Zara and Mike Tindall ‘don’t want a lot of things that come with position in the royal family’

Zara and Mike Tindall ‘don’t want a lot of things that come with position in the royal family’, a friend has revealed.

The former rugby union player, 41, and the equestrian, 39, live a relatively low-key life at Princess Anne’s Gatcombe Estate in Gloucester with their daughters Mia Grace, six, and Lena Elizabeth, two.

Matt Hampson, whose foundation for young people injured in sports is backed by Mike, said the couple are ‘simply friendly and approachable’, telling People magazine: ‘They don’t want a lot of the things that come with being in their position.’ 

And despite marrying into the royal family, Matt said Mike ‘hasn’t changed’, adding: ‘He is just the same old Mike. He is in the media spotlight and that has been thrust upon him. 

‘But he uses his profile and his association with Zara to the best of his ability. He wants to help organizations with a bit of a leg up.’

Meanwhile Roly Owers, CEO of World Horse Welfares, said Zara was ‘very driven’ and maintains a ‘great love’ of her horses and equestrian sport.

It was recently revealed that Zara’s cousin Princess Eugenie would follow in the footsteps of Zara and Prince Harry and wouldn’t accept a royal title for her baby if offered by the Queen because it is a ‘curse’ and she wants her child to have an ‘ordinary life’.

Speaking to Vanity Fair’s Katie Nicholl last month, the source revealed: ‘Eugenie knows that a title can be a curse as well as a blessing and she and Jack want their child to live an ordinary life and eventually work to earn a living.’ 

Matt Hampson, whose foundation for young people injured in sports is backed by Mike, said the royal couple are ‘simply friendly and approachable’ 

Meanwhile earlier this summer, Mike Tindall’s father said his daughter-in-law is ‘so pleased’ she wasn’t given an official title because she’s ‘been able to live her own life’. 

Despite being the Queen’s granddaughter, Zara was never given a HRH title after her father Mark Phillips declined Her Majesty’s offer of an earldom – meaning his and Princess Anne’s children subsequently held no title. 

Speaking to The Sunday Times, Philip Tindall, 73, told how the royal has always been ‘so pleased’ about the decision – adding that Zara and Mike, who wed in 2011, have a small circle of friends ‘they trust and rely on’.

He also admitted that despite their happy marriage, Mike’s maternal grandmother was ‘dead against’ the pair’s nuptials and thought they would be shunned because ‘in her day, royalty married royalty’. 

Matt’s comments come months after Mike Tindall’s father Philip said Zara is ‘so pleased’ she wasn’t given a title. Pictured: Mike with father Philip and mother Linda last year 

‘Zara always says she’s so pleased she wasn’t given a title because they’ve been able to live their own lives,’ said Philip.

He explained that the couple have a number of good friends they ‘can be sure of’ and ‘trust and rely on completely’.

Zara and Mike and their children live on Princess Anne’s Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire, with Mia’s school presumed to be close by.  

Gatcombe is located in the heart of the Cotswolds, and is just a few miles away from Highgrove, Prince Charles’ home in nearby Tetbury.

The Queen bought the Grade II-listed manor house for her only daughter and her then husband Captain Mark Phillips as a wedding present, and the couple moved in 1977 – and raised their two children, Peter and Zara, on the estate. 

Mia, pictured with father Mike last year,  has happily been back to school for months now, after the government gave the green light for Year One pupils to go back in June