Editing Mark Phillips (section)

==Family background and early life==
Mark Anthony Peter Phillips was born on 22 September 1948. He is the son of Major Peter William Garside Phillips, [[Military Cross|MC]] (1920–1998)<ref name="parents-death">{{cite web|url=https://apnews.com/article/bac89a6b60339f5957dac1936734c26c|title=Princess Anne Attends Funeral|publisher=AP News|date=18 September 1998|access-date=29 November 2020|archive-date=16 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416111328/https://apnews.com/article/bac89a6b60339f5957dac1936734c26c|url-status=live}}</ref> and Anne Patricia Phillips (''née'' Tiarks;<ref name="Tiarks">{{cite web|last1=Tiarks|first1=Frank|title=Tiarks of Foxbury as researched by Charles A. H. Franklyn-|url=http://www.tiarks.co.uk/tiarks_5.htm|website=tiarks.co.uk|access-date=30 May 2015|quote=Educated, Downe House, Newbury, Berks....served in the WRNS...|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303165204/http://www.tiarks.co.uk/tiarks_5.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> 1925–1988);<ref name="parents-death"/> they married in 1946. Anne was educated at [[Downe House School|Downe House]] and served in the [[Women's Royal Naval Service]] during the [[World War II|Second World War]].<ref name="Tiarks"/> She was the only daughter of John Gerhard Edward Tiarks (1896–1962), who served in the [[World War I|First]] and Second World Wars, attained the rank of [[Brigadier]], and Evelyn Florence Cripps (1899–1994). John Tiarks also served as ''[[aide-de-camp]]'' to [[King George VI]] from 1947 to 1950. Mark had a younger sister, Sarah Anne Staples (''née'' Phillips; 1951–2014).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/2014121722489/mark-phillips-sister-sarah-staples-dies/|title=Zara Tindall mourns the sudden death of her aunt Sarah Staples|magazine=Hello!|date=17 December 2014|access-date=29 November 2020|archive-date=16 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416105236/https://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/2014121722489/mark-phillips-sister-sarah-staples-dies/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Phillips was educated at [[Stouts Hill]] Preparatory School near [[Uley]], [[Gloucestershire]], then at [[Marlborough College]], then the [[Royal Military Academy Sandhurst]].<ref name=sr/>