Mark Phillips
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Mark Antony Peter Phillips (born September 22 1948), former Olympic gold-medal-winning horseman, was the first husband of Anne, Princess Royal.
Mark Phillips was educated at Marlborough College and at Sandhurst, following which he entered the Queen's Dragoon Guards in 1969. In 1972, he was a member of the British three-day event team at the Munich Olympics. They finished the event in gold medal position. It was through his equestrian activities that he met Princess Anne, and they were married on November 14, 1973 at Westminster Abbey. It is believed to have been her specific wish that, contrary to precedent, her husband did not receive a peerage on their marriage.
He won the Badminton Horse Trials in 1971 and 1972 riding Great Ovation and in 1974 on Colombus.
In popular media he has continued to be referred to as Captain Mark Phillips despite the fact that only ranks of major (or equivalent) and above can continued to be used after leaving military service.
Two children were born to the couple: Peter (born 1977) and Zara (born 1981). However, rumours of a stormy relationship were rife, and their home life at Gatcombe Park was the subject of much unwanted media attention throughout their marriage. It was alleged in the press that the British royal family had nicknamed Mark Phillips "Fog".
Mark Phillips is the father of an illegitimate daughter named Felicity Tonkin (born 1985) who lives in New Zealand. The girl's mother is Heather Tonkin, an art teacher, and daughter of Dr. Shirley Tonkin, a renowned expert in Sudden Infant Death Syndrome [1] (http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=83t724%24de6%241%40nnrp1.deja.com&output=gplain). Heather Tonkin lodged the paternity suit with a court in New Zealand in 1991, and DNA testing later confirmed that Mark Phillips was indeed the father of her child [2] (http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=BzOMqK9.makoenig%40delphi.com&output=gplain).
In 1992 Mark Phillips was divorced from the Princess Royal. In 1997 he remarried, to a woman named Sandy Pflueger. The couple have a daughter named Stephanie (born 1997).
Mark Phillips remains a leading figure in British equestrian circles and serves as Chef d'Equipe of the United States Eventing Team.
Reference
- "Phillips faces paternity suit" (The Times, Friday, 22 March 1991)
- United States Equestrian Federation (http://www.usef.org)nl:Mark Phillips