Queen wanted Royal Family to 'leave' her after Prince Philip’s funeral for very selfless reason, Mike Tindall reveals

The Queen sat alone for Prince Philip's funeral and continued to lead by example afterwards as the Royal Family were told they all needed to "leave", Mike Tindall claims.

• Mike Tindall has opened up about the “amazing” Queen leading by example at Prince Philip’s funeral in light of Covid-19 restrictions.
• He claimed the Royal Family were not able to support her afterwards, as they were essentially told “you all need to leave”. 
• This royal news (opens in new tab) comes as Prince Harry’s ‘selfless’ sacrifice for Kate Middleton ahead of her wedding was revealed (opens in new tab).

The Queen’s granddaughter Zara and her husband Mike Tindall were amongst the 30 guests (opens in new tab) who attended Prince Philip’s funeral on April 17. Despite her grief at the loss of her husband of 73 years (opens in new tab), the Queen sat alone, although not in the front row (opens in new tab), of St George’s Chapel for the service.

Due to Covid-19 guidelines, the Royal Family, sometimes called The Firm (opens in new tab), were instead spread out around her. Mike Tindall has since praised the Queen (opens in new tab) for leading by example at the funeral and abiding by Covid-19 guidelines.

Now he has opened up more about this poignant day, claiming that the Royal Family were essentially told “you all need to leave” afterwards, as Her Majesty selflessly continued to set an example.

Speaking on ITV daytime (opens in new tab) show Good Morning Britain, Mike told hosts Kate Garraway and Ben Shephard: "I think that’s what she does, she leads by example and you say, 'amazing to see', but I didn’t really want to see it, but everyone’s seen it now." 

"And even after the funeral it was sort of, ‘right, you all need to leave’, so you didn’t even get to have that supportive side afterwards."

But despite their sadness at not being able to support the Queen as they would’ve ordinarily done, Mike discussed how “exceptional” the funeral was. He revealed that it was the small details that some might have missed (opens in new tab) that made it so emotional.

"I think the way that the funeral was planned and run was exceptional...for Zara it was seeing his carriage ponies and the gloves and the sugar cube box and all that lined up,” he told GMB.

"If he was looking down I think, being in the middle of a pandemic where it was a bit more low key, I think he probably would have been more happy with that, even though the rest of us probably would have liked it to be more of a celebration, but that’s the man that he was."

Mike and Zara recently welcomed their third child (opens in new tab), naming him Lucas, with the middle name (opens in new tab) Philip, in tribute to his great-grandfather.

The proud father recently shared an adorable update on family life (opens in new tab) now they’ve welcomed Lucas. 

Now he's told GMB how delighted he is to have welcomed a son alongside their two daughters (opens in new tab) Mia and Lena. 

“It’s been a little bit of a rollercoaster of emotions in terms of highs and lows but he’s been brilliant to be fair," Mike declared.

"It’s nice to have a boy around to keep me company. The girls are outnumbering me by quite a number so it’s nice to have Lucas around.”