Royal touch from Zara Tindall at Weston Park

The two-day event took place across the weekend at the ancestral home of the Earls of Bradford.

The Queen's grand-daughter was one of more than 500 entries to the premier equestrian event which acts as a warm-up for the famous Badminton Horse Trials in May.

Tindall, who was born Zara Phillips, competed in one of two advanced section events yesterday, on High Kingdom, the mount with which she won silver in the Team Eventing at the London 2012 Olympics.

And Tindall impressed once again in front of the watching spectators as she finished in fifth place.

Her advanced section was won by Andrew Heffernan, from the Netherlands, with Shropshire's Oliver Townend in second place.

The Duddleston Heath-based rider wowed the crowd with his performance on King Joules and clinched the runners-up spot despite losing a shoe in the dressage.

Third in the section was Cheshire-based rider Michael Owen with Australian Paul Tapner finishing one place ahead of Tindall in fourth.

The second advanced event brought more joy for Townend who once again finished runner-up, this time on Sandiman II.

The competition was won by Gemma Tattersall, from Horsham, on her horse Arctic Soul.

Riders and horses travelled from all over the country to compete across the two days, with a host of other top names taking part despite heavy rain on Saturday. Australian Sam Griffiths was one of the big names.

Three-time Olympic medallist William Fox-Pitt and New Zealand's veteran eventer Andrew Nicholson also made their respective returns from serious injuries.

However, it was a mixed afternoon for Fox-Pitt, who after an impressive start, suffered a fall and was forced to withdraw.

Rachel Morley, press officer for the event, said: "Events elsewhere have been cancelled recently but we managed to battle the weather.

"We had a wonderful crowd who enjoyed watching some of the world's best riders."