Zara Tindall reveals second miscarriage she kept secret
A month after giving birth to her second child, the Queen’s granddaughter tells of her heartbreak
SHE shared her happiness and heartbreaks with the world during her first pregnancy and tragic, late miscarriage, but Zara Tindall chose to keep the most recent trial to hit her family private – until now.
The Queen’s granddaughter has spoken candidly of the “raw” emotions that accompanied her secret trauma – her second miscarriage, which she suffered shortly before becoming pregnant with Lena, her second child, who was born last month.
She said her husband Mike Tindall, the former England rugby player, was “very concerned and very supportive”. She added: “It’s hard for the guys, it’s a different feeling of loss, isn’t it? That’s a time when your family comes to the fore, that’s when you need them.”
Following her first miscarriage in 2016, Mrs Tindall told the world of her struggle last year, finding comfort in letters she received from the public.
However, this time, she kept it secret from everyone except her family.
Mrs Tindall told The Sunday Times: “I had another miscarriage really early on. You need to go through a period where you don’t talk about it because it’s too raw, but, as with everything, time’s a great healer.”
“Because it’s so personal to each family and every case is different, you can never compare what’s happened or the feelings that people have gone through or the trauma.
“Every case is different, so I think it’s something that people don’t think you want to talk about.”
She spoke publicly about her first miscarriage in December 2016, and said the public helped by writing to the family. She said: “Loads of people wrote to me and Mike to say they’d been through the same thing.
“In our case, it was something really rare; it was nature saying, ‘This one’s not right’. For me, the worst thing was that we had to tell everyone – everyone we knew.”
According to the NHS, one in eight women who becomes pregnant will suffer a miscarriage, and many more are thought to have one before they even realise they are pregnant.
The 37-year-old daughter of Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, and Captain Mark Phillips said the Royal Family helped her through her difficult time.
She said: “It was a time when my family came to the fore and I needed them. I had to go through having the baby because it was so far along.”
The former equestrian champion made her first appearance since giving birth to Lena when she was seen at the Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club International Day on Saturday.
She and her husband were seen laughing and playing with four-yearold Mia, their eldest daughter, a month after Buckingham Palace had announced the birth of Lena who became Princess Anne’s fourth grandchild and the Queen’s seventh great-grandchild.
Four years ago, the couple were famously open about the birth of their first child.
Zara Tindall became the first senior member of the Royal Family to sell photographs of their baby to a celebrity magazine, and the fee was reportedly £150,000.
The Hello! magazine article featured 13 pages of pictures of the family, as well as featuring the newborn Mia on the front cover.
‘For me, the worst thing was that we had to tell everyone – everyone we knew’