It comes as no surprise to me that Zara and Mike Tindall go down well in sporting mad .
They’re honest, funny and candid, as I saw at first hand when I interviewed Zara at her Gatcombe Park home for an Aussie TV channel.
Yes, she was working – promoting Magic Millions which is the paid gig she does Down Under every year – but she couldn’t have been more friendly and professional.
Zara has always been open, which is why people seem to see her as relatable pretty much everywhere she goes.
She’s got the likeability X-factor.
Mike and Zara Tindall get to grips with life at Byron Bay,
The Tindalls have been making a splash on their n holiday
Robert interviews Zara at her Gatcombe Park home in Gloucestershire
Zara high fives with spectators and horse fans. She is an ambassador for the Magic Millions horse festival, which features races and bloodstock sales
The Tindalls have genuine affection for – and ns love them for it
People warm to Zara, like they do to her mother, Princess Anne, because she’s hard-working and authentic.
Her achievements speak for themselves. She is a bone fide Olympian, a member of the Team GB equestrian team.
Mike, a hulking centre, was at the heart of the England rugby side which won the world cup in 2003 – in , beating the ns.
There is a ‘what you see, is what there is’ self-confidence about them as a couple.
Mike is a man happy to admit he once split his trousers dancing with the Princess Royal, his mother-in-law.
He’s got the confidence and humour to tease the Prince of Wales as ‘One-pint Willy’ for his lack of drinking prowess.
Mike and Zara are tactile, unafraid to show affection, offering beaming smiles to the cameras.
Mike and Zara pose for a photo on the grid during the F1 Grand Prix of Monaco
The Tindalls seem happy to be affectionate in public – as at the Cheltenham Festival last year
‘Uncle Mike’ casually flung his arm around Prince George outside church at Sandringham on Christmas Day – a warmth appreciated in
Zara pictured with Prince Harry and Meghan during Platinum Jubilee celebrations for the late Queen Elizabeth II in June 2022
The couple in attendance at Day 3 of last year’s Royal Ascot
Millions of TV viewers will remember them dancing carefree and happy to Lionel Richie and Take That at the Coronation concert.
Needless to say, they are gracious to their hosts, regularly praising ’s outdoor lifestyle.
So it’s no wonder the Aussies like them – or that Sydney-based commentator Angela Mollard wrote in yesterday’s that the Tindalls’ approach could kill Republicanism stone dead.
All this while making their own money – without being a burden to the taxpayer.
Perhaps this was what The Princess Royal and her then husband Captain Mark Phillips had in mind when they decided not to give their children Zara and Peter HRH monikers or fancy titles.
They felt the kids would have an easier childhood without them. It worked.
Mike and Zara have done well commercially, too, making millions between them.
They are not Down Under just for the sun, after all.
They are there because Zara is sponsored by the Magic Millions thoroughbred auction house, which runs a festival of horse sales and racing on the Gold Coast.
Mike has business ventures of his own, including a well-received podcast with fellow ex-international James Haskell, the Good, the Bad & the Rugby.
It’s been suggested that the Tindall’s earning power could have even greater potential than that of Zara’s cousin Harry and wife Meghan in Montecito.
One analyst, Giles Kenningham from Trafalgar Strategy, said yesterday that the Tindalls are now the ‘premier royal couple’ when it comes to commercial deals as the Harry and Meghan brand has become tarnished.
It would be daft to write the Sussexes off just yet.
But we can be clear about this: unencumbered by royal titles or regal airs, Zara and Mike Tindall have made a huge success all round.
And unlike the Sussexes, they’ve achieved it without disclosing family secrets or attacking the Monarchy.