Tindall claiming furlough for company
MIKE Tindall’s company appears on a list of employers that have been claiming furlough money.
The Gloucestershire-based former England rugby star, who is married to the Queen’s granddaughter, Olympic equestrian sportswoman Zara Tindall, is director of Kimble Trading Ltd.
Accounts for the year ending March 31 2020, which were filed in December, said that since the balance sheet date the outbreak of Covid-19 and subsequent restrictions imposed have led to a number of events in 2020 being cancelled.
The accounts said the company has “taken advantage of all available government aid in order to support the business and its employees through the crisis”.
As first reported by the Sun newspaper, Kimble Trading Ltd appears on a Government-published list of employers who have claimed through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
It is not known who at Kimble Trading Ltd has been receiving the furlough money but it is understood none of it went to Tindall and there is no suggestion of any illegality.
Tindall, who is expecting his third child with Zara, revealed earlier this year that he worries about money.
In an interview with the Times, Tindall, who retired from professional rugby in 2014 and whose income from speeches and dinners has been impacted by the pandemic, said: “You always worry about money.”
He described himself as very fortunate in knowing he had money coming in from ambassadorial roles, but said: “Sponsorships won’t last forever. You’ve got to plan, and now, with a third on the way and what’s coming down the line in terms of school bills, fees to pay...,” he said.
Tindall, 42, laughed off suggestions he and Zara were trailblazers for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who are now earning their own money.
He described being part of the royal family but needing to work as “something you just get used to”.
He added: “It has its benefits and it has its negatives. You think about what you do and you have to be aware of it, but it doesn’t necessarily dictate.”
Zara earns money from sponsorships and other ventures, while Tindall currently co-hosts a podcast – The Good, The Bad And The Rugby. He has also made television appearances including taking part in The Jump.
The couple, who already have two daughters – Mia, seven, and two-yearold Lena – live on the Princess Royal’s Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire, as does Anne, and Zara’s brother Peter Phillips and his family – operating together as a farm in a bubble during lockdown.