It’s one of the biggest faux pas a husband can make – getting his wedding date wrong. So when Mike Tindall tells his wife Zara in a video clip that she married a legend back in 2012, she’s quick to point out that actually, it was 2011.
Yet a blunder that could end in a row or recriminations for other couples is laughed off by both Zara and Mike. It’s a telling moment in a fascinating interview that provides an insightful look at one of the strongest marriages in the royal family.
Former rugby star Mike, 44, has done a one-on-one YouTube interview with Zara, 41, to promote the Australian Magic Millions horse sales brand, of which she is an ambassador, and it paints a remarkably candid picture of a couple who are not only very much in love, but great mates.
Their affection for each other is apparent in the teasing and banter they exchange, such as when Mike talks about their decision not to have any more children after their third. He jokes, “You gelded your stallion,” and Zara jumps in to say, “You gelded yourself!”
But there are also more serious moments, such as the experience of a miscarriage following the birth of their eldest daughter.
“You lost a baby along the way, but you’d stopped riding before that, so you’d missed another chunk of time,” Mike says of her balancing being a mum and competing.
In 2016, the couple said they were expecting, but one month later made the sad announcement they had lost the baby. Then in 2018, they told of a second miscarriage. Zara shared, “It was a time when my family came to the fore and I needed them. Being helpless is horrible. We’ve now come out the end of it – hopefully it makes you a stronger family.”
Speaking to Mike, Zara says juggling work, motherhood and loss has made her “a better mother”.
She also talks about how she suffers from “mum guilt”.
In those, it’s obvious how deeply they care for each other. Even the endearing way they start the interview by saying, “Hello, my love,” to each other is an indication of the depth of feeling between the pair, who’ve been together for two decades this year.
The parents of Mia, nine, Lena, four, and Lucas, 22 months, were separated for two weeks at the end of last year when Mike took part in the reality TV show I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, and when they were reunited after Mike’s stint in the Queensland jungle, the way they hugged showed how much they missed each other.
Get me out of here! It was a sweet reunion when Mike was eliminated from the Aussie jungle.
Zara and Mike met in Australia in 2003 at the Rugby World Cup. During the YouTube interview – the first in a series called Mike Drop – Zara talks about how special the country is to her, adding, “I found my husband here.”
“Best day of your life,” smiles Mike, and Zara agrees with him.
Mike asks Zara about the equestrian career that has landed her a silver Olympic medal and she admits that juggling her work with having kids has been challenging.
“I found it hard, getting back to it after having babies, but mentally, you feel guilty as a mother, leaving your child to go and do something else.”
“Is that because you didn’t trust Dad?” jokes Mike, who is known for being a very hands-on father.
Zara has previously spoken about how being married to another sportsperson has been helpful because they appreciate what it’s like to be a professional athlete.
“Mike understands the pressures and vice versa, which obviously helps,” she asserts.
He agrees that what they do for a living (although he’s now retired from playing rugby) has strengthened their relationship. “It’s a bit clichéd, but you understand each other, what your motivations are. I think that’s why we gel.”
In the interview, Mike – who was part of the England team that won the Rugby World Cup in 2003 – asks who is the better athlete. “I’ve got more medals,” says Zara, who has won golds at European and world-eventing events.
“Yeah, but they give participation medals out for you,” he laughs.
“Gold medals are not participation medals,” shoots back Zara.
“No, that’s true. I’ll give you those two… four… six. But I still think it’s harder to win a Rugby World Cup.”
“You’ve got 14 other people with you,” points out Zara with a smile. “And you’re not controlling an animal, which has a mind of its own.”
Okay with being the Mad Hatter? You betcha!
At the end, Mike thanks his wife for being so informative and says he’s learned many things about her. The half-hour interview has been the longest amount of time they’ve sat down and talked in nine years, says Zara.
“Yes, you’re normally a closed book – it’s a bit hard,” smiles Mike.
“It’s called children!” retorts his wife.
And they look at each other like a pair of smitten teenagers and break into laughter again.
A fairy-tale romance
As royal love stories go, Zara and Mike Tindall’s is pretty special. Here’s a look at their 20 years together.
June 2003
The couple’s paths first crossed during the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia, where Mike was playing for England and Zara was on a gap year. After being dropped from the team for the semi-final, Mike, then 25, headed to the Manly Wharf bar with two pals to drown his sorrows. Zara, 22, was in the bar and knew the men Mike was with.
“They introduced us and we got chatting from there,” Mike says. Later, one of his friends gave him Zara’s number and said, “She wants you to text her, to say where you’re all going out after the final so she can come along.”
First choice?! Zara at the World Cup.
Mike got in touch and they attended the same celebrations after the final, which was won by England. They later met up in the UK, where Mike, who played rugby for Bath, lived just 30 minutes from Zara. She’d recently moved home to mum Princess Anne’s Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire after the end of her four-year relationship with jockey Richard Johnson.
Their first date was over lunch. Recalls Mike, “It ended up being quite a boozy one. Then we figured out that we both quite like getting smashed. It was a good start.”
December 2003
News got out that the Queen’s eldest granddaughter was dating the rugby star when Zara took Mike as her plus-one to a ball. Onlookers said they appeared to get on like a house on fire and friends said the relationship was at an early stage.
A pal of Mike’s said, “They have become friends, but it’s too early to say whether they are an item.”
Mike gets the royals’ seal of approval.
April 2004
Zara and Mike finally confirmed they were a couple. After Mike met Zara’s parents, Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips, he told a journalist, “Zara’s mum is a legend and her father is lovely too.”
The rest of the royal family were very welcoming, he said. “I’ve always felt a part of their family and I think that’s down to what an amazing woman the Queen is. They’re a fantastic family.”
Having lived together in a property at Gatcombe Park, the couple relocated to a home of their own in Cheltenham. They renovated the four-storey, seven-bedroom villa before selling it in 2013, when they moved to Aston Farm on the Gatcombe Park estate. Asked how serious the relationship was, Mike said, “I don’t think it’s about whether we will get married, but when.”
December 2010
Mike finally asked Zara to be his wife. Seeing Zara’s cousin Prince William pop the question to his girlfriend Kate Middleton prompted him to “get on with it”.
Mike recalls, “I was upstairs plucking up the nerve to do it while Zara was downstairs watching TV. It was all about shock value. I wanted to catch her when it was quiet and she wasn’t expecting anything.”
He went down on one knee. “She was on the sofa, so that made it easier. She was completely in shock and when she stopped laughing, she said yes.”
July 2011
Zara and Mike said “I do” at Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh on July 13. Getting married in Scotland meant they could avoid a lot of the pomp and pageantry that marked Kate and William’s London wedding three months earlier.
Zara, then 30, looked stunning in an off-the-peg ivory silk gown by Stewart Parvin, a couturier favoured by her mother and the Queen.
January 2014
On January 17, Zara gave birth to her first child, daughter Mia Grace, at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital.
Two and a half years later, she announced her second pregnancy, but just a month later it tragically ended in miscarriage. She later said, “For me, the worst bit was that we
had to tell everyone. Everyone knew.”
Four months pregnant when she lost the baby, Zara revealed, “I had to go through having the baby because it was so far along.” She praised her “concerned” husband for his support. Zara also had another miscarriage, this one earlier in the pregnancy.
June 2018
Zara and Mike’s second daughter, Lena Elizabeth, was born on June 18. Zara had wanted to call her Elena “but I didn’t want her initials to be ET, so she’s Lena”.
March 2021
Baby number three, son Lucas Philip, made a dramatic entrance into the world on March 21. Zara didn’t have time to get to hospital and the baby was born on the bathroom floor, delivered by a midwife. Mike described Zara as “a warrior, as always”.
