Secrets of the Tindalls’ business success as royal couple build £30m brand

For Zara Tindall, the Burghley Horse Trials earlier this month offered a typical combination of business and bruising competition. The King’s niece suffered a dramatic fall while riding at the equestrian event but also met her commercial obligations by launching a new line of ruggedly chic winter coats for one of her formidable array of sponsors.

The launch for British brands Musto and Fairfax & Favor was delivered with the sort of down-to-earth amenability that Zara, the daughter of Princess Anne, has made something of a trademark. Plugging the £400-a-go garments as suitable for duties from school runs to dog walks in the English weather, she said: “I’m safe in the knowledge that I’ll stay warm and dry when it inevitably rains.”

She can also be safe in the knowledge that her financial future, and that of her husband, former England rugby international Mike Tindall, is also likely to be proofed for a rainy day.

The 43-year-old, an Olympic silver-medal-winning equestrian, is said to have earned £500,000 from her long association with sportswear brand Musto, which in turn is just one of a glittering line-up of marques who count Zara as an “ambassador” or “testimonee”. They include, or have included, Land Rover, Rolex, Samsung and investment house Artemis.

According to one estimate, Queen Elizabeth II’s eldest granddaughter has earned about £15m from her business interests, with her husband – who is reckoned to be Britain’s fourth highest-earning former rugby international – amassing a similar sum through multiple ventures ranging from his appearance on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here to his recent launch of a brand of gin.

The result is the emergence of a £30m House of Windsor power couple who are increasingly having to walk a line between the fruits of their entrepreneurial success as sporting personalities, and the fast-evolving needs of a Royal Family on the lookout for those currently within its lower ranks who could potentially take on a more prominent role.

Indeed, the Tindalls’ achievement in building their own brand as clubbable celebrities, broadly adjacent to their royal status, has not gone unnoticed in Buckingham Palace. There were suggestions earlier this summer that King Charles, who this week marked the second anniversary of his ascent to the throne, and senior aides have floated the idea of giving Zara a title alongside an enhanced role, possibly as a working royal, to bolster a monarchy badly in need of additional frontline personnel. Despite being a distant 21st in line to the throne, Zara is consistently rated as the sixth most popular royal (and the eighth most popular public figure – ahead of Volodymyr Zelensky) in polling by YouGov.

Royal watchers point out that with their ease and acumen, the Tindalls would be valuable assets for a clan still reeling from the schismatic loss of the popular touch of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. As one former adviser put it this week: “Mike and Zara Tindall are rarities in the sense that they’re the sort of royalty that people think they could have a pint and a laugh with in the pub, or a quick chat in the supermarket about the best pizza. You can see from the Palace’s point of view, it would make perfect sense to have them in a more engaged role. They would be PR gold dust.”

Giles Kenningham, a former Downing Street head of press for David Cameron and a public affairs consultant, pointed out that the Tindalls, frequently pictured with their three young children at Zara’s equestrian events, are more likely to be regarded by the public as “normal” than other members of the Windsors. The late Queen is widely held to have been fond of Mike Tindall, the Yorkshire-born son of a bank manager and a social worker, for his robust humour and ease in royal company.

Mr Kenningham told i: “The big question for Buckingham Palace is always one of relevance and whether the Royal Family are seen as relatable and people feel able to engage with them. The Tindalls work very well on that level – they have had their own careers, they are independent financially and they conduct themselves well. You certainly don’t see them staggering out of the back of bars.

“This really comes down to the future of the Royal Family. There are objectively very few [royals] who are relatable and lead normal lives in the sort of way that the Tindalls do. But at the same time, they have been very good at leading private lives away from most of the sort of scrutiny that comes with doing the royal job. The question is would they be willing or able to make that sort of sacrifice?”

It is certainly the case that Zara and her husband, whose ventures include a popular sporting podcast, The Good, The Bad and The Rugby, have been successful in building a commercial ecosystem which, at first blush at least, is careful not to overlap with their royal status. Princess Anne, the busiest working royal in terms of annual public engagements, made it clear that she did not want either Zara or her brother Peter Phillips, to receive a royal title, in part to shelter her offspring from public interest but also to encourage them to make their own ways in life.

Zara has previously explained that her parents insisted she did not seek any commercial tie-ups until she had achievements that went beyond the accident of her birth. As she once put it: “I was lucky my mother didn’t give us any titles, so I really commend her on that. We were very lucky that we got to do things a bit our way.”