Mike Tindall's podcast co-host has spilled the beans on how the former England rugby star deals with the spotlight due to his royal ties, revealing he 'simply doesn't care'. Married to Zara Tindall, Princess Anne's daughter and King Charles' niece, Mike has been in the public eye more than ever since releasing a book titled The Good, the Bad and the Rugby - Unleashed with co-hosts James Haskell and Alex Payne.
The book delves into Mike's royal connections, where James recounts an episode where Mike humorously remarked about wanting to punch Prince Harry at a 2003 rugby World Cup party, suggesting the "Royal Family wanted to fill him in for real". This joke resurfaced and caused a stir online after Harry and Meghan Markle's friend, biographer Omid Scobie, brought it back into the limelight.
In the book, which hits shelves today, James comments on the backlash: "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."
"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."
In another part of the book, Mike shares his personal experiences with the late Queen and addresses the 'drama' surrounding the Royal Family. The ex-England rugby star, who married Zara, the late monarch's granddaughter, 13 years ago and has three children with her, is not a working royal but is known to be close to several members of the Firm, including the Prince and Princess of Wales.
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They are often seen at most high-profile royal events. In his new book, there's an entire chapter dedicated to royalty where Mike tries to debunk myths about life as part of the Firm and shares his experiences with the late Queen.
He writes: "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."
Mike from Yorkshire also shares how he was fully accepted by the royals and says, "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."
