From the looks of things, Zara and Mike Tindall were in England for Christmas, and they walked with the royal family to church on Christmas morning at Sandringham. Soon after Christmas, Mike and Zara – and maybe their kids? – jetted off to Australia for the new year. Zara and Mike have been photographed out and about – shopping, attending a polo game, and Zara took part in some horse thing on the beach which I don’t completely understand (so I won’t try to explain). They’ve been photographed a lot and it seems that the Tindalls have gotten positive coverage in the Australian media, and of course they’ve also gotten positive coverage in the British media. But because the Brits can’t help themselves, the Tindalls’ visit to Australia has to be made into a comparison with… Prince Harry and Meghan. From Robert Jobson’s latest piece in the Mail, “The Tindalls show Harry and Meghan how it’s done: As Zara and Mike are predicted to become top Royal earners, they have made their lives a huge success… without spilling family secrets or attacking the Royal Family.”

It comes as no surprise to me that Zara and Mike Tindall go down well in sporting mad Australia. They’re honest, funny and candid, as I saw at first hand when I interviewed Zara at her Gatcombe Park home for an Aussie TV channel. Yes, she was working – promoting Magic Millions which is the paid gig she does Down Under every year – but she couldn’t have been more friendly and professional.

Zara has always been open, which is why people seem to see her as relatable pretty much everywhere she goes. She’s got the likeability X-factor. People warm to Zara, like they do to her mother, Princess Anne, because she’s hard-working and authentic. Her achievements speak for themselves. She is a bone fide Olympian, a member of the Team GB equestrian team. Mike, a hulking centre, was at the heart of the England rugby side which won the world cup in 2003 – in Australia, beating the Australians.

There is a ‘what you see, is what there is’ self-confidence about them as a couple. Mike is a man happy to admit he once split his trousers dancing with the Princess Royal, his mother-in-law. He’s got the confidence and humour to tease the Prince of Wales as ‘One-pint Willy’ for his lack of drinking prowess. Mike and Zara are tactile, unafraid to show affection, offering beaming smiles to the cameras.

So it’s no wonder the Aussies like them – or that Sydney-based commentator Angela Mollard wrote in yesterday’s MailOnline that the Tindalls’ approach could kill Republicanism stone dead. All this while making their own money – without being a burden to the taxpayer.

Mike and Zara have done well commercially, too, making millions between them. They are not Down Under just for the sun, after all. They are there because Zara is sponsored by the Magic Millions thoroughbred auction house, which runs a festival of horse sales and racing on the Gold Coast. Mike has business ventures of his own, including a well-received podcast with fellow ex-international James Haskell, the Good, the Bad & the Rugby.

It’s been suggested that the Tindall’s earning power could have even greater potential than that of Zara’s cousin Harry and wife Meghan in Montecito. One analyst, Giles Kenningham from Trafalgar Strategy, said yesterday that the Tindalls are now the ‘premier royal couple’ when it comes to commercial deals as the Harry and Meghan brand has become tarnished.

It would be daft to write the Sussexes off just yet. But we can be clear about this: unencumbered by royal titles or regal airs, Zara and Mike Tindall have made a huge success all round. And unlike the Sussexes, they’ve achieved it without disclosing family secrets or attacking the Monarchy.

[From The Daily Mail]

“They’ve achieved it without disclosing family secrets…” Mike talks about the Windsors constantly in interviews, in his podcast and on the cheesy reality show appearances he does. The difference is that Mike mostly compliments the Windsors or stays in his lane as the family clown/boor/lout. As for money… I assume that the more money Zara and Mike make, they’re be less welcome at family events? Isn’t that the whole paradigm they invented for the Sussexes? The Sussexes have “paymasters” and “they’re commercial,” therefore the sanctity of the Windsors cannot be besmirched by the Sussexes’ commercialism? Weird how no one is saying that about Zara and Mike. Anyway, considering how little attention Zara and Mike have actually received in Australia, I think Jobson shouldn’t hold his breath waiting for Zara and Mike to become the new Sussexes.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.