As Mike Tindall celebrates his birthday today, learn more about the husband of Zara Tindall and son-in-law to the Princes Royal.
- Michael James Tindall was born on 18 October 1978 in Otley, West Yorkshire to Philip Tindall and Linda Shepherd. His father was a banker for Barclays Bank, and his mother was a social worker.
- Mike Tindall was privately educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Wakefield, Yorkshire where he began playing rugby.
- He left school at 18 and joined Bath Rugby team, where he first represented England in a match against Ireland in 2000.
- Tindall was made an MBE by his future grandmother-in-law in 2007.
- Mike Tindall met Zara Phillips – who is the daughter of Princess Anne and eldest granddaughter of The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh – at the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia. The couple married at Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland, on July 30, 2011, in front of 400 guests.
- The couple share two daughters, Mia Grace (b. 2014) and Lena Elizabeth (b. 2018). Mia was born at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, and Lena was born at Stroud Maternity Hospital. In between the births of their two children, the couple suffered two tragic miscarriages.
- He has broken his nose eight times. After Mike quit rugby in 2014, he underwent surgery and had his nose permanently straightened.
- Every year since 2013, Mike has hosted an event called ISPS HANDA Mike Tindall Celebrity Golf Classic, where several celebrities come together to raise money and awareness for disability groups and in aid of curing Parkinson’s disease.
- Following a memorable trip to Accra, Ghana, in October 2015 on behalf of Right To Play, Tindall was announced as an Athlete Ambassador for Right To Play UK. The charity uses play to educate and empower young people to overcome the effects of poverty and conflict in disadvantaged areas.
- Zara and Mike live on the Gatcombe Park Estate in Gloucestershire with their two daughters. Zara’s mother, the Princess Royal, also lives on the estate with her second husband Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence. Gatcombe Park was originally bought by The Queen as a wedding gift for Princess Anne when she married her first husband Captain Mark Phillips on November 14, 1973.
