Zara Tindall faced a wardrobe malfunction during her grandmother’s funeral as she reveals the moment she was desperate for her cousin Prince Harry to step in as thousands watched on
She’s an Olympic silver medallist, royal equestrian and mum-of-three – but even Zara Tindall isn’t immune to a wardrobe disaster during some of the most important moments.
As the late Queen lay in state at Westminster Hall, Zara, 44 on Thursday, was among the royal grandchildren who stood vigil by the coffin. Dressed in full mourning, she moved with the grace expected of a royal. But as she stepped solemnly up the stone steps, disaster struck – her shoe slipped off.
“Did you see my shoe fell off? The heels I was wearing for the vigil?” she asked guests at a charity dinner this week. “We were walking out, up the steps and I had tights on and my shoes were a little bit big. We were all walking up the steps and my shoe came off. William was in front of me and my brother was beside me.
READ MORE: Zara Tindall behind closed doors – Queen’s funeral blunder, Mike secret and sad regret
Faced with the dilemma of leaving it behind or causing a scene, Zara did what any quick-thinking royal would – she briefly considered recruiting Prince Harry to retrieve it.
“I went up the next step and I was like ‘Shall I pick it up…or shall I leave Harry to pick it up?’ So yeah, basically, I picked it up quick and I walked in. William came around the corner and said ‘What are you doing?’ I was like ‘I have lost my shoe!'”
The moment was one of several confessions from Zara, daughter of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips, as she spoke at the £210-a-head Sporting Club dinner in London.
Zara, daughter of Princess Anne, also spoke about King Charles’s Coronation last May. She admitted: “I did not see it actually, where I was sat. He was around the corner. I could not see.”
Zara also joked about forgetting who gave her an MBE back in 2007. “Was it Granny? I think it was. I can’t remember. Please don’t tell anyone I just said that… I will kill you!”
Zara is set to celebrate her 44th birthday on Thursday alongside her husband Mike Tindall and their three children Mia, 11, Lena, six, and Lucas, four.
Zara met former rugby star Mike in Sydney in 2003. At first, she found him “a bit boring,” but a few drinks changed all that. “He messaged me the whole time like ‘Come for a drink.’ I was actually hanging out with the All Blacks at the time!”
The couple married in 2011, with their children becoming more like their mother than ever before.
“There is never a dull moment,” she said. “Obviously my personality is coming out in the children and there are some (characteristics) that you love and some that you don’t like.”
She and Mike now keep their medals in a bar at home – hung proudly above the booze. “I’ve got more medals than him,” she grinned.
READ MORE: Kylie Minogue’s ‘favourite’ perfume is on sale for £13 and smells like a £245 designer scent
