A royal arrival! Zara Tindall welcomed her and husband Mike Tindall’s third child on Sunday, March 21.
“Zara and Mike Tindall are happy to announce the birth of their third child, Lucas Phillip Tindall,” the couple’s rep told Us Weekly in a Tuesday, March 23, statement. “The bundle of joy, who joins siblings Mia Grace and Lena Elizabeth, weighed in at 8 lbs 4 oz.”
The birth was “chaotic,” Mike, 42, said on Tuesday’s episode of “The Good, The Bad and the Rugby” podcast, noting that their son “arrived very quickly” on the bathroom floor.
He explained, “It was running to the gym, get a mat, get into the bathroom, get a mat on the floor, towels down. Fortunately, the midwife, who was going to meet us at the hospital, wasn’t that far away. She drove up, got there just as we’d assumed the [position]. And then the second midwife arrived just after the head had arrived.”
News broke in December 2020 that Queen Elizabeth II’s granddaughter was pregnant with baby No. 3. “It’s been a good week for me,” her husband said on a podcast episode at the time. “[Zara] had a little scan last week. Third Tindall on its way.”
The retired rugby player shares daughters Mia, 7, and Lena, 2, with Zara, 39, and said he would “like a boy this time” around. “I’ve got two girls,” the athlete said. “I’ll love it whether a boy or a girl, but please be a boy.”
Mike joked that he and the equestrian were considering names paying homage to the coronavirus pandemic. “We’re not sure what to do, Covi or Covina,” the former Gloucester Rugby player said, laughing. “I don’t know where to go with names.”
Buckingham Palace confirmed Zara’s pregnancy news at the time, writing in a statement: “Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh are aware and delighted.”
Two months later, Mike told The Times that he and Prince George’s godmother had chosen not to find out their baby-to-be’s sex, calling the experience “better that way.”
He explained in February: “It was always an interesting question whether we’d go for a third and I think both of us wanted a boy, so hopefully we’ll get one. We’re not finding out. … At the end of the day, you’re just happy if it’s got ten fingers and ten toes and it’s healthy. And Mia’s such a daddy’s girl, it’s been brilliant. I’ve loved having girls.”
The couple met and fell in love in 2003, announcing their engagement seven years later. They tied the knot in July 2011 in Edinburgh, Scotland, welcoming Mia and Lena in January 2014 and June 2018, respectively.
The Olympian suffered two miscarriages while expanding her family, she told The Sunday Times in July 2018. “You need to go through a period where you don’t talk about it because it’s so raw,” Zara told the outlet. “But as with everything, time’s a great healer.”
