LENA AND LUCAS TINDALL
Lena’s middle name is Elizabeth after the Queen, to whom mum Zara is especially close
Little Lena is doted on by her parents Zara and Mike Tindall, her older cousins and – of course – adored by her great-grandmother. The perfect playmate for her fun-loving older sister Mia, three-year-old Lena appears to be a bundle of energy and, alongside both of her siblings, is a regular fixture at the various equestrian events her sporty mum attends and competes in. Born on 18 June 2018, Lena Elizabeth Tindall is the seventh great-grandchild of the Queen and is now 23rd in line to the throne behind Mia. She is the third of the royal great-granddaughters to have the middle name Elizabeth, after her great- granny, to whom Zara is especially close.
Her rather un-royal first name, however, was chosen simply because her parents liked it. Zara and Mike decided to modify their original choice. “I liked the name Elena [the ancient Greek word for light] but I didn’t want her initials to be ET, so she’s Lena,” Zara explained. The tot was a record-breaking baby at the time of her birth, becoming the heaviest royal baby in recent history, weighing in at 9lb 3oz at the Stroud Maternity Unit, a small midwife-led NHS centre not far from the Tindalls’ Gatcombe Park home.
Lena wasn’t the only Tindall child to make her mark when she was born. On 21 March this year, she became a big sister when baby brother Lucas made his own dramatic entrance into the world. Zara and Mike’s youngest child –
and first son – was clearly in rather a hurry when Zara went into labour at home in Gloucestershire.
While the plan was for him to be born at the local NHS hospital, like his two older sisters before him, 8lb 4oz Lucas ended up being delivered on the bathroom floor of the family’s home when his speedy arrival at 6pm took his parents by surprise.
Describing his son’s birth, Mike said: “Arrived very quickly. Didn’t make it to hospital. On the bathroom floor.
“So yeah, it was running to the gym, get a mat, get into the bathroom, get the mat on the floor, towels down, brace, brace, brace.”
He was born during the pandemic and Buckingham Palace announced that the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were “delighted” at the news, and “look forward to meeting their tenth great- grandchild when circumstances allow”. However it is unlikely that Prince Philip, who had just spent a month in hospital at the time of Lucas’s birth, ever got to meet his greatgrandson.
Zara and Mike did, however, honour the Duke by giving their son the middle name Philip, which is also the name of Mike’s father.
Lucas – whose first name, like big sister Lena’s, has ancient Greek associations with light – is 24th in line to the throne but, like his mother and sisters, he has no royal title.
The Tindalls are thrilled to have a baby boy to complete their family; during Zara’s pregnancy, Mike revealed he was hoping for a son.
“I’d like a boy this time,” he told listeners of his The Good, The Bad & the Rugby podcast. “l’ll love it whether a boy or a girl – but please be a boy.”
Lena and Mia seem equally besotted with their brother, with Mike revealing at the time that Mia was “over the moon”, and that Lena had declared Lucas was “her baby”.
Lucas made his first public appearance just five weeks after his birth when Zara took him to the Cirencester Park International Horse Trials in his pram.
Weeks later, the youngster was seen properly for the first time at the Houghton Hall International Horse Trials in Norfolk, where he enjoyed a cuddle with his mum in the sunshine. Lucas looked at home with the equestrian action – he seems likely to follow in his family’s footsteps and enjoy riding lessons and a life surrounded by horses when he is older.