Mike Tindall has joked that he knew Prince Harry “when he was fun”, as he made several quips about his connections to the Royal Family at an event in Powys.
The former England rugby union player made the comments while discussing his 2011 marriage to Princess Anne’s daughter Zara Phillips.
He was speaking at a live event at Hay Festival alongside James Haskell and Alex Payne, his co-hosts on The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast.
While joking that Mr Haskell had not embarrassed himself at the event, he said: “A lot of other people managed that way better than you – [like] Harry, when he was fun,” The Telegraph reported.
The Duke of Sussex is godfather to Mr Tindall’s second daughter Lena.
Mr Tindall also poked fun at Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor after Mr Payne said he was well-connected because “he’s got his own bedroom at Buckingham Palace”.
Mr Tindall responded, saying it was “opposite end to Andrew, though”.
He added that he had been told to refrain from discussing the disgraced former prince. “Backstage, they were like, ‘It’s being recorded, maybe stay away from [the subject of] Andrew tonight?’”
In another quip about the Royal Family, the former rugby player said taxpayers’ money had funded his corrective rhinoplasty surgery for his broken nose in 2018. “It’s got the royal warrant if you look inside it,” he said.
Mr Payne said Mr Tindall’s royal connections could help bring attention to Richmond Rugby Club, where they have filmed a pilot for a TV series.
He added: “We’ve got some amazing ideas – Amazon Prime are interested – if we can get it going. The Rolling Stones used to practise when they were 16 years old in the Richmond club house, and one of my ambitions is to get Mick Jagger back, because he lives in Richmond, to do a big gig at Richmond Athletic Ground, raise money and get the club back on the map.
“Tin[dall]’s obviously got good connections… we could have Catherine meeting the team, the Princess of Wales. These are all massive pipe dreams.”
