Royal | News - Prince Ricardo De La Cerda
Worlds away from the winding corridors and decadent architecture of the royal family’s various estates around the UK, Mike Tindall – who married Princess Anne’s daughter Zara Phillips in 2011 – grew up in the modestly-sized market town of Otley in West Yorkshire.
But the cobblestone rural idyll, nestled in near Leeds, has a few other strings to its bow besides being home to a member of the royal family.
Its picturesque streets have been featured in a number of TV and film productions – most recognisably acting as the fictional village of Emmerdale in the soap of the same name and as a backdrop for the 2020 Kiera Knightley film Official Secrets and BBC crime drama The Syndicate.
The 14,000-strong town also boasts an impressive 24 pubs, some of which date back to the 16th century – and visitors can embark upon the Historic Otley Ale Trail to explore the breadth of its hospitality scene and learn which unassuming buildings are former boozers.
According to the Otley Pub Club, it’s more a case of “what hasn’t in the past been a pub” than what has – and it once held the record for the highest number of pubs per capita in the country.
“Hostelries range from traditional ale houses such as The Black Bull in Market Square, where Oliver Cromwell’s troops are said to have drunk the town dry on the eve of the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644, [to] the Old Cock, a former Leeds CAMRA pub of the year,” according to VisitOtley.
All this makes it a very popular place to put down roots – with property prices averaging £297,876 and Mike attending the independent Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in nearby Wakefield which has annual fees of £16,620 for those in Year 7 and above.
The 46-year-old dad-of-three’s own father, Philip Tindall was also captain of Otley Rugby Union Football Club – laying the ground for Mike’s own illustrious rugby career, kickstarted when he joined Bath Rugby at 18-years-old, fresh out of secondary school.
Mike and Zara met during the 2003 Rugby World Club in Australia and announced that they were engaged in December 2010.
They married at Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh in July 2011, just three months after Prince William tied the knot with Kate Middleton.
Compared to the Prince and Princess of Wales’ extravagant stately affair, which included 1,900 guests, Zara and Mike’s nuptials were a more intimate occasion, inviting 400 friends and family members to celebrate their special day.
The couple initially moved into Hallery House in Cheltenham after their wedding, before moving to Ashton Farm on the Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire, a plot surrounding the Grade-II listed house that has served as the Princess Royal’s home since 1976.