The Drama Surrounding Mike Tindall's Past Comments On Prince Harry, Explained

Mike Tindall may or may not once have suggested that the royal family was looking to replace Prince Harry, and unsurprisingly, it left the Duke of Sussex's friend and unofficial biographer, Omid Scobie, quite angry. For those not well-versed in the identities of extended members of the British royal family, Mike is the husband of Zara Tindall, Princess Anne's daughter. Neither of them are working royals, but that hasn't spared the Tindalls from any of the royal drama. In "The Good, the Bad & the Rugby — Unleashed," which Mike co-authored with his titular podcast's co-hosts Alex Payne and James Haskell, the latter stirred up a bit of controversy when he recounted the time Mike ruffled some feathers after he made a joke during a live interview with "A Question of Sport." 

The former rugby player was asked about a good-natured kerfuffle that took place between him and Harry at a party back in 2003, when Mike pretended to punch the prince. It was during this fateful interview that Mike made the mistake of quipping that "the royal family wanted to fill him [Harry] in for real," as Haskell recalled in the book. The joke did not go over well, given Harry and his wife Meghan Markle's abrupt exit from the U.K, and Scobie, ever ready to defend the royal defectors, quickly took to social media to condemn the former athlete, causing a media storm — and not for the first time either. 

The author previously called out Mike and Zara for "cashing in on royal status," with no repercussions, while the Sussexes were widely condemned for doing the same (via Express). There have also previously been rumors that Mike called Harry a "ba*****" (per Sky News) while criticizing his treatment of King Charles III and his brother, Prince William, at Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee in 2022.

Some may see Mike Tindall's book release date as suspicious, given that it hit shelves on the same day as the paperback reissue of Prince Harry's controversial memoir, "Spare," in the U.K. The two men therefore vied for royal pundits' attention, but if this were a race, Tindall was the one more likely to cross the finish line first. His book, understandably, largely focuses on life outside the palace walls, but the former rugby player does give readers a peek at what the royals are like behind the scenes, and lo and behold, he's of the opinion that it's not that hard to please them after all. This stands in stark contrast with Meghan Markle's account of what her time as a member of The Firm was really like. 

"Believe it or not, marrying into the royal family was pretty easy for me. They were always nice to me, and I was always nice to them. Simple really," Tindall claimed in "The Good, the Bad & the Rugby — Unleashed." Meghan, on the other hand, has spoken openly about having a hard time adjusting to royal life and even accused the royal family of racism during an explosive interview with her husband and Oprah Winfrey. Likewise, in their Netflix docuseries, "Harry & Meghan," the Duchess of Sussex posited that her in-laws weren't exactly the warmest people. "I started to understand that the formality on the outside carried through on the inside," Meghan admitted. 

And yet, Tindall seemed to refute this idea when he described royal family gatherings in his book as informal and not unlike what you'd see in any normal household. "I'm sometimes asked if the queen did informality like 'normal' people, and the answer to that is yes. Her life wasn't like an episode of 'Downton Abbey,'" he sweetly reminisced.