Zara Tindall experiences 'mother's guilt'

Zara Tindall experiences "mother's guilt" trying to combine parenthood with her sporting career.

The equestrian - who is the daughter of Princess Anne and her ex-husband, Captain Mark Phillips - has Mia, 12, Lena, eight, and five-year-old Lucas with husband Mike Tindall, and the former rugby player does his best to offer his support when his wife is focused on a competition.

He told the Talk Horse podcast: "You forget sometimes life is hard when kids come along and you try to still compete.

"Fortunately, when Mia came along, that was my last year, so I haven't been a professional athlete whilst the kids have been around.

"You've got to try and play a support role at the same time because mums do have mother's guilt. It's a thing.

"And it can be really hard at times. I won't say I get it right all the time, but you've got to try and do it whatever ways you can."

The Good, the Bad and the Rugby podcaster tries to give Zara, 45, space before a competition because they require "massive focus", but he also tries to lighten the mood.

He said: "I try and make her laugh every now and again to remind her you don't have to be that serious.

"It could go really bad or it could have gone really well, where you can go, 'You almost [expletive] up there!' I think that's where you know those nuances where you can either lean in, lean out. I think that's how and why it's worked so well."

Mike, 47, admitted their household isn't always harmonious, but he and Zara don't go looking for "confrontation".

"I think it's very easy when it's around sport or whether it's around the animals and the kids, but obviously other nuances become more difficult.

"I think neither of us necessarily chase out confrontation until it happens. That's sometimes not the best way of doing it.

"But then when it happens, I think we're probably pretty good at actually talking about it. You've just got to try and muddle your way through. It's never easy, is it?"

He confessed: "[Sometimes] you just want to annoy someone, just for the sake of it.