UK Edition
Zara Tindall: I didn't wear rings until Mike proposed
As a teenager, she chose a tongue piercing over Royal diamonds, going on to be more at home in jodhpurs and riding boots than glamorous ballgowns.
But Zara Tindall has disclosed she has been won over to jewellery, after her husband bought her her first ring for their engagement.
Tindall, the Queen’s granddaughter, said her engagement ring was the first ring she ever wore or owned, after being presented with it by her rugby player boyfriend Mike in 2010.
She has since launched a jewellery range with an equestrian theme, now photographed for Town & Country magazine at the stables.
She said: “I didn’t appreciate jewellery until I got a bit older and started going to events.
“I never wore rings. My engagement ring was my first. Mike found it – I hinted what I liked, but he did it all himself.”
On her collection, with Australian jeweller John Calleij in a partnership which began in 2015, is intended to be wearable without too obvious a horse influence, she said. Items are priced up to £26,800, with many inspired by the shape of a saddle.
“I felt strongly that each piece had to be wearable from morning to night,” she told the magazine. “I’m sure John would like to go all out and have a horse galloping across your hand, so sometimes I have to rein him in.”
It is the latest of many commercial deals Mrs Tindall and her husband have accepted over the years after Princess Anne declined a Royal title for her children, meaning she does not receive money from the Civil List.
She has previously worked with Rolex, Land Rover and sportswear label Musto, as well as selling photographs of her daughter Mia to a magazine for a six-figure sum.
Mike Tindall, who appeared on celebrity television show The Jump, has said the Royal family “don’t give us any money, adding: “We look after ourselves – we don’t get anything for free.
“They’re separate from us; we run our own life.”
Asked about her life with horses in an interview about the jewellery line, Mrs Tindall told the magazine: “Both my parents rode, so from quite a young age I was always around the horses or up at the stables; it was part of my life.
“Now we’ve got space for 10 horses here [at Aston Farm]. I’ve got nine eventers, owned by various people, and Toytown, who’s retired and just hangs out in the field.”
The full interview is published in the spring issue of Town & Country UK, on sale from February 23.