Zara Tindall feels 'guilty' for returning to sports career after children

UK queen’s granddaughter also admits she found it 'hard' to get her body back after giving birth

Zara Tindall arrives with husband Mike on day one of the Royal Ascot meeting on June 15, 2021. Getty

Zara Tindall has said that she felt "guilty” about returning to her sporting career after having children.

It was hard to “get her body back” after giving birth, the late queen’s granddaughter said in an interview with her husband Mike.

An Olympic equestrian, Zara spoke about her three children — Mia, Lena and Lucas Tindall — as part of a new YouTube series called Mike Drop in collaboration with the Magic Millions horse-racing event.

“After having Mia [in 2014], I was like, ‘right this is my goal, this is was I need to get back’ (to riding)," said Princess Royal Anne’s daughter.

“I had a good horse to come back to which is great for your confidence, so I wanted to get back for him as well.

"Trying to have a goal is probably something that I always need. I always need goals in my life and set many goals in my life all the time.

“But it is hard getting your body back when you’ve been riding for 30 years or whatever it is, 25 years, and then your body just completely not doing that and your muscles doing nothing and stretching and creating an amazing thing, but it’s just completely different.

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“To try and get your body back to where it was I found hard work, but she was along for the ride as well with us, she is very much taken around to the shows, which is kind of easier when you have one.

“I found it hard getting yourself back to it, but mentally you feel guilty as a mother leaving your child to go and do something else.”

Zara told of feeling guilty “all the time” about being away from her children, saying she would ring Mike “every day”.

Mike then asked if she was able to give her sporting career “everything you wanted to give it?”

“The stuff that I missed was down to another great chapter in my life and I’m very lucky that I could run them alongside each other," Zara replied.

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“I think I’m lucky that in our sport I could do both and still be able to ride at the top has been a massive drive for me.

"And I think, I’m hoping, that it makes me a better mother because they can experience it with us and with me and all those characteristics of that life.”

Zara competed in the London 2012 Olympics, winning a team eventing silver medal that was presented by her mother, Princess Anne.

Also in the 30-minute interview, she spoke about growing up with horses and her parents’ love for riding.