Who could blame the King if he really did want to make Zara Tindall a Princess? After all, thanks to a combination of illness (the King and the Princess of Wales) and disgrace (Prince Andrew), the Royal Family has never needed reinforcements quite so badly.
Only last Sunday, Zara’s mother Princess Anne joined the growing ranks of the incapacitated after being admitted to hospital with concussion and minor head wounds after apparently being struck by a horse. Naturally, Zara was one of the first to speed to her bedside at Southmead hospital in Bristol.
So it is tempting to believe reports earlier this month that Charles wanted to give his 43-year-old niece a title and, with it, a significant new role in the Firm.
For in Zara – warm-hearted, sure-footed and, take note Andrew and Harry, universally liked – it is easy to imagine a valuable addition to the beleaguered House of Windsor. In Kate’s temporary absence, she would surely lend lustre to the royal roster.
Determined to give her children some semblance of a ‘normal’ upbringing, Anne rejected titles for Zara and brother Peter. So the siblings remained on the outside looking in, members of the royal family but not ‘working’ royals.
However, it would be by no means a stretch to picture Zara sharing a joke with a sergeant-major while inspecting troops, charming hospital patients or flying the flag overseas. As with everything else in her life, she approaches new challenges with gusto.
Her husband would be an asset too. In the past, blunt-speaking Mike Tindall, no stranger to bar room scrapes, might have proved a liability. No longer. Charm and infectious humour have endeared him to the public. The late Queen adored him.
But don’t expect horse-mad Zara, the reluctant royal, to come charging to the rescue on her steed any time soon. Quite simply she’s having too much fun.
Her life is a dizzying social whirl. Scarcely a week passes without Zara and Mike, 45, attending some glitzy function. Last week they were at the hottest show in town, Taylor Swift’s sell-out concert at Wembley.
While other royals nod their way dutifully through engagements, the Tindalls always seem to be having a rollicking good time.
Due to her Olympic career (she won silver in the 2012 Games), her marriage to a former England rugby captain and being a highly recognisable royal, Zara is something of a celebrity herself.
Nor is she a drain on the taxpayer. As a ‘private individual’, Zara is perfectly free to earn a living through sponsorship deals.
A partnership with sports clothing brand Musto is reportedly worth £500,000, a deal with Land Rover £200,000, Rolex £100,000, VST Enterprises £200,000 and jewellery brand Calleija £80,000.
Mike is no slouch at pulling in deals either. He is said to be the country’s fourth richest former rugby player and his stint on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! in 2022 helped him land a raft of sponsorships and endorsements.
Some estimates put the couple’s fortune at £30million. Would these deals be so advantageous had Zara not been born sixth in line to the throne? Unlike Harry and Meghan, the Tindalls have managed to avoid accusations of exploiting her status.
Zara also works with charities, which are connected to racing: CatWalk in New Zealand, Retraining of Racehorses, World Horse Welfare and the Mark Davies Injured Riders Fund.
A friend felt it highly unlikely Zara would be made a Princess, saying: ‘If she was a full-time member of the Royal Family she wouldn’t be allowed to do her sponsorship deals, so financially it would be very difficult for her.
‘Now she can dip in and out of royal events but can also enjoy her private life as the mother of three young children.’
Money aside, one look at her diary shows why she’s in no hurry to relinquish a highly enviable life. In addition to the Taylor Swift gig, this summer Zara has enjoyed hospitality at P!nk’s London concert and attended a film premiere, a charity golf competition and nearly every day of Royal Ascot.
In the spring, Zara and Mike flew to the Bahrain Grand Prix and two weeks later were at Cheltenham festival, known for combining booze, music and racing.
But it’s not all play and no work. Named Sports Personality of the Year in 2006 after winning the Eventing World Championship in Germany, Zara remains a dedicated horsewoman, a regular at equestrian events. She competed at Badminton Horse Trials last month. Friends say Zara views herself primarily as ‘a competitive equestrian and a mother’.
Not that she shirks wider family responsibilities. In May, she helped William host a Buckingham Palace garden party and she’s a regular at Royal Windsor Horse Show where she hugged the King last month.
But she enjoys freedoms many in her family do not, something illustrated starkly in the New Year.
Having attended church at Sandringham on Christmas Day with the rest of the Royals, Zara and Mike flew to Australia for 12 days of racing hosted by thoroughbred sales company Magic Millions. It wasn’t just the Gold Coast that attracted them. Zara is sponsored by Magic Millions in a deal reportedly worth £125,000 a year.
Photos showed the couple larking with Harry’s Argentine polo pal Nacho Figueras and his wife Delfina Blaquier and going on a double date with actor Chris Hemsworth and his wife Elsa Pataky.
Zara also promoted Magic Millions’ brand partner, a shopping centre, on Instagram, posing for pictures browsing designer boutiques and sipping wine.
The couple then travelled on to Iceland. Snaps shared with Mike’s 600,000 Instagram followers showed them on glaciers, snorkelling in wetsuits and trying on oversized fur hats. This happy-go-lucky approach has gone down well with the public.
Polling at the start of the year revealed that Zara was the fifth most popular royal, behind the late Queen, Princess Anne and William and Kate.
Untainted by scandal, many perceive Zara and Mike to be ‘relatable’ . Friends say ‘what you see is really what you get’.
An insider who once worked with Zara said: ‘She is tactile, friendly and down-to-earth. Don’t forget she was the first royal to have a stud in her tongue.’
That teenage piercing earned Zara the nickname the ‘rebellious royal’ and friends admit that, prior to meeting Mike, she had a wild side. One pal, who used to bump into Zara at well-heeled parties in west London and Cheltenham, said the young royal used to enjoy ‘wild nights’ and could ‘down a pint like any rugby guy’.
She must be more than a match for her cousin William, who Mike has mischievously dubbed ‘One Pint Willy’, apparently because he is ‘not the best of drinkers’.
In his biography of Zara, author Brian Hoey wrote that Zara’s wilder years coincided with dating the jockey Richard Johnson. ‘Zara admits that in that period she enjoyed drinking, perhaps more than she should,’ he wrote. ‘But she never smoked or tried drugs. She denied she was seen sprawling in the gutter, too drunk to know what was going on.’
Mike is said to have had a ‘calming influence’ on Zara. Another friend said: ‘It’s clear she and Mike have a really good marriage, they’re very tactile with each other. You see the kids playing at different horse trials. It’s a really normal family unit.’
Since 2013, the Tindalls have lived on the luxurious Gatcombe estate in Gloucestershire, which they share with Anne. It’s a settled home for their children Mia, ten, Lena, six, and Lucas, three.
So the Tindalls were baffled by recent rumours that the family were planning to move to Australia. Spoiler: they’re not.
Despite official denials of an elevation to Princess, the idea of Zara playing a fuller role in the Firm appeals to many. But to use a term familiar to this equestrian – don’t put your shirt on long shot Princess Zara any time soon.