<p id=”par-1_50″><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/princess-anne/”>Princess Anne</a> had a hilariously <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/queen-elizabeths-straightforward-comment-diana-buckingham-palace-balcony-married-charles-according-lip-reader.html/”>direct response</a> when her daughter, Zara Tindall, got a tongue piercing as a teen. The Princess Royal reportedly had one very simple question. Ahead, what Anne asked her daughter at the time. Plus, what Zara had to say about her pierced tongue era years later. </p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-zara-pierced-her-tongue-in-1998″>Zara pierced her tongue in 1998</h2>
<p id=”par-2_26″>At 17 years old, Zara, then a student at Gordonstoun, the Scotland boarding school her late grandfather Prince Philip and other royals attended, pierced her tongue. </p>
<p id=”par-3_41″>According to <a href=”https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/1906018/princess-anne-response-zara-tindall-piercing” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Express</a>, however, Zara’s tongue ring era proved to be short-lived. Cameras spotted the royal with a silver stud in her tongue while at the now-King Charles III’s 50th birthday party. A year later, in 1999, however, it was gone. </p>
<p id=”par-4_28″>In the years since Zara’s opened up about her tongue piercing, telling Tatler in 2011: “At least I didn’t have it coming out of my nose, or anything.” </p>
<p id=”par-5_46″>Editor’s Note: Wouldn’t it be fun to hear Zara talk about the tongue ring and her teenage years on her <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/prince-williams-new-inner-circle-includes-2-royals-replacement-brothers.html/”>husband Mike Tindall</a>’s “The Good, the Bad, and the Rugby”<em> </em>podcast? It doesn’t relate to sports whatsoever, but it’d certainly be a fun topic to explore. </p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-anne-asked-zara-about-talking-with-a-tongue-piercing”>Anne asked Zara about talking with a tongue-piercing</h2>
<figure class=”wp-block-image aligncenter size-full” id=”emb-1″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Zara-Tindall-with-her-tongue-pierced.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”Zara Tindall smiles, showing her tongue piercing.” class=”wp-image-3676321″ style=”object-fit:cover”><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Zara Tindall | Barry Batchelor – PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>
<p id=”par-6_22″>Now for Anne’s reaction to her daughter’s tongue piercing. The now-73-year-old royal reportedly didn’t think much of Zara’s new accessory back then. </p>
<p id=”par-7_40″>Anne was said to be “unfazed by [Zara’s] shocking new look.” Instead, all she did was remark on it by asking “if her daughter could speak properly with her piercing.” (Maybe she simply chalked it up to being a teenager?)</p>
<p id=”par-8_22″>How Anne reacted may not surprise some royal watchers as she has a well-documented history of funny, direct, and sometimes stinging comments. </p>
<p id=”par-9_45″>Perhaps the most famous among them came in 1974 when the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip narrowly avoided an attempted kidnapping. Anne famously replied, “Not bloody likely,” when told to get out of the car after a <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/princess-anne-former-bodyguard-shot-speaks-violent-kidnap-attempt-changed-attack.html/”>gunman shot her bodyguard</a>. </p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-a-former-butler-remembers-seeing-zara-s-tongue-piercing-it-was-so-exciting”>A former butler remembers seeing Zara’s tongue piercing: ‘It was so exciting’</h2>
<figure class=”wp-block-image aligncenter size-full” id=”emb-2″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Zara-Tindall-with-a-tongue-ring.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”Zara Tindall smiles and looks on wearing sunglasses with a tongue ring in her mouth” class=”wp-image-3676325″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Zara Tindall | Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>
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<p id=”par-10_19″>Grant Harrold, a former royal butler, recalled the “exciting” moment of seeing Tindall’s tongue piercing for the first time. </p>
<p id=”par-11_27″>“She was the very first royal I met. In Scotland, I was working, and it was the weekend,” he told Express, speaking on behalf of Spin Genie. </p>
<p id=”par-12_41″>“It was all in the press that she had her tongue pierced. And it was so exciting because when she was speaking to us, I suddenly saw the tongue piercing, and I was like, ‘Oh, I’ve seen it,’” he went on.</p>
<p id=”par-13_25″>Harrold saw it as an example of the now-mother of three doing things her “own way,” describing Zara as “down to earth,” “fun,” and “naughty.” </p>
<p id=”par-14_34″>“The deal that was done back in the day was Anne didn’t want her children to have titles so they could have normal lives and do normal things,” he said. “That’s what she wanted.”</p>