Mike Tindall has sent a defiant message to critics who claim he is “degrading” the royal family with his media career and television appearances.
The former England rugby player joined the company 13 years ago when he married Princess Anne’s daughter Zara (who is also the late Queen’s granddaughter). Both Zara and Mike are non-working members of the royal family.
They do not carry out any official duties on behalf of King Charles. Instead, they can earn money as they like. Mike is a co-host of a popular rugby podcast and an ambassador for several brands, and has also appeared on ITV’s hit show I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here to discuss his royal relatives.
When it was announced he would be appearing on the show, some criticised him for using his connections, but he addresses the critics in his latest book, The Good, The Bad & The Rugby – Unleashed, written with his podcast co-hosts Alex Payne and James Haskell.
He said: “Some people may consider some of my actions, such as my appearance on I’m A Celebrity in 2022, to be disparaging to the royal family, but I have not taken this decision lightly. They had been asking me to do this for years and ultimately they made me an offer I couldn’t refuse so I gave in.
“The money from I’m a Celebrity helped fill the hole created by Covid-19, among other things. “I wasn’t interested in the ‘challenge’ of being in the jungle or the fame – it was purely financial.”
Elsewhere in the book, Mike speaks openly about money, denying claims he’s worth £25 million. worth and praising the hard work of royal relatives such as the King, the Prince and Princess of Wales and his mother-in-law Princess Anne.
He explains: “But a peek behind the scenes revealed there was much more to it than that. Working as a member of the royal family takes up all your time and leaves you with absolutely no time or space for yourself. Because we sit outside the working royal family, we can do things our own way and it’s better for us.
“It can be frustrating when you know the truth and others are not at all interested, but you have to accept it. In fact, this is one of the royal mottos: ‘never explain, never complain.’
Elsewhere in the book, Mike talks about what the late Queen was really like and the “drama” that surrounded the Royal Family. The new book has an entire chapter dedicated to the Royal Family, in which Mike tries to set the record straight about what life was like as part of the company and what he experienced when he spent time with the late Queen.
He writes: Her life was not like an episode of Downton Abbey, meals were taken at long tables and everyone sat down in their best clothes every evening. Zara and I used to watch the horse races on TV with her, just as many of you reading this used to watch them with your grandmothers. In Scotland especially, people often went out to the open spaces in the Scottish Highlands for picnic lunches and lunches were also relaxed.
“There is a wonderful photograph of my daughter Mia sitting with the Duke of Edinburgh and this captures exactly what it was like that afternoon. They were a very close-knit family, they loved each other very much and they spent precious time together. Yes, there is a lot of drama surrounding the royal family, but at its core they’re not all that different from any other royal family.”