The husband of Princess Anne’s daughter, Mike Tindall, once told a joke about Prince Harry on a TV sports quiz show, which almost landed him in “trouble” with the Royal Family.
Mike had appeared on ‘A Question of Sport’ and made a quip about being at an event with Prince Harry and pretending to throw a punch at the royal, in jest.
Relaying the story in a new book titled ‘The Good, the Bad & the Rugby – Unleashed’ which Mike Tindall pens alongside his podcast hosts, James Haskell and Alex Payne, James writes: “He [Mike] even got into a bit of trouble when he appeared on a live version of A Question of Sport: he told a story about him and Iain Balshaw pretending to punch Prince Harry at a post-World Cup final party in 2003 and joked that the royal family wanted to fill him in for real.
“I say trouble but it was a bit of a minor kerfuffle, nothing to write home about.”
However, podcast co-star James writes that the whole incident would have blown over if it wasn’t for Harry and Meghan Markle biographer Omid Scobie, who stuck up for the prince, causing a social media pile-on.
He writes: “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.”
The former England rugby player married the late monarch’s granddaughter in July 2011, and the pair now have three children together, Mia, Lena and Lucas. Together they live on Princess Anne’s Gatcombe Park Estate in Gloucestershire.
Although neither are working royals, the pair are known to be close to several members of the Firm, including the Prince and Princess of Wales, often attending the most high-profile royal events together, including Royal Ascot.
Mike also documents how got on very well with Queen Elizabeth II, and in the book, there is a chapter dedicated to royal life.
The former rugby star also divulges the royals all understood where he came from and says he was accepted “completely”.
He adds: “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.”
His account starkly contrasts Meghan Markle’s experience, who has previously expressed her struggles with becoming a Royal when she married Prince Harry in 2018. She criticised the Firm in her and Harry’s controversial Netflix documentary titled “Harry & Meghan’.
Former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond has since reminded royal observers that the Duchess of Sussex has admitted to keeping a tell-all journal during her time in the Royal Family.
Jennie said: “Obviously the journal she mentioned will remain a potential weapon in her back pocket if she ever feels the need to seek some sort of revenge. But she has behaved with discretion and dignity ever since Oprah and the documentary series.”
