Zara Tindall on tough lessons from father Captain Mark Phillips
Zara Tindall has described her father, Captain Mark Phillips, as quite critical and a tough coach when she was learning to ride.
The 45-year-old, the niece of the King, spoke to hosts Pippa Funnel and Tristan Phipps on the Talk Horse podcast in an episode broadcast on Thursday 8 October 2026. She said she was trained by her parents in the early days of her equestrian career, meaning competitive horse riding, a point also noted in the Mirror's coverage of the interview Mirror.
Tindall drew a clear contrast between her parents. Her mother, Princess Anne, was very relaxed about her horse riding. Her father wanted "more of this, more of that", she said, as reported by HELLO!.
Praise was rare. Tindall said she very rarely got a "Yeah, that was good" from her father. She spent much of her childhood striving to earn it.
The rule at home was self-reliance. She said her parents told her she had to do things properly. There would be no help. She needed to produce results.
Tindall and her brother, Peter Phillips, were raised on the Gatcombe Estate in Gloucestershire. Their parents are Princess Anne and her former husband, Captain Mark Phillips. The marriage ended in divorce in 1992.
That upbringing shapes much of the interview. Funnel and Phipps travelled to Gloucestershire to meet Tindall for the recording. Part One focuses on growing up at Gatcombe surrounded by equestrian greats, the experienced riders and horses based around the estate.
The conversation is presented as a very special two-part chat. The episode is listed as "Zara Tindall: Toytown, Olympic Glory and Winning Again." Listings for Talk Horse appear on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts, where the show is a long-running horse-sport series built around conversations with riders.
For listeners who do not follow horse sport, the names need little background. Princess Anne is Tindall's mother. Captain Phillips is her father. Peter Phillips is her brother. The family story here is told through riding lessons, not royal duty.
What makes this stand out is the small detail Tindall keeps returning to. One parent relaxed. One parent demanding. And a daughter still remembering the exact words of praise she waited to hear.
