The joke on A Question of Sport upset some royal fans online (Image: Getty)
found himself in hot water after a joke in his new book about getting “filled in”.
“Filled in” is a colloquial term for being beaten up and the story relates to an incident in 2003 following England’s World Cup win of which Tindall was a key member of the squad.
Tindall is married to , the niece of and cousin of Harry and the pair are said to be close to most of the senior royals.
The joke was recounted on a Question of Sport years after stepped down as working royals and according to Tindall’s co-author of their new book “The Good, the Bad and the Rugby – Unleased” caused a “minor kerfuffle”.
In the book James writes: “He [Mike] even got into a bit of trouble when he appeared on a live version of A Question of Sport: he told a story about him and Iain Balshaw pretending to punch at a post-World Cup final party in 2003 and joked that the royal family wanted to fill him in for real.
The couple are believed to be close to Harry (Image: Getty)
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“I say trouble but it was a bit of a minor kerfuffle, nothing to write home about.”
However, James, also a former England rugby player, believes that the joke lost all humour after led an online backlash, seemingly unaware of the jovial nature of Tindall’s relationship with Harry.
James said: “It did come back into public consciousness when that very odd bloke Omid Scobie started sticking up for Harry and Meghan, and loads of trolls went in on Tins, especially about him wanting to fill in a young, defenceless Harry.
“All context, sarcasm and humour lost, when things are taken out of the zone they were meant to be in.
“To be fair to Tins he gives zero f***s about stuff like that, but it’s very annoying for him. Royal fans can be mental. I think we all know that American Royal fans are f***ing nuts, especially Scobieites.”
The pair have been friends since 2003 when Harry attended the Rugby World Cup in Australia (Image: Getty)
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The book, released earlier this week, sees Tindall recount his experience of marrying into the royal family, which he describes as “easy, believing that he was accepted “wholeheartedly”.
Tindall, who once joked that offered to pay for him to have a nose job ahead of his wedding to her daughter, says that family events for the royals are similar to family events for anybody else.
He writes: “I’m sometimes asked if the Queen embraces informality like ‘normal’ people, and the answer to that is yes. Her life wasn’t like an episode of Downton Abbey, with meals on long tables and everyone dressed in their finest every night, and Zara and I would often watch the racing with her on TV, as I’m sure lots of people reading this have done with their gran.
Lunches were also relaxed, especially in Scotland, where lunch would often be heading out into the open space of the Scottish Highlands for a picnic.
“There’s a great picture of my daughter Mia sitting with the that captures exactly what those afternoons were like: members of a very close family who loved each other dearly spending precious time together. Yes, there’s a lot of drama surrounding the royal family, but they aren’t much different to anyone else underneath it all.