Mike Tindall has spoken publicly for the first time since he and wife Zara Tindall attended the Queen’s funeral, voicing his grief at her sudden death.
Though the monarch, who was Mike’s grandmother-in-law through Zara, was 96 when she died, the former rugby star said the royals weren’t truly ready for her passing.
“You never predict it. A 96-year-old lady, you know, at some point it’s going to happen but you’re never ready for when it does,” he confessed on his The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast.
The Queen was Mike’s grandmother-in-law through Zara. (Image: Getty)
“And I’m not even a direct family member in terms of blood, but watching what my wife, Zara, had to go through, obviously she loved the Queen beyond everything else.”
Zara is the only daughter of Princess Anne, who was in turn the Queen’s only daughter and the three women were understood to have shared an incredibly close bond.
“Their connection with horses, same with the Princess Royal, they had a real bond around that,” Mike said.
He said that while her death was incredibly sad, the immediate royal family have been “emotional but happy” as they lean on one another for support.
Zara and the Queen were understood to have shared an incredibly close bond. (Image: Getty)
“In some ways, amazing to see the family come so close together overnight,” Mike added.
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex joined the extended royal family for only the second time in two years as they mourned the Queen.
It also “blew [Mike] away” when 180 world leaders travelled to London to pay their respects at the Queen’s funeral on September 19, including New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
“None of them made a fuss. For the first time ever, a US president wasn’t making it about him … he slips into the background and does whatever he is told to do,” Mike joked of US President Joe Biden.
WATCH: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrives with the royal family at the Queen’s funeral
“And I think that is just a mark of who she [the Queen] was and the power she commanded without really asking for it,” Mike continued.
“She didn’t need it, it was a weight she just carried, naturally, what she was as a person – no fuss, get on with it. It’s like the world has lost its grandmother in some way.”
He and Zara attended the Queen’s funeral with their daughters Mia, eight, and Lena, four, choosing to leave one-year-old son Lucas at home.
