Mike Tindall opens up about wife Zara’s first miscarriage after giving birth to her daughter Mia and says it’s a ‘terrible journey for mothers’ because they think ‘it’s their fault’

Mike Tindall has opened up about his wife Zara’s first miscarriage, saying: ‘It’s a horrible journey for mothers because they look at themselves like it’s their fault.’

The former England rugby international, 44, and his 42-year-old wife, the King’s niece, revealed in December 2016 that a pregnancy announced the previous month had ended in miscarriage. They had welcomed daughter Mia in 2014.

Two years later, in an interview with the Sunday Times, Zara discussed the devastation of losing the baby and revealed she had suffered a second miscarriage before becoming pregnant with daughter Lena, now five.

The couple, who married in 2011 and live on Princess Anne’s estate in Gatcombe Park in Gloucestershire, also share two-year-old son Lucas.

In an extensive interview with The timesMike revealed how suffering a miscarriage is ‘hard when you’re experiencing it for the first time and as late as it was – five months’, but that the ‘best thing’ for him and Zara was that it wasn’t their first child.

“So when you come home from the hospital and Mia is there with a smile on her face, you put all your love into her,” he explained. “If we had gone home to an empty house, it would have been a completely different scenario.”

He added: ‘We had to go out and tell everyone we had lost a baby… The life we ​​live means we had to announce it publicly. It’s a terrible journey for mothers; they look at themselves as if it’s their fault.’

Speaking about her experience to the Sunday Times in 2018, Zara said the hardest part of her first miscarriage was telling the world because news of the pregnancy had been made public.

Zara said: ‘In our case it was something that was very rare; it was nature saying, ‘This isn’t right.’ I had to go through the labor because it was already so far along.”

The equestrian champion, who was named Sports Personality of the Year in 2006, said her older brother Peter Phillips was very “protective” of her and “worried”, as was her husband Mike when she went through it again.

It is not clear when Zara’s miscarriage occurred, but it is believed to have happened between December 2016 and October 2017, when she became pregnant with Lena.

‘Everybody was. It was a time when my family came to the fore and I needed them,” she said. She added: “It’s hard for the boys, it’s a different feeling of loss, isn’t it?”

In his interview with The Times, Mike also discussed the reported link between multiple blows to the head from playing rugby and brain damage, saying that he “hasn’t had myself checked yet, but it’s on my list of things to do.” has to do’.

The former England rugby international, 44, and his 42-year-old wife (pictured with son Lucas in April 2022), the King’s niece, revealed in December 2016 that a pregnancy announced the previous month had ended in miscarriage . They had welcomed daughter Mia in 2014

In a lighter moment, the former I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here campmate opened up about his cousin, the Princess of Wales.

He revealed how Kate, 41, is ‘very competitive’ but has yet to win at beer pong against the sportsman.

It comes after Mike spoke about playing beer pong with the royal family in a special Rugby World Cup edition of the former England international’s podcast: The Good, the Bad and the Rugby.

The 50-minute episode saw the Prince and Princess of Wales and Anne, the Princess Royal – who are patrons of Welsh, English and Scottish rugby respectively – speaking to Mike and co-presenters James Haskell and Alex Payne in the green drawing room at Windsor Castle.

The recording, which was filmed last month and released shortly afterwards, revealed some of the royal family’s sporting secrets.

Two years later, Zara (pictured with Mia in 2019) discussed the devastation of losing the baby in an interview with the Sunday Times and revealed she had suffered a second miscarriage before becoming pregnant with daughter Lena, now five.

Mike seemed to show a more playful side of the Princess of Wales as he revealed her competitive nature. He told his viewers, “I saw her play beer pong!”

In the parlor game, players must throw or hit table tennis balls into cups of beer, and their opponents must drink the contents of each cup in which a ball lands.

Elsewhere, English legend Haskell asked Kate and William if they look like ‘Monica and Chandler’ from ’90s sitcom Friends as he discussed their competitive rivalry.

Kate joked unconvincingly: ‘I’m really not that competitive. I don’t know where this comes from’.

She then admitted, “I don’t think the two of us managed to finish a game of tennis. It will be a mental challenge between the two of us.” William said: ‘It’s about who can (mentally surpass) each other.’