Tindall apologised to Prince of Wales for ‘One Pint Willy’ nickname

The Prince of Wales has said that gin entrepreneur and ex-rugby star Mike Tindall apologised to him for revealing his “One Pint Willy” nickname.

In December, Tindall revealed on a podcast that Prince William was nicknamed “One Pint Willy” for his drinking ability, with his wife Zara, the daughter of the Princess Royal, telling him that he was in “so much trouble”.

Tindall, who also co-owns Blackeye Gin, said on BBC’s Total Sport Podcast special series Seven: Rob Borrow: “The Prince of Wales is known to me as ‘One Pint Willy’ because he’s not the best of drinkers.

“Coming from a sport (rugby) where it is built on the social aspect and a couple of beers being sunk quite often.

“That is one I will definitely give away for the Prince of Wales: ‘One Pint Willy’. Sorry, sir.”

The secret

But now BBC Breakfast has  released a clip of the Prince of Wales discussing the nickname with ex-rugby stars and Motor Neurone Disease (MND) campaginers Kevin Sinfield and Rob Burrow.

William was visiting Leeds on a surprise trip to award the two campaigners with CBEs, and Burrow mentioned that he had recently met with Mike Tindall and Zara.

He said:“Mike has some secrets he told me which the kids found very amusing.”

Apologies

In response, the Prince of Wales smiles and shakes his head, saying: “I think that might be some of the nicknames. Was it you who got the nicknames out of him?”

“He apologised to me about that. I was like, “Mike, when you say you’re not going to mention anyone’s nicknames that doesn’t mean you can then mention my nickname. That’s not fair.”

William later presented Burrow with the CBE, and said: “The most amount of thank yous and congratulations for all the inspirational work you’ve done Rob, you’ve been amazing and everyone’s so proud of you.”

The news comes only days after it was revealed that the former Duke of Edinburgh trained servers to fill up his beer glass when Queen Elizabeth II wasn’t looking.