Royal-adjacent Mike Tindall has dropped a couple of savage broadsides two of the family’s most troublesome members.

Tindall, a former England rugby player who is married to Princess Anne’s daughter Zara, was speaking at the Hay Literary Festival in England last week about his 2011 wedding when he let slip with the royal clangers.

Tindall spoke to friends James Haskell and Alex Payne, his co-hosts on The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast. He joked that Haskell had not embarrassed himself at the wedding ceremony, unlike some of the couple’s other guests.

“A lot of other people managed that way better than you – [like] Harry, when he was fun,” he said.

The comment has sparked renewed speculation about Prince Harry’s reportedly strained relationship with the wider royal family since he and wife Meghan Markle quit royal duties and moved to California.

The Duke of Sussex is godfather to Tindall’s second daughter Lena. She was born in 2018, two years before the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s shock family exit.

The Tindalls are thought to have previously been close to Harry and Meghan, but not since their move to the US. They do, however, spend time with Prince William and his family, with Princess Charlotte and the Tindall’s eldest daughter Mia earning the nickname “double trouble.”

The Tindalls (at rear) with other royals at Sandringham at Christmas 2024. Photo: AAP

Tindall also had a bit of a slip about the embattled former prince Andrew after Payne suggested that he was well-connected because he had “his own bedroom at Buckingham Palace”.

Tindall said his room was at the “opposite end to Andrew, though”.

Then he said he’d been told not to speak about the former prince, who is embroiled in a police investigation amid ongoing questions over his relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

“Backstage, they were like, ‘It’s being recorded, maybe stay away from [the subject of] Andrew tonight?’,” Tindall said.

The comments about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor came as British police made a public appeal for witnesses as they seek to broaden their investigation into potential offences by the King’s younger brother, including sexual misconduct.

In another quip about the royal family, Tindall also said taxpayers had funded the corrective rhinoplasty surgery for his broken nose in 2018.

“It’s got the royal warrant if you look inside it,” he said.

Payne said Tindall’s royal connections could help bring attention to Richmond Rugby Club, where they have filmed a pilot for a TV series.

“We’ve got some amazing ideas – Amazon Prime are interested – if we can get it going. The Rolling Stones used to practise when they were 16 years old in the Richmond club house, and one of my ambitions is to get Mick Jagger back, because he lives in Richmond, to do a big gig at Richmond Athletic Ground, raise money and get the club back on the map,” he said.

“Tin[dall]’s obviously got good connections … we could have Catherine meeting the team, the Princess of Wales. These are all massive pipe dreams.”

The Prince and Princess of Wales appeared on Tindall’s podcast back in 2023, along with the Princess Royal. In a conversation to promote that year’s Rugby World Cup, the trio chatted about the state of the sport and shared cheeky anecdotes – including revealing Kate’s competitive streak.

“I’m really not that competitive. I don’t know where this has come from,” she told the hosts.

“I don’t think we’ve actually managed to finish a game [of] tennis, the two of us (her and Prince William) … It becomes a mental challenge between the two of us.”

William echoed his wife, adding that it came down to “who can out-mental each other.”