Mike Tindall said royals were told ‘you all need to leave’ after Prince Philip’s funeral

The former England rugby star admitted it was hard to see the Queen sitting alone at Prince Philip’s funeral

Mike Tindall has opened up about the challenges of social distancing at the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral, revealing that after the ceremony the royals were told ‘you all need to leave’.

The 42-year-old, who is married to Princess Anne’s daughter, Zara, was among the small group of royals who attended the funeral of Prince Philip on 17 April.

Speaking on Friday’s Good Morning Britain, the former England rugby union player responded to hosts Kate Garraway and Ben Shephard’s comments that they were “moved” to see the Queen sitting alone throughout the ceremony.

“I think that’s what she does, she leads by example and you say, 'amazing to see', but I didn’t really want to see it, but everyone’s seen it now,” he said.

“And even after the funeral it was sort of, ‘you all need to leave’, so you didn’t even get to have that supportive side afterwards.”

Despite the restrictive social distancing guidelines that were in place, Tindall stated that he was satisfied with how the day’s events progressed.

“I think the way that the funeral was planned and run was exceptional and for Zara it was seeing his carriage ponies and the gloves and the sugar cube box and all that lined up,” he said.

“If he was looking down I think, being in the middle of a pandemic where it was more low key, I think he probably would have been more happy with that even though the rest of us probably would have liked it to be more of a celebration, but that’s the man that he was.”

The royal couple welcomed their third child, son Lucas Philip Tindall, to the family on 21 March, which was delivered at their home.

Tindall described the arrival of a baby boy in the house as “a rollercoaster of emotions in terms of highs and lows”, adding that Lucas was “brilliant”.

“The girls are outnumbering me by quite a number so it’s nice to have Lucas around,” he said.

“So far - touch wood - he’s been great in terms of his sleeping and eating and doing everything that a five-week old does.”

He also touched on Lucas’ home birth, confirming that the midwife delivered his son, not him.

“Fortunately the midwife got there in time so I didn’t have to go down to the area... the downside... the wrong end, I got to stay at the top end and be supportive,” he confirmed.

“Sorry the 'business end' would have been a far better way of describing it! It wasn't what we were expecting but Zara's best friend Dolly, who's a maternity nurse, was there and had the situation in control.

“And then the midwife arrived which made me breathe a sigh of relief that I could just be chatting to Zara and trying to get her through it,” he said.