The Queen's granddaughter Zara Phillips has expressed her delight at being selected for the British equestrian team for the 2012 Games.

Phillips appeared at a Team GB news conference near the Games equestrian venue in Greenwich on Tuesday, just a few days after being confirmed as a member of the five-strong eventing team.

It will be the 31-year-old's first Olympics - she was selected for the 2008 Games in Beijing but had to retire before competing after her horse Toytown was forced out with an injury.

"Obviously I'm massively excited and honoured to be on a team with these guys as well," Phillips told reporters.

"And, yeah, still keeping fingers crossed though as we've still got a few more weeks to go. We know what horses are like!

"But seeing it today, it's all bringing it much closer and really exciting."

Despite having plenty of royal residences to stay in throughout London during the Games, Zara will be staying in the athletes' village.

"It will be great to be part of the Olympics and get the atmosphere and the buzz of being a part of it," she said.

"A lot of the times the equestrian [eventing] has been quite far out and this time they have really made a big effort to try and have us part of the Olympics and get all the atmosphere and benefit from that."