Zara Tindall, 45, has given a rare interview to the Talk Horse podcast to reveal that she has signed up to do the eventing challenge at London International Horse Show, which is taking place in December. Princess Anne’s daughter invited the podcast hosts Pippa Funnel and Tristan Phipps to the Gatcombe Park estate to record the episode where they unpacked her love for horses, her relationship with her royal parents and touched on her 12-year-old daughter Mia’s behaviour.

The royal confessed that being lucky enough to “grow up with [horses] from a very young age” helped to shape her future career, and it seems it is a passion she is passing down to her daughter, 12-year-old Mia, too, who she likes to take riding. She recounted an incident with her pre-teen daughter, where she gave her mother a cheeky gesture.

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“I took Mia for a jump the other day. Mia and her two cousins. And then I said, ‘To me’ or something, she just rolled her eyes and went ‘Urgh’, I was like, ‘I literally said the same thing to the other guys. They didn’t roll their eyes at me’.”

“I think I was probably like that with my mother and father too, I’m sure they’ll tell you that,” the mother-of-three added.

During Zara’s formative years, she had a tough overseer at the stables. She recalled: “My mum and dad’s head girl at the time was like a Rottweiler.” She explained: “We had to do everything with them. We had to clean our tack, muck them out. And if we didn’t do it, we were in serious trouble.” The royal was quick to add: “She was amazing though…put us in our place to learn about the discipline of having horses.”

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Her father was also a stern figure in childhood, and throughout her successful career.

“Barely you would get a ‘Yeah that was good’ out of him, he was a tough coach… and I try not to be quite that bad with my own kids.”

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The episode started with a blooper, with the presenter referring to the royal as Zara Phillips, later correcting her name. The slip-up left the trio in fits of laughter.

Zara and Pippa also giggled about the fact that there was a dedicated “princess” parking space at the club they trained at together, but they both used to use it. Zara famously not being granted a princess title by her mother, choosing to refuse it to give her children relatively “normal” lives.