The Prince and Princess of Wales share a very special bond with Zara and Mike Tindall, and they often take their children for days out at the polo or on countryside walks together.
Mike, who is celebrating his 44th birthday today, has frequently spoken his relationship with his wife's cousin, William, and Kate on his podcast The Good, The Bad and The Rugby. He's revealed they're all in a WhatsApp group, admitted he wanted to mock Kate on her rugby skills and discussed Prince George and Mia Tindall's shared interest in the sport. He also recently addressed the special bond he shared with his late grandmother-in-law, The Queen, and the regrets he now harbours.
Mike's clear bond and openness with the family has made him a big hit with royal experts and fans on social media.
While Mike has shared some brilliant stories about life in the royal family over the years, one of the best came after The Princess of Wales made her debut at Twickenham Stadium as the new patron of the Rugby Football Union.
Kate looked to be having the time of her life as she showed off her skills, catching the ball from a lineout to cheers from her teammates.
And while ex-England rugby pro Mike has said that he hoped she wouldn't be very good so that he could joke about it in the family Whatsapp group, he was forced to admit that she made the sport look "effortless".
Mike said on the podcast: "I text Ellis [Genge] (Leicester Tigers) and said ‘mate, please tell me anything she messed up on’ so I could sort of, family WhatsApp group, get into her.
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“And he said ‘No she was actually pretty good, and she was really good at kicking’ and I was like…”
Mike then gave a huge sigh and quipped: "But she has this competitive nature where she has to be good at things.” Co-presenter Alex Payne then agreed, saying: “She looked unbelievably natural.”
He then added: "Just imagine, anyone who’s ever tried it, getting thrown up in the line-out if you’ve never done it before is not easy because normally, you’ll kick the prop in either the nuts or the face as he’s lifting you and she just looked effortless.”
Mike also spoke about his eldest daughter Mia's interest in rugby, a passion she shares with her second cousin Prince George. He said: "It's always hard to get Mia to go, she's like 'I don't like it' and then you get there, and she's off.
"Mia scored a couple... it was an eight-all thriller in the first game and then a nine-all thriller in the second.
"It's funny how much she's changed over the last, sort of, this year, since they've been back, figuring out how to avoid people because before they'd just all be really bunched in. Now they're getting more, where they run across but then they're all stepping back, and people are just falling around."
But Mia isn't the only young royal to love rugby as The Princess of Wales previously spoke about Prince George and Prince Louis' enjoyment of the sport.
During her appearance at Twickenham, Kate said: “Now that there is a move towards co-ed sport, so it’s not just girls playing netball, but other sports like rugby, which is great. They’re all enjoying it, Louis is kamikaze, we’re worrying about when he gets older, he’ll be in the middle of everything.”
George also joked with a group of officials when he went with his parents to watch England play Wales at the stadium earlier this year. Kate asked her son to tell the group about how he had started playing rugby at his school. "He has all the kit," she said.
George spoke about how he has just started learning how to tackle, before turning to his mother: "But I haven't tackled you yet!" Kate laughed and said: "Yes, you have!"
Mike dedicated a special episode of his podcast to the late Queen and revealed the regrets he harboured now she has passed away.
Speaking to his co-hosts, Mike revealed: "I first met her in 1992 when I was at school, because I was at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, and it was our 400 [year] anniversary so she came to the school. I was in a science class when she came in. We got to say hello to her then."
Mike was asked if he now realised how lucky he had been to be able to spend one-on-one time with The Queen, to which he replied: "I do. But I also have loads of regrets. Loads of regrets about not asking her so many more things. Having nervousness when you sit down to talk… that lucky seat and being sat next to her."
