As the Royal Family headed out for their Christmas walk this morning, a surprise family member was among them.
Mia Tindall, nine, could be seen clutching the hand of young Prince Louis, five, as she joined the top brass of the Firm during their festive walk from Sandringham House to St Mary Magdelene’s church for a morning service. King Charles and Queen Camilla led the way, and were joined by a whole host of family members including Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.
Mia does not commonly make appearances at Royal events, making her evident friendship with crowd-pleaser Louis for Christmas Day all the more special. Here, Express.co.uk takes a look at everything you need to know about Ms Tindall – who is 22nd in line to the throne.
Mia is the first child of Zara and Mike Tindall, and is Princess Anne’s third grandchild. This makes her the fourth great-grandchild of the late Queen Elizabeth.
In 2016, she made a splash in a portrait released in honour of the Queen’s 90th birthday as she suddenly picked up the monarch’s purse. “She just did it,” a source at the palace told People at the time. “She just picked it up—it wasn’t staged. It was completely spontaneous.”
Mia since became the eldest of three children, following the birth of Lena Elizabeth Tindall in June 2018 and Lucas Philip Tindall in March 2021.
She is behind her mother Zara in the line of succession to the throne, making her 22nd to the top spot. Despite this position, she does not have a formal rank.
According to the BBC, children of the daughter of a monarch are not “entitled to the rank of ‘Her Royal Highness.” When Mia’s mother Zara was born in 1981, her parents, Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips, declined to give her a title. As a result of her mother and father’s lack of a royal rank, she does not have one either.
While she has had a few public appearances, it was not until 2022 that Mia started appearing more regularly with her parents and other members of the British royal family.
She was in attendance for the Service of Thanksgiving for her great-grandfather, Prince Philip, in March, attended Easter Sunday services in Windsor in April, and joined her royal cousins during Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee.
Mia is also known for her love of sports – no surprise, given she is the daughter of two professional athletes.
She has been spotted knocking a football around several times. According to Mike, she loves horse riding with her cousins Savannah and Isla.
“I love that they have the opportunity of working with animals, being outside, all the traditions that you learn with treating an animal – looking after your stuff, looking after the animals and learning good balance, all those skills you learn – but I think Mia will probably want to do her own thing anyway,” he said.
She also loves to swim. Zara said of their trips to Australia: “Mia loves swimming. Of course, the climate allows you to be able to go swimming all day every day. When we first took her to Australia she was 11 months old; we kickstarted her love of water.”
