Mother-Daughter Duo Princess Anne and Zara Tindall Lead Carriage Procession on Third Day of Royal Ascot

The royal women kicked off a day of horse racing at the celebrated event

Princess Anne was joined by her daughter Zara Tindall as they led the carriage procession on day three of Royal Ascot.

While Queen Elizabeth has yet to make an appearance at the iconic horse race (one of her favorite events of the year!), her daughter and former Olympian equestrian Princess Anne led the carriage ride of royals around the track. Accompanying the women were Anne’s husband Vice-Admiral Sir Tim Laurence and Zara’s husband Mike Tindall.

Zara is also an accomplished equestrian. At the London 2012 Olympics, the granddaughter of the Queen won a silver medal as a member of the Great Britain equestrian eventing team.

Princess Anne broke with decades of royal tradition by opting to raise her daughter Zara and son Peter Phillips without an HRH or title. While they were not entitled to royal status by birth, the Queen extended a courtesy title to Anne’s children, which she politely declined in the hope that this would allow them to have more regular childhoods than the likes of Prince William and Prince Harry.

“Zara always says she’s so pleased she wasn’t given a title,” Phil Tindall, the father of Zara’s husband, Mike, previously told the Sunday Times, adding that the lack of a title has enabled Zara and Peter “to live their own lives.”

In the next carriage were lady Sarah Chatto, the daughter of the Queen’s late sister Princess Margaret, and her husband Daniel. The Queen’s passion for horses was reflected in the inclusion of her racing manager John Warren and his wife Lady Carolyn, who were in the fourth carriage.

Thursday is the landmark Gold Cup Day of Royal Ascot, which traditionally sees the most eye-catching attire from attendees (expect more bold and beautiful hats!).

Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall led the royal party on the first two days of the event, with other appearances by Princess Beatrice and Peter Phillips.

It is hoped that the Queen will be attending at some point during the five-day event. And, if she does, she will travel by car rather than carriage. As with all of the 96-year-old monarch’s public outings, palace sources aren’t able to say if she will be able to attend until hours beforehand due to her ongoing mobility issues.

The Queen has three horses running in races on Thursday. Her horse Saga will take part in the Britannia Stakes, while Reach for the Moon is in the Hampton Court Stakes, and Tactical is entered into the Buckingham Palace Stakes.

The Queen, who has a well-known love of horses, has attended every single Royal Ascot for the last seven decades and often has her own horses competing. The only exception was in 2020 when the famous event was held behind closed doors for the first time in history amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the start of the race event on Tuesday, the Queen issued a statement in the event’s program, welcoming the full-capacity crowds back to the course for the first time since 2019. She praised the planting of new trees close to the course, in tribute to her Jubilee marking 70 years on the throne.

She said, “I have been most grateful for the continued kindness shown to me by the racing community. In my Platinum Jubilee year, I was interested to learn that in support of The Queen’s Green Canopy initiative, Ascot Racecourse and the Crown Estate have planted seventy oak trees in Windsor Great Park, each of which is linked to a local school.”