Princess Anne's rare title recognises a huge achievement - and she now shares it with Zara Tindall

Princess Anne was the first royal to receive a rare title in recognition of a huge achievement and it’s now held by Zara Tindall too.

Princess Anne is famously one of the most hardworking members of the Royal Family and regularly supports King Charles by undertaking a packed schedule of engagements at home and abroad. With this in mind it might come as a surprise to some that Princess Anne doesn’t have royal security full-time and is 17th in the royal line of succession. She does, however, hold the prestigious title of Princess Royal and another even rarer title that was granted to her in 1971. At the time Princess Anne’s professional equestrian career was in full swing and at the age of just 21 she won a gold medal at the European Eventing Championship in Burghley.

This was a colossal achievement for the Princess and it was recognised in the most iconic way when she was named the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year in a star-studded ceremony. Princess Anne was the first royal to receive this title which is awarded following a public vote on a short-listed selection of sporting greats.

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As she was awarded her new accolade, hopes were expressed for her to one day win a gold medal in the Olympics. Sadly, Princess Anne never did win an Olympic medal, but her history of sporting ‘firsts’ continued when she became the first royal to compete at the Olympics at the 1976 Montreal Games. 

Becoming Sports Personality of the Year, though, is something she will likely treasure forever and it’s a title she now shares with her daughter Zara. The Princess Royal is known for turning down the late Queen Elizabeth’s offer of royal titles for her children, Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall, but her daughter has gone on to win multiple equestrian titles. 

She followed in Princess Anne’s footsteps and competed at the 2012 London Olympics where she took home a Team Eventing silver medal, and in 2006 she won the Eventing World Championship in Aachen.

It was that December - 35 years since Princess Anne received her honour - that Zara was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2006. To this day, mother and daughter are the only British royals to have received this rare title and it’s very touching that they both were recognised so publicly for their achievements in a field they both have such a passion for.

The Princess Royal retired many years ago but Zara Tindall still competes as an equestrian. She has also introduced her three children Mia, Lena and Lucas to her sport, as per People in 2023, and told the publication that her nieces ride and are "really into it". They are likely Savannah and Isla Phillips, the daughters of Peter Phillips, and he previously explained that Princess Anne "loves" seeing the children riding horses.

Opening up on the ITV documentary, Anne: The Princess Royal at 70, Peter declared, "She loves seeing them ride [horses], she loves having them round for Sunday lunches and taking them for walks. Doing all the things that we would do as kids."

"We quite like leaving them on Sundays," Zara joked. "We'll say, 'We'll pick them up later, bye.'"

Princess Anne lives at Gatcombe Park in Gloucestershire and her children live on the same beautiful estate, making spending quality time together that bit easier. Whether or not any of the Princess Royal’s grandchildren end up becoming professional equestrians, it’s clearly a passion that runs in the family and who knows if there could be another royal Sports Personality of the Year one day.