Mike Tindall has candidly shared insights into the late Queen’s personal demeanour and commented on the ongoing ‘drama’ within the Royal Family.
Tindall, who became part of the monarchy upon marrying Zara, the granddaughter of the late Queen, 13 years ago, is not a working Royal but maintains close ties with senior members of the establishment, including the Prince and Princess of Wales, attending numerous major Royal occasions.
Post his rugby career, Mike has become notable for his stint on ITV’s ‘I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here’, and he co-hosts a podcast titled ‘The Good, The Bad and The Rugby’ alongside James Haskell and Alex Payne.
Coinciding with the release of their new book ‘The Good, The Bad and The Rugby – Unleashed‘, which is available in stores as of today, Tindall offers an intimate glimpse into Royal life in one of its chapters dedicated to royalty, elucidating his personal experiences with the Queen, reports the Mirror.
He discloses in the text: “I’m sometimes asked if the Queen did informality like ‘normal’ people, and the answer to that is yes. Her life wasn’t like an episode of Downton Abbey, with meals on long tables and everyone dressed in their finery every night, and Zara and I would often watch the racing with her on TV, as I’m sure lots of people reading this have done with their gran.
“I’m sometimes asked if the Queen did informality like ‘normal’ people, and the answer to that is yes. Her life wasn’t like an episode of Downton Abbey, with meals on long tables and everyone dressed in their finery every night, and Zara and I would often watch the racing with her on TV, as I’m sure lots of people reading this have done with their gran.
“Lunches were also relaxed, especially up in Scotland, where lunch would often be heading out into the open space of the Scottish Highlands for a picnic.”
“There’s a great picture of my daughter Mia sitting with the Duke of Edinburgh that captures exactly what those afternoons were like: members of a very close family who loved each other dearly spending precious time together. Yes, there’s a lot of drama surrounding the royal family, but they aren’t much different to anyone else underneath it all.”
He also reveals that he was accepted ‘completely’ by the Royal family, stating: “Believe it or not, marrying into the royal family was pretty easy for me. They were always nice to me, and I was always nice to them. Simple really.”
This portrayal starkly contrasts Meghan Markle’s experience, who has previously expressed her struggles with becoming a Royal when she married Prince Harry, Zara’s cousin, in 2018. She criticised the Firm in her and Harry’s controversial Netflix documentary, suggesting that Charles and Diana weren’t warm towards her.
Mike has previously spoken about Queen Elizabeth II. In a special edition of his podcast following her death, he reflected on the time spent with her and his ‘regret’.
When asked by co-host Alex Payne if he realised how fortunate he had been to spend time in the Queen’s company, he responded: “I do but I have loads of regrets about not asking her so many more things and having nervousness when you get that lucky seat to sit next to her.”
When quizzed about what he would have asked the Queen, Mike responded: “Just going back through history and everything that she’s possibly seen like 15 prime ministers and however many presidents it is but to go through everything. When she is meeting dictators, she has to stay neutral and just perform her duty.”
When probed if he had ever posed these questions to the Queen, Mike added: “I was starting to get to that point but I hadn’t barrelled in – I know you would have barrelled in. But guaranteed, when you sit there, it’s not that easy.”
In other parts of the book, it emerges that Mike Tindall found himself in hot water after cracking a harsh joke about ‘filling in’ Prince Harry. In the book, his podcast co-host and fellow ex-rugby player James Haskell recalls the time Mike made the brutal jibe at Harry during a live event several years ago.In the book, released today, James discloses that the cheeky remark actually sparked a ‘minor kerfuffle’.
He writes: “He [Mike] even got into a bit of trouble when he appeared on a live version of A Question of Sport: he told a story about him and Iain Balshaw pretending to punch Prince Harry at a post-World Cup final party in 2003 and joked that the Royal family wanted to fill him in for real.
“I say trouble but it was a bit of a minor kerfuffle, nothing to write home about.”
However, James suggests that the entire incident would have been forgotten if it hadn’t been for Harry and Meghan Markle’s biographer Omid Scobie, who defended the prince, leading to a social media backlash.
James further explains that Mike doesn’t care about such things. He writes: “It did come back into public consciousness when that very odd bloke Omid Scobie started sticking up for Harry and Meghan, and loads of trolls went in on Tins, especially about him wanting to fill in a young, defenceless Harry.
“All context, sarcasm and humour lost, when things are taken out of the zone they were meant to be in. I’m sometimes asked if the Queen did informality like ‘normal’ people, and the answer to that is yes. Her life wasn’t like an episode of Downton Abbey, with meals on long tables and everyone dressed in their finery every night, and Zara and I would often watch the racing with her on TV, as I’m sure lots of people reading this have done with their gran.”
“To be fair to Tins he gives zero f***s about stuff like that, but it’s very annoying for him Royal fans can be mental. I think we all know that American Royal fans are f***ing nuts, especially Scobieites.”
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