Former rugby star, Mike Tindall, has opened up on what it was like to take part in the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. In the podcast - The Good, The Bad & The Rugby, which Tindall stars in alongside former England teammate James Haskell and sport presenter Alex Payne, he shared his experience of the royal weekend.
During this week's episode, Mike - who is married to Zara Tindall, daughter of Princess Anne, spoke about the Royal Family's desire to flee the pageant "as quickly as possible" due to how busy it was in London that day. He also mentioned that he spoke to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and that the kids had been on a "sugar-high" during the event.
Read more: Zara and Mike Tindall's stunning 700-acre Gloucestershire estate shared with other Royals
When asked what he had been up to for the royal event, Mike said: "We had a good cousin’s lunch on Thursday - that was the highlight. But outside of that, I think the concert was very, very cool. Going to the Derby for the first time ever was a unique experience that I enjoyed. Who knew that wearing your missus’ hats would actually be a thing? And became a thing and boosted a following, which was so random.
"I think you just get wrapped up in seeing the amount of people, you know, I don’t know how it looked on TV or whether you sort of got a sense for it, but obviously down The Mall you can sort of see it. But everywhere around, going through London and trying to get anywhere, was just chaotic to say the least but in a good way, in a happy way. I think that’s the biggest thing that I’ll take away from it.
"Very similar to even in 2012 - with the Olympics, when the British get behind something and they want it, everything sort of becomes easy. Normally, it’s quite hard to get people to do something. Whereas when people want to celebrate and have fun, it’s really easy to do. Everyone’s nice, everyone’s looking forward, everyone is jolly. So there was a lot of that going round, which was really nice to be very closely involved in." You can get more news and other story updates by subscribing to our newsletters here.
On Sunday, June 5, the royals came out in full force for the pageant, which was hosted to conclude the festivities that had taken place over the weekend to celebrate the Queen's 70 years on the throne. Many royal fans were delighted and even surprised to see the Queen had made an appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony during the event.
Guests from all parts of the UK joined the family for the final celebration, including the likes of Labour leader Keir Stammer and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was sat right next to Mike.
When speaking of the experience, he said: "It was interesting. I was talking about the ability to firefight with Boris Johnson. It sounds like he’ll be having another one at the end of the day, isn’t he? There are so many questions you want to ask, but it’s not really the right time to do it. It was just basic pleasantries. He asked a bit about rugby. He thought we won in ‘99, but he was alright." Harry was 'absolutely furious' about his treatment during the jubilee, says an expert - read the full story here.
Later on in the podcast episode, he mentioned that the children had experienced a "sugar high" during the event and agreed that they were the "stars of the show". He said: "Louis was just wanting to have fun and my children are always mischievous so it’s like trying to keep a lid on. There was a lot of sweets out back, so they were sugar-high. They are all young, sitting there 2-5pm or whatever, it’s a long time.
When asked by host Alex Payne if the family had a debrief following the event, Mike answered: "After the pageant, it was basically trying to get out as quickly as you can. After the concert, there was a bit more - we were all chatting together and we went in and had a drink with everyone after. But not really after the pageant, but I think everyone was pretty happy. I think the committee that put it together did an incredible job."
