MIKE Tindall has already spilled the tea on life in the Royal Family on this year’s I’m a Celebrity.
Last night he recounted the tale of wife Zara dramatically giving birth to their son Lucas on their bathroom floor, after a midwife insisted she wouldn’t make it to hospital.
Mike Tindall has entered this year’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!
Last night Mike opened up about Zara’s unexpected home birth with their son Lucas
He said: “She almost choked me to death. You can’t say anything can you?”
And if his podcast is anything to go by – where he previously described the birth as “carnage” – viewers are in for yet more juicy details in the coming weeks.
The England rugby legend, 44, married to Princess Anne’s daughter, has shared candid details in the past about his regal family’s private life – which is unusual for a royal.
Here we take a look at his most jaw-dropping revelations.
Punching Prince Harry
Mike and Zara Tindall either side of Prince Harry after a wheelchair rugby match at the Invictus Games in 2014
Mike once recounted an eventful night with Prince Harry in Sydney, where he and former teammate Iain Balshaw sought to test the royals’ security team.
On a Question of Sport Live 2021, Mike explained how he met his future cousin-in-law during the Rugby World Cup in Australia.
Wondering how long it would take the royal’s bodyguards to intervene, he and Iain pounced, pretending to land blows on Harry.
Mike Tindall regularly spills the tea on his podcast The Good, the Bad and the Rugby
Turns out it didn’t take them very long at all, and the pair were accosted just seconds into their prank.
Mike then joked there are a few royals who would like to “throw a few punches” at Harry, adding: “At Balmoral, the family are now having the same conversation. Except the Queen has taken his security away.”
He later joked on his The Good, The Bad and the Rugby podcast that he hopes the “full Harry slap” makes it onto The Crown.
Royal WhatsApp group
Mike admitted he wanted tease-fodder to wind up the Princess of Wales on the family WhatsApp group
During another podcast episode, Mike revealed there is a Royal Family WhatsApp group, in which he exchanges banter with his cousin-in-law Kate, the Princess of Wales.
After Kate joined a rugby training session at Twickenham Stadium in February, Mike admitted he asked for tease-fodder from England player Ellis Genge, who was there.
He said: “I texted Ellis and said, ‘Mate, please tell me anything she messed up on so I could sort of, family WhatsApp group, get into her.
“But he said, ‘No she was actually pretty good, and she was really good at kicking,’ and I was like [sighs].”
Mike’s co-host Alex Payne said Kate is very “competitive” and a “natural rugby player”.
Miscarriage heartbreak
Mike described how he, Zara and the Queen had an intimate Christmas together the year Zara suffered a miscarriage
Mike opened up about how he and Zara spent an intimate Christmas at Sandringham with the Queen after suffering a devastating miscarriage.
Speaking on talk show House of Rugby in 2018, he said: “Two years ago, [the Queen] wasn’t feeling well and so she didn’t go to church, and we’d obviously been what we’d been through with our pregnancy we lost, so we did our own little private [gathering] – just as a three.”
Mike added that the Queen associated dark colours with “sad times”, but he chose to wear a colourful suit on Christmas Day to “raise the mood”.
Children close to Wills and Kate’s kids
Mike revealed on his podcast how his daughters Mia, eight, and Lena, four, are “very close” with Prince William and Kate’s children – their second cousins.
He said their families have been “intertwined” as Mike and Zara got married five months after the Waleses, and they each have three kids of similar ages.
Mike claimed Mia and George share love of rugby, adding: “It’s always hard to get Mia to go, she’s like ‘I don’t like it’ and then you get there and she’s off.”
He previously admitted that George and Mia’s first meeting was “carnage”, telling the Mirror in 2014: “I don’t think Mia will remember that day, she was two months old, but it was great.”
He added: “George was eating at the time – he’d got to that stage where more food goes on the table than in his mouth. Mia was just chilling and sleeping.”
Best man joke
Mike revealed a joke text conversation with Prince Harry
Mike once unveiled a text conversation he had with Prince Harry after his engagement to Meghan Markle was announced.
He told Ronan Keating on his Magic radio show in 2018 that he fired over a text joking about being the Duke’s best man.
“When I saw they were getting married, I did text Prince Harry and said, ‘I’ve written my speech, I’m ready’,” Mike said.
“He said, ‘Sorry mate that job’s full but I do need someone to show people where to park their cars’.”
Mike joked: “That, I thought, was a little bit harsh!”
Boozy first date
Mike told his I’m A Celeb campmates how he met Zara at the World Cup, and enjoyed a “boozy lunch” on their first date, where they “figured out that we both quite like getting smashed”.
“I got dropped from the semi-final,” he recalled. “I was pissed off and so went for a beer with another guy who got dropped and a guy who was over [in Sydney]. They’d met her before and they introduced us and then got chatting.”
Mike previously told the Daily Mail they started out as friends, but “eventually it was one of those things where you realise you’re spending all your time with someone, and it went to the next level”.
Zara’s bizarre reaction to proposal
Zara arrives at her wedding to Mike with her dad in Edinburgh in 2011
Mike also revealed that when he proposed to Zara, her first reaction was to laugh.
He said: “I was upstairs, plucking up the nerve to do it, while Zara was downstairs watching television.
“It was all about shock value – I wanted to catch her when it was quiet, and she wasn’t expecting anything. She started laughing. She was completely in shock.
“Then, when she stopped laughing, she said ‘yes’. That was a relief.”
Royal nicknames
Mike has a sweet nickname for Zara, which he let slip on his rugby podcast – Z, pronounced ‘Zed’.
Talking about Zara giving birth, he said: “No, fortunately Z, I think she’d sort of had contractions through the night, she hadn’t slept well the night before, so we had someone take the kids for the day.”
Mike also has a special nickname for cousin-in-law Kate – ‘Engine’, because she can run all day.
Regrets after Queen’s death
Mike admitted he has “loads of regrets” after the Queen’s death.
Acknowledging he was lucky to have been able to spend one-on-one time with Her Majesty, he added he also has “loads of regrets about not asking her so many more things. Having nervousness when you sit down to talk… that lucky seat and being sat next to her”.
Asked what he’d ask her now if he could, Mike said: “Just going back through history and everything she’s possibly seen.
“Obviously 15 Prime Ministers, I don’t know how many Presidents, but to go through everything.
“You know, when she’s meeting dictators she has to stay neutral. She had to just perform her duty.”
Juggling being a dad-of-three
Mike with his son Lucas in April this year
Mike has got into the habit of making royal revelations on his podcast, even using it to announce Zara’s third pregnancy.
In 2020 he revealed: “Had a little scan last week – third Tindall on its way.”
Mike later admitted he was worried Lena was holding their newborn son too tightly.
He explained: “Mia’s been great… she just enjoys holding him and being around him, but she’s quite happy to just hand him back and get on.
“Whereas Lena’s a bit more Lennie from Of Mice and Men, she’s a bit handsy.
“And it’s great that you want to give him a kiss and everything but can you just not hold him quite so tight, oh God.
“It’s one of those – it’s all about the love but it’s a bit out of control.”
