Zara Phillips Get’s a Kiss From Mum and a Silver Medal

Princess Anne’s daughter Zara Phillips had a rare double today. She was part of a GB team that came second in an Olympic horse trials event and Mum presented the medals.

Zara is the long suffering wife of accident prone Rugby player Mike Tindall who constantly wins headlines for all the wrong reasons. The latest episode was in World Rugby’s Championships in New Zealand where as team captain he took his men down to a bar between games, drank plenty, watched a dwarf throwing contest and chatted up an ex-girlfriend he just happened to meet 2000 miles from home.

Zara seemed to take it in her equestrian stride. She flew out to his side and the Buckingham Palace media squad managed to block the worst of the coverage. They couldn’t do a lot about the English rugby side though. They sank without trace, the manager was fired and Tindall retired from international rugby. Neither of them ever apologised.

But now there is a success story in the Royal family. Three cheers and beers all round – Tindall will be getting them in. Zara seems a good sport and she is young enough to have a couple more Olympics to compete in.

There is no news of the Queen but she will have been glued to the TV somewhere, watching her granddaughter in between catching the racing at York, Sandown and Brighton. Loves the horses, she does. So did her mother and rumour has it that when she died a good few bookmakers were complaining about unpaid debts.

Medals haven’t exactly been flowing towards Team GB so far. A grand total of 4 is a little disappointing but there will be more to come.

When they do arrive you will be sure to spot London Mayor Boris Johnson hogging the limelight. He’s having a brilliant Olympics unlike his party leader David Cameron who desperately has to chat up dodgy bankers and businessmen. He’s hoping they will come up with a few deals to lift the gloom and help pay for circus.

What was that the Romans said, give the mob bread and circuses to keep them quiet? Well, the circus is in town but bread, the folding kind, is still in short supply.

But well done Zara. You’ve got one up on Mum who competed in the Olympics in horse events but never grabbed a medal. In her day Princess Anne was notorious for being rude to photographers. One day she demanded to know why they kept coming. “We’re waiting till you fall off,” one said. “No chance of that,” she snapped.

Guess what. She did.