Popular royals swerve Balmoral and skip holiday with rest of the Firm
The Royal Family marked the Bank Holiday weekend with a huge get-together at Balmoral.
Following in the footsteps of his late mother the Queen, King Charles invited much of his family to the Scottish Highlands estate - with many of them spotted heading to church on Sunday. Among them were the Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Kate, disgraced Prince Andrew as well as the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, Edward and Sophie.
However, it appears two very popular members of the Royal Family have been missing from the big Balmoral break, opting to swerve it to attend an altogether different event. The King's niece Zara Tindall and her former rugby player husband Mike Tindall were hundreds of miles away from the estate.
The royals are currently on holiday with King Charles at Balmoral (AFP via Getty Images)But they do have a good excuse for not joining the other royals - that's because equestrian Zara was competing at the Wellington International Horse Trials in Hampshire. The 42-year-old was not only cheered on by Mike but their three children Mia, Lena and Lucas too.
The royal equestrian performed on the final day of the competition, dressed in a navy blazer and white trousers. Meanwhile, Mike was seen on the sidelines watching over the children - and at one point kept two-year-old Lucas entertained by sitting him on his shoulders.
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Mike and Zara have been regulars at Balmoral in the past and their children all feature in a heartwarming snap of the late Queen surrounded by some of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren at her beloved Scottish home in the final weeks of her life.
Zara Tindall and husband Mike at Royal Ascot. They have not been at Balmoral as Zara has been competiting at the Wellington International Horse Trials (Dave Shopland/REX/Shutterstock)The Tindall family's appearance at the horse trials came a day after the royals were seen visiting Crathie Kirk, next to Balmoral, for a traditional Sunday church service.
William and Kate were spotted driving to the service and were joined by Prince Andrew in the same car as they returned back to Balmoral. Also seen alongside King Charles and Queen Camilla were Princess Anne, her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence and the late Queen's lady-in-waiting, Lady Susan Hussey.
Charles officially arrived at Balmoral Castle over a week ago where a small ceremony was held outside the gates with a Guard of Honour. Shetland pony Corporal Cruachan IV, the mascot of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, received a rub on the nose from the King - who was recently announced as Colonel-in-Chief, succeeding his mother in the role.
The late Queen with some of her youngest relatives at Balmoral last year. Among them were Mike and Zara's children Mia, Lena and Lucas (PA)During his visit, the King will hold a royal summit to lay out the future direction of the monarchy, sources have revealed. He is expected to tell the Prince and Princess of Wales of his intention to carve out precise roles for them as well as for himself and Queen Camilla.
A source close to the King said: "His Majesty is very clear. The Commonwealth must be at the very heart of his reign. He sees it as his utmost duty to fulfil the sincere wish of his late mother, that one of his central roles must be to ensure not only the survival but the robustness (of the organisation)."
Charles will deliver objectives for at least the next year, including foreign travel, engagements and key aims. The source said the King sees the roles of William and Kate as "being at the heart of cementing their own future and that of the monarchy at large". Insiders suggest the King is very keen to capitalise on their increasing popularity with "the Princess's undoubted star quality", as one official described.
As one senior civil servant said of Charles "(he) hopes to use the symbolism tied into his mother's legacy to offer a hand of friendship, which might get harder as the years go by". Charles is also understood to have made plans to visit Canada and Australia next year, in line with requests from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
He will remind his closest family that the major Commonwealth realms must be brought closer to Britain. In the face of growing republicanism and the Prince and Princess of Wales' disastrous tour of the Caribbean last year, the task has been described by senior officials in the Foreign Office as "gargantuan".
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