Usually funny and relaxed, Mike Tindall was much more serious in the new episode of his podcast, unveiled this Tuesday, September 27. Moved, and even visibly very sad, the former British rugby player had indeed decided to devote the interview to the event that marked his country in recent weeks, the death of Queen Elizabeth II. A subject that is all the more important for him since he has been part of the royal family for more than ten years now and has experienced the events from the inside.
Married with Zara Phillipsthe Sovereign’s eldest granddaughterin 2011, the former athlete indeed attended the “gathering” from the whole family at Balmoral, as soon as the death is announced. “It was sad, moving, but ultimately joyful, in a way“, he first recounted. “Especially to see the family so close, together during the evening“.
It must be said that everyone had quickly reached Scotland on Friday September 9: in addition to Mike and Zara Tindall, the discreet Peter Phillips had quickly arrived to join his mother, Princess Anne, just like the two sisters Eugenie and Béatrice, and young Louise and James from Wessex, only 18 and 14 years old. All then made a public outing to the nearby chapel, where they were particularly moved in front of the many messages of homage to their grandmother. Zara, in particular, had burst into tears.
A trip that Mike had not made, probably staying at the castle with their three children (Mia, 8 years old, Lena, 4 years old and Lucas, 1 year old), which did not prevent him from being upset to see his wife in such a state. “Seeing Zara being forced to overcome this ordeal was very difficult. Clearly, she loved the queen more than anyone else. Thanks to their connection around horses, they had a real bond around it“, he says in his podcast.
The family, above all, had not seen the death of the matriarch of the clan arrive: “You cannot predict it. 96 year old woman of course you know what’s going to happen but you’re never ready when it happens“.