Mike Tindall seems to have become an integral part of the Royal Family since marrying Princess Anne's daughter, Zara Tindall, on July 30, 2011. However, Princess Anne reportedly made a somewhat unexpected request ahead of Mike's wedding to Zara.
Prior to marrying a royal, Mike was a celebrated rugby player, who played internationally for the England team for 12 years. Known to be a dangerous sport, Mike broke his nose on numerous occasions throughout his rugby career, and he had previously broken it as a child, too.
During a 2011 appearance on TV show A League of Their Own, Mike revealed (via the Daily Mail), "Princess Anne asked me if I'd have the surgery." According to the rugby player, the Princess Royal even offered to pay for Mike to have a rhinoplasty ahead of his wedding. However, the decorated sportsperson declined his mother-in-law's suggestion, believing his nose would likely get broken again the very same year.
Expanding on his comments, Mike told the Radio Times in November 2011 (via the Daily Mail), "It was a light-hearted, jokey comment...It wasn't a big deal, and look at my nose—can you blame her?"
Eventually, it was necessary for Mike to undergo a rhinoplasty, but rather than being for aesthetic purposes, the former rugby player started finding it difficult to breathe. "My actual words to the surgeon were, 'I just want you to clear my airways and the less you straighten it the better,'" he shared with the Daily Telegraph in 2018. He continued, "I loved my nose...I didn't really want to change it but it got to the point where I couldn't breathe properly." Mike explained, "I couldn't smell properly, my sinuses were blocked, I was getting so many headaches and it was affecting my sleep."
