Mike Tindall landed in trouble after brutal joke about Prince Harry being 'filled in'

In a brand new book co-authored by Mike Tindall, his rugby podcast co-host James Haskell has revealed that a savage joke Mike told about Prince Harry at an event landed him in hot water with the royals

Mike Tindall landed in trouble after telling a brutal joke about 'filling in' Prince Harry, it has emerged.

Former England rugby player Mike, who is married to Harry's cousin Zara Tindall, has released a new book with his podcast co-hosts James Haskell and Alex Payne called 'The Good, the Bad & the Rugby - Unleashed'. In the book, one of co-hosts and fellow former rugby player James recounts the time Mike made the savage dig at Harry during a live event several years after he and Meghan Markle had quit as working royals. And in the book, out today, James reveals that the cheeky quip actually causes a 'minor kerfuffle'.

He 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 Prince Harry at a post-World Cup final party in 2003 and joked that the royal family wanted to fill him in for real. I say trouble but it was a bit of a minor kerfuffle, nothing to write home about."

However, James adds that the whole incident would have blown over if it wasn't for Harry and Meghan Markle biographer Omid Scobie, who stuck up for the prince, causing a social media pile-on. However, James explains that when it comes to Mike, he gives 'zero f***s' about things like that.

He writes: "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."

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the book, Mike opens up about what the late Queen was really like and addressed the 'drama' surrounding the Royal Family.

The former England rugby star married wife Zara, the late monarch's granddaughter 13 years ago and the pair have three children together. Although neither are working royals, the pair are known to be close to several members of the Firm, including the Prince and Princess of Wales and attend most high-profile royal events.

In the new book, there is a whole chapter dedicated to royalty - and in it Mike attempts to set the record straight about what life being part of the Firm is like - and what he experienced spending time with the late Queen.

He writes: "I'm sometimes asked if the Queen did 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 finery 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 up 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 Duke of Edinburgh 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."

Yorkshireman Mike also divulges the royals all understood where he came from and says he was accepted 'completely'. He adds: "Believe it or not, marrying into the royal family was pretty easy for me. They were always nice to me, and I was always nice to them. Simple really."