In public the Royal Family are perfectly poised, but moments when we see them let their guard down really paint a picture of the people behind the titles. Nicknames are another way they show their personalities and there have been some memorable ones - Prince Philip calling Queen Elizabeth "cabbage" springs to mind.
Low-key royal couple Zara and Mike Tindall also have pet names and I was surprised when the retired rugby star revealed what his wife calls him. In woman&home's July issue, on sale now, he explains to the magazine's Royal Editor Emily Andrews that "if it's nicknames, it's Z and Mikey-T".
Mikey-T is brilliant, with a musician-esque ring to it and when they're not using these specific names, they both call each other "munchin" too.
For two royals who are known for not taking themselves too seriously, I couldn't think of a perfect set of nicknames - even if I'd never have predicted the musician-esque moniker "Mikey-T". Mike was asked by Emily how he juggles the eternal work-life balance and although he admits it "can be stressful" now they've had kids, a sense of fun is important.
"You're trying to do everything all at once, and that's hard. But you find a way. The whole point is to find a way and get it done while having fun at the same time. That's what we try to do anyway," he says, adding, "You've always got to see the funny side!"
Zara said something very similar at the 2025 Beauty Awards, confessing, "Nothing runs smoothly ever. You've got to accept that in life. It's a work-in-progress [but] you've got to have fun."
The couple will be celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary in July and are proud parents to Mia (12), Lena (7) and Lucas (5). Mike tells Emily his daughters are following in their mum's footsteps with horse-riding, though it's "not a sport [he's] good at".
The retired rugby star is much more of a fan of golf nowadays and recently played in the 2026 ISPS Handa Mike Tindall Celebrity Golf Classic tournament. Held every year, it raises money for two amazing charities, Cure Parkinson's and The Matt Hampton Foundation.
Mike is also known for co-hosting the podcast, The Good, The Bad & The Rugby, and it was on an episode of this that he described the way Lucas was welcomed into the world in 2021. Unusually for a royal baby, the Tindalls' son was born in the bathroom at their Gatcombe Park home.
"Arrived very quickly. Didn't make it to hospital. On the bathroom floor," Mike shared. "So yeah, it was running to the gym, get a mat, get into the bathroom, get the mat on the floor, towels down, brace, brace, brace."
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Zara's friend Dolly Maude realised they wouldn't have reached the hospital in time and thankfully the midwife wasn't far, so she was soon there and the second midwife followed shortly after.
When Mike Tindall appeared on I'm a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! Zara wrote her husband a sweet letter which revealed that the whole family often go by their initials, not just her, as she signed it off "Z, M, L and L".
Read Emily Andrews' full interview with Mike Tindall in woman&home's July issue, on sale now.
