Mike Tindall revealed he enjoyed a
meal on the Queen‘s former yacht ahead of watching
one of the first matches of the Guinness Six Nations. And the royal floating
palace also holds happy memories for the former rugby star, 43, and his wife of
ten years, Zara.
Speaking on his podcast, The Good, The Bad & The Rugby this week, Mike said it
was “thrilling at Murrayfield” as he watched Scotland vs England on
Saturday. He added: “I loved it… A little quiet dinner on the Royal
Yacht Britannia on Friday night. It was lovely, it was nice to be back.”
When quizzed by his co-hosts Alex Payne and James Haskell what he ate
and drank on the yacht, the father-of-three replied: “A nice little
bit of red, a bit of champagne as we had a little tour around.”
It’s not known if Mike was joined by his mother-in-law, Princess Royal, for the dinner as she was also pictured in the
stands with her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, at Saturday’s rugby
match. Princess Anne has been the patron of the Scottish Rugby Union since June
1986.
The Queen famously shed a tear when she attended the decommissioning of
the Royal Yacht Britannia during a ceremony in Portsmouth in 1997. Overcome
with emotion, she was seen wiping her eyes as her beloved yacht was taken out
of service after 22 years.
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The Queen famously shed a tear when the yacht was decommissioned
Her Majesty had a deep personal affection for the vessel, which she had
herself launched in April 1953. It carried the monarch and her family on a
number of occasions, on both official and private family voyages.
Prince Charles and Princess Anne
spent time on the yacht in Malta when they were reunited with the Queen and
the Duke of Edinburgh at the end of their
Commonwealth Tour in 1954. Charles and Princess Diana also took their honeymoon cruise on the
Britannia in 1981.
It also played host to a pre-wedding party for Mike and Zara ahead of
their nuptials in July 2011.
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The Royal Yacht Britannia was decommissioned in 1997
The Royal Yacht Britannia is now a visitor attraction moored in the
historic Port of Leith in Edinburgh, Scotland. The clocks onboard are stopped
at 3:01, the time that the Queen last disembarked the vessel.
Mike also gave his verdict on the Duchess of Cambridge‘s sporting skills as she was made patron
of two rugby patronages last week.
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Zara and Mike leave their pre-wedding party on the Royal Yacht Britannia
The sportsman said of his cousin-in-law’s performance at Twickenham
Stadium on this week’s podcast episode: “I text Ellis [Genge] and
said, ‘Mate, please tell me anything she messed up on’ so I could sort of…
family WhatsApp group, get to her, and he said, ‘No she was actually pretty
good, and she was really good at kicking,’ and I was like [sighs]. But she has
this competitive nature.”
He added of Kate: “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.”
