'ZARA KEEPS SPIRITS HIGH'

Mike Tindall, joined by celebrity friends at his latest golf tournament, reveals his wife Zara's birthday treat and the key role she plays in entertaining guests

- SOPHIE HAMILTON

Smiling broadly with their arms wrapped around each other, Mike and Zara Tindall were on top form as they joined celebrity friends on the fairway for Mike’s annual charity golf event at The Belfry in Warwickshire.

Teeing off alongside the former England rugby union captain at the 12th ISPS Handa Mike Tindall Celebrity Golf Classic tournament were VIPs including actor James Nesbitt, former Olympic swimmer Mark Foster, football pundit Jamie Redknapp and TV presenter Jenni Falconer, who came together to raise funds for the Matt Hampson Foundation and Cure Parkinson's.

Mike didn’t disappoint with his typically flamboyant golfing get-up — a pair of Royal and Awesome’s Bright Birdie peacock feather-printed shorts — as he caught up with his friends in between shots.

“There’s always a lot of banter, and it tends to get more as the day goes on,” Mike reveals in this exclusive interview with HELLO!.

Zara, herself an Olympic equestrian, has taken up the sport with the Slingsby Golf Academy but decided not to practise her swing at this year’s event, preferring instead to fulfil an important role on the sidelines.

“She has played a bit of golf, but I think if I asked her, she would say she hasn’t spent as much time on it as she might like,” says Mike, 46. “Plus, she makes a fantastic drinks buggy driver and keeps everyone’s spirits exceptionally high, no matter what their golf is doing.”

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