Royals

Zara and Mike Tindall’s royal fortune

The royal couple are earning a crust on their own terms.
Zara and Mike Tindall

Her granny may be the Queen, but Zara Tindall doesn’t receive a penny from the royal purse.

However, it has been revealed that thanks to her skill as an Olympic equestrian, coupled with her royal name, the new mum is raking in the money, earning around $2 million a year in sponsorship deals.

Her husband, former England rugby player Mike Tindall, is not doing too badly either, bringing home a six-figure sum in salary and sponsorship. And the savvy couple have also earned “a small fortune” from property deals.

Zara’s most lucrative sponsorship deal is with outdoor clothing company Musto, which could be worth an estimated $1.55m. She is also the face of Howrse, an online game for horse lovers, which has earned her more than $100,000, and has longstanding deals with Rolex, Land Rover and investment firm Artemis.

Zara Phillips competing in the 2012 Olympics.

Zara, who has recently returned to three-day eventing after having her daughter Mia in January and has made the British team for the World Equestrian Games later this year, has previously earned good money promoting Samsung products.

Marketing expert Simon Rines says, “There simply isn’t anyone else like her, and her royalness, for want of a better word, is a unique selling point.”

Sources say while her income is substantial, she needs it to cover the running cost of her stables, where she has up to seven horses at a time.

Husband Mike, meanwhile, has admitted their financial priority is making sure the family is secure for the future. “We’ve just had Mia, so school fees come into it, college, a wedding.”

He earns at least $200,000 as a player and coach at Gloucester Rugby Club and from celebrity endorsements. Mike also owns a company called Kimble Trading, which had $498,000 in the bank in 2008, and is thought to have made around $381,000 in the last five years.

He owns a three-bedroom flat in the English city of Bath, which is worth $756,000 and rented out for $2900 a month. He also has a three-bedroom property in Dubai, which he rents out. Property experts there say if he waits until 2020 to sell it, he could triple the $580,000 he paid for it.

Meanwhile, Zara and Mike sold their five-bedroom Georgian townhouse in the Cotswolds last year for $2.46m – making them a profit of just under $1m in four years. They now live in a cottage on the grounds of Princess Anne’s Gatcombe Park estate, where Zara – who is 15th in line to the throne – has her stables. It is not known whether they own the cottage or pay rent.

Members of the royal family are usually notoriously tightlipped when it comes to finances, but Mike has recently spoken out about his income to Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper.

He says unlike senior royals, who famously never carry cash, he always has $200 in his wallet “just in case”.

Zara and Mike recently sold their five-bedroom townhouse in the Cotswolds for $2.46m last year.

He only recently got a credit card because he doesn’t like spending money that isn’t actually sitting in his bank account. “I am very conscious about money, spending only what I have. That was always the way when I started professional rugby.”

He adds, “Then again, if the money is there, I like to enjoy myself.”

Mike says his biggest weakness is buying gadgets. “I like TVs, sound systems and a nice cinema room where it is all wired in properly. We always upgrade quickly with tablets and smartphones.”

His worst investment was a poker gambling company, which lost him around $40,000, while his best was a racehorse. He and two friends bid $23,600 at a charity auction for Monbeg Dude in 2010, never expecting to win. It was a fortuitous move, he says.

“He’s won £120,000 [$236,000] in prize money since. If we sold him, he’d probably be worth at least £200,000 [$387,000]. Not bad. He was an accidental purchase but he’s done all right for us.”

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