid.

Stephanie with her two older half siblings (Stephanie Phillips/Instagram)

And while there is an age gap sitting between Zara, 42, and Peter, 45, and their younger sibling, the bond between them seems to be tight.

Stephanie was a flower girl at both their weddings and in the past, she would share treasured family snaps of them on her Instagram account.

One previously posted snap shared on social media showed her giving Zara's husband Mike a piggyback.

In another, she poses at a fancy dress with Peter and his former wife Autumn, while in a third she describes Peter as "the best big brother".

Stephanie as a bridesmaid at half sister Zara's wedding (Getty Images)

Both Zara and Stephanie are equestrians (Jon Stroud/REX/Shutterstock)

One previously shared image of her royal niece, Isla Phillips, had a message from Autumn which read "she loves her Aunty Steph", underscoring how close the family are.

Like her mother, father and big sister Zara, Stephanie is also an equestrian, with her Instagram account full of snaps of her with her horses and at riding events.

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And Stephanie's tight bond with Anne's children was seen in full force when they all came together for her wedding last year - despite it potentially being awkward.

Stephanie tied the knot with husband William Hosier in a sun-drenched affair at St Mary The Virgin Church in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, last July.

Stephanie upon her engagement to husband William (Quiet Media)

Stephanie is close to both Zara and brother Peter Phillips (Stephanie Phillips/Instagram)

Of course, big brother Peter was there with his daughters Savannah and Isla both acting as bridesmaids - and he brought his new girlfriend Lindsay Wallace to the ceremony.

But proving there was no tension with his ex-wife Autumn, the mother of his two daughters, she too was at the ceremony, attending with her new partner, property developer Donal Mulryan.

Elsewhere, Peter's mother Anne, watched her ex-husband Mark walk Stephanie down the aisle, while Zara and Mike were there with daughters Mia and Lena, who were also bridesmaids.

Jennifer Newton