Mark Phillips also has plenty to celebrate: he was joined at the wedding by his rumoured girlfriend, Belgian equestrian Florence Standaert. The couple were first spotted together at Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials in 2022 where sources described Standaert as Phillips’ ‘girlfriend’. Two years later, they were on hand to support Phillips’ daughter, Zara Tindall, as she competed at the Badminton Horse Trials (the same event where Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling made their public debut).
Much like Zara and Princess Anne, Florence has a longstanding connection to the equestrian world. Her long-term boyfriend, Thomas Ryckewaert, ran the Waregem horse trials in Belgium until his death in 2019. The following year, Phillips designed a cross country-course at Waregem, which at the time was run by Standaert.
Captain Mark Phillips crossed paths with his ex-wife, Princess Anne, pictured, at their son’s wedding
Mark Cuthbert/Getty Images
The glamorous world of international horse riding was also at the centre of Phillips’ marriage to Princess Anne. The couple met in Mexico City, at an event for horse riding enthusiasts, and their engagement was announced in 1973, when the world first caught a glimpse of Princess Anne‘s Garrard sapphire and diamond ring. During their engagement interview, the couple were asked, ‘Do you think the marriage can withstand the enormous pressures of public duty and publicity that you have to endure?’ to which the Captain replied: ‘I think we’ve withstood a great deal already this year’, before Anne snapped: ‘Can? It’s got to, hasn’t it?’
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An estimated 500 million tuned in to watch the televised marriage at Westminster Cathedral in November 1973, making Anne the first of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip’s four children to marry. However, the relationship wasn’t to last. After the birth of their two children; Peter Phillips, born in 1977 and Zara Phillips (now Tindall), born in 1981, the marriage broke down.