Date of Zara’s wedding revealed

Zara sets date for summer wedding

Zara Phillips and her fiancé Mike Tindall will marry in Edinburgh on July 30

Zara Phillips and her rugby international fiancé Mike Tindall are to marry in Edinburgh in the summer, Buckingham Palace has confirmed.

The Queen’s granddaughter and her partner will wed at the Canongate Kirk on July 30 – a venue and date widely reported in the media after a couple changed their plans to accommodate Zara.

It emerged earlier that Tindall’s best man will be fellow player Iain Balshaw, who was part of England’s rugby World Cup-winning squad.

Tindall, who is captain of the national side, popped the question to his 29-year-old partner just before Christmas at their Cheltenham home in Gloucestershire.

The couple met in a Sydney bar during the 2003 Rugby World Cup through Miss Phillips’s cousin Prince Harry. Their friendship blossomed into a romance and Tindall, 32, has claimed that it was his “pure charm” that won the royal’s heart.

The Queen’s granddaughter is one of Britain’s top equestrians and a former world three-day eventing champion.

Her husband-to-be, who plays for club side Gloucester, has been capped more than 60 times by his country and was part of the England team that won the 2003 Rugby World Cup.

Tindall’s choice of best man was revealed by Gloucester winger James Simpson-Daniel, who will be a groomsman at the wedding.

Simpson-Daniel, 28, said 31-year-old Biarritz fullback Balshaw was the perfect choice to deliver a confident, humorous speech in front of royalty.

“I’m really proud to be a groomsman, I’ll be honoured to park all the flash cars for him,” Simpson-Daniel told The Citizen. “Balsh has got some great stories on Tins, and everyone’s really looking forward to hearing them. He’s a great public speaker.”