Mike Tindall's dad dies as England rugby icon shares tragic Royal Family heartbreak

22:05, 23 Sep 2026Updated 15:43, 24 Sep 2026

Mike Tindall has revealed his father Phil has died after more than 20-year battle with Parkinson’s disease.

The former England rugby international, who is married to the King’s niece Zara, shared the news on his podcast. In the past, Yorkshireman Mike, the son-in-law of Princess Anne, had been open about his father Phil’s struggles with disease. He was diagnosed in 2003, the same year of his son’s England World Cup triumph.

Speaking alongside his co-hosts James Haskell and Alex Payne on The Good, The Bad & The Rugby, he shared: “Unfortunately, my dad passed away last week."

Phil, who died aged 80, had also been a rugby player like his son, captaining Otley Rugby Club in West Yorkshire in the 1970s, with Mike thanking them for their tribute over the weekend, when a minute's silence was held.

He added: “But thank you very much to Otley Rugby Club for it. That little moment, I got to watch it. Someone recorded it, sent it to me, and then they wrote a little thing in the programme as well, which I read."

He then shared how his father’s love of the game saw him play a match just before he married Mike’s mum Linda, a former social worker, in 1969, when he broke his leg.

Mike said: “He got married in '69, broke his leg the week before, went down the aisle in a cast. I mean, it sort of all went wrong. He had to retire at 27.”

Tindall’s podcast co-host Alex Payne told him: "Massive hug from all of us and all our listeners and all our readers… to you and Team Tindall." The former I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Here contestant previously opened up about his dad’s health earlier this year.

Speaking back in May, he said: "My dad is not doing great at the moment. Parkinson's is brutal and there is no let-up from how it attacks the body and changes people."

He added: "After 23 plus years of the disease, it has quite honestly left him a shell of what he once was, which is why I don’t want anyone else to see a parent or loved one suffer and have their quality of life decline so massively."

He told BBC Breakfast that the impact of the disease wasn't apparent until much later: “I wouldn’t have known until…I don’t think I really noticed until the late 2000s probably," he said.

“That is something I look…not judge myself on…it’s easy in hindsight let’s look back and what would I have done differently.

"I’d have been on him more about exercising, staying stronger but the research in that time probably wasn’t where it is now, where it’s so easy to find what you should be doing, or notice all the signs like shuffling, freezing, quietness of voice, impatience, whatever it may be.”

Mike also previously discussed the devastating effect the disease had had on his father, and praised his mother Linda for her care of her husband.

In 2021, he called his mother “a very stoic, northern lady, who refuses to give her man up”, but said he was trying to convince her to accept offers of support.

Dad -of-three Mike, 47, has been a patron of the charity Cure Parkinson's since 2018. He has spent years raising money and awareness as the search for better treatments continues.

In 2021, he spoke with fellow patron of the charity, the Duchess of Gloucester about the impact the disease had on his father - and his family.

He told how around the time of his royal wedding to wife Zara, Phil’s decline became more marked - and that he needed to use a wheelchair for certain parts of the day.

The charity Parkinson’s UK expressed sadness at the death of Philip Tindall and thanked the family for their openness about the disease.

“Through the family’s openness about their life with Parkinson’s, the Tindalls have made others feel less alone and more understood,” the organisation said.

It said: “Alongside the desperate need for a cure, together they took time to highlight the importance of a community, a network of people around you.

“Something that will no doubt be invaluable to them right now.”