Queen Elizabeth’s Grandson-in-Law Reveals How the Family Dealt With the Monarch’s Death Behind-the-Scenes
Following Queen Elizabeth II’s death, the world watched as the royal family mourned the loss of its matriarch publicly. Some showed subtle emotion at times while others remained stoic, but no one knew just how the queen’s loved ones were really coping behind the scenes.
Now, one family member has revealed how everyone has been doing since the late monarch’s death and says he has personal regrets.
Mike Tindall met Queen Elizabeth years before he married her granddaughter
Mike Tindall is married to Princess Anne‘s daughter, Zara. But he actually met Queen Elizabeth long before he met her granddaughter.
Mike is a former Rugby player who hosts a podcast with another former player James Haskell and TV host Alex Payne. Mike paid tribute to his late grandmother-in-law during an episode of The Good, The Bad & The Rugby and told his co-hosts how he met the queen years before Zara.
“I first met her in 1992 when I was at school, because I was at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, and it was our 400 [year] anniversary so she came to the school,” he recalled. “I was in a science class when she came in. We got to say hello to her then.”
Mike and Zara began dating in 2003 after meeting at a bar. They tied the knot in 2011.
Mike reveals how the family has been coping behind the scenes
Mike also opened up during the podcast about how the family really came together following the queen’s death.
“It’s been sad, emotional but happy. In some ways amazing. To see the family come so close together overnight,” he explained. “You never predict it. A 96-year-old lady, you know it’s going to happen but you’re never ready for when it does.”
“Watching what Zara had to go through, obviously she loved the queen beyond everything else. Their connection with horses, they had a real bond around that,” Mike said before adding, “It’s like the world has lost its grandmother in some way.”
The queen’s grandson-in-law said he has ‘loads of regrets’ now
Mike’s co-hosts asked him if he realized how lucky he had been to have spent time with the queen and know her in a way most people never will, to which he replied: “I do. But I also have loads of regrets. Loads of regrets about not asking her so many more things. Having nervousness when you sit down to talk … that lucky seat and being sat next to her.”
Mike became emotional during the tribute episode and reflected on the public’s reaction in the days leading up to Queen Elizabeth’s state funeral.
He said: “Even though being in London a couple days through the week prior, what happened in Green Park, what they did with the flowers, and being lucky enough to go to Windsor and seeing all the flowers being put up the Long Mile. And had friends who were in the Long Walk sending me messages, sending me photos, that’s sort of where you gauge the importance.”
