Zara’s royal baby boy Lucas born at home on the bathroom floor
Proud father Mike Tindall revealed how his son arrived so quickly they were unable to go to hospital as planned.
A delighted Zara and Mike Tindall are celebrating the dramatic birth of their baby son Lucas – who was born at home on the bathroom floor.
The Queen’s granddaughter Zara and former England rugby player Mike welcomed their third child, weighing 8lbs 4oz, on Sunday March 21.
The couple have named their baby boy Lucas Philip Tindall – with Philip in honour of both Mr Tindall’s father and Zara’s grandfather the Duke of Edinburgh.
Buckingham Palace said the Queen and the duke, who is recovering from heart surgery, were “delighted” at the news and “look forward to meeting their 10th great-grandchild when circumstances allow”.
Lucas’ arrival – in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic – has brought joy to the royal family after a difficult few weeks.
Philip, 99, spent a month in hospital, and the monarchy was plunged into crisis when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex accused the royal family of racism and the institution of failing to help a suicidal Meghan in their Oprah interview.
Mr Tindall recounted the entertaining tale of how the royal baby was born on the bathroom floor at their home on the Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire after the couple were unable to make it to hospital.
“Sunday got even better because a little baby boy arrived at my house,” he revealed on The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast.
He added, laughing: “Arrived very quickly. Didn’t make it to hospital. On the bathroom floor.”
He described how he rushed to get a mat for his wife.
“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.”
Mr Tindall said his wife’s friend Dolly, who was also at the birth of their two daughters, Mia and Lena, was present.
“She was there and recognised that we wouldn’t have got to hospital in time.”
He added: “Fortunately the midwife who was going to meet us at the hospital wasn’t that far away so she drove up just as we had assumed the posit (position) and the second midwife arrived just after the head had arrived.”
The new addition, who is a member of the royal family but not an HRH, is thought to be the first royal baby to be born at home for nearly 60 years.
The Queen had all four of her children at home as planned, as was then the tradition for royal births.
Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine, said: “A sudden birth on your bathroom floor at six o’clock on a Sunday evening is up there with the most unusual of royal births.”
Lucas is a younger brother to seven-year-old Mia and two-year-old Lena.
Mia and Lena were elsewhere for the day because Zara had been having contractions through the night.
Mr Tindall said Mia was “over the moon” and Lena had declared Lucas was “her baby”.
He joked the baby would be his final child, saying: “I literally was like ‘Yep, snip, snip, snip.’ I’ve got a boy. I’m out. I’m out of here.”
He added: “The best thing about being at home, the best thing was, as soon as he’s wrapped up, he’s skin on skin, straight downstairs. TV room. Golf on. This is what we’re doing.”
Tindall described Zara as a “warrior”.
One of his co-presenters joked: “Is she up and about, back on a horse?”
Tindall replied: “As every man will say, she was a warrior as always, they always are.”
Mr Tindall had previously joked about wanting a boy this time around.
He announced the news of Zara’s pregnancy in December on the podcast he co-hosts, adding: “I’d like a boy this time, I’ve got two girls, I would like a boy.
“I’ll love it whether a boy or a girl – but please be a boy.”
Zara had two miscarriages before becoming pregnant with Lena, who was born in 2018.
The baby’s birth at 6pm on Sunday comes just a few weeks after Zara’s cousin Princess Eugenie had her son August on February 9.
A spokeswoman for the couple said: “Zara and Mike Tindall are happy to announce the birth of their third child, Lucas Philip Tindall.”
Lucas is a great-grandchild of the monarch, but is only 22nd in line to the throne. He is a regular Master Tindall.
Zara, a champion equestrian rider who won a team silver in the London 2012 Olympics, and Tindall have been together for 18 years and married in Edinburgh in July 2011.
The baby is a second cousin to Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor and Eugenie’s baby son August Brooksbank. He is also a grandson of the Princess Royal.
