Mike Tindall once made a brutal joke about Prince Harry that left him in the hot seat, it has now been revealed.
Former England rugby player Mike, who is married to Harry’s cousin Zara Tindall, released a new book last week with his podcast co-hosts James Haskell and Alex Payne called ‘The Good, the Bad & the Rugby – Unleashed’.
In the book, which has a whole chapter dedicated to the Royal Family from Mike’s perspective, James mentions a time when Mike, 46, made a dig at the prince when he was no longer a member of the Royal Family.
According to The Mirror, James wrote: “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. 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.”
Mike, who married into the Royal Family in 2011, shared a close relationship with Prince Harry for years, with the pair often spotted messing around together at events.
The former rugby player has not currently signified whether he is still friends with the duke, who has fractured relationships with some members of the Royal Family after the release of his memoir Spare, including with his brother Prince William.
When talking about the Royal Family in the book, Mike did share how he felt it was “easy” to join them, a direct contrast to what had been said previously by Harry’s wife Meghan Markle, 43, especially in the bombshell 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview and the Netflix docuseries Harry and Meghan.
Mike wrote: “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.”
It has also been reported that Mike has also filled in some “roles” that Prince Harry, 40, left when he departed from the Royal Family, including that of “fun uncle”.
Body language expert Judi James told Fabulous magazine: “George’s original ‘fun uncle’ and adult playmate did that infamous bolt to the US, leaving a huge Harry-shaped gap in the young boy’s life that Mike has more than filled.
“Mike is the fun uncle everyone needs, but in the case of Prince George, whose destiny is all about duty and responsible behaviour, Mike’s presence in his life is completely invaluable.”
