Revisiting Queen Elizabeth's Great-Grandson Lucas' Incredible Birth Story — at Home in the Bathroom!
The son of Zara and Mike Tindall, who just turned 2, made his world debut in an unexpected way
Zara and Mike Tindall's third child arrived on his own terms.
Lucas Philip Tindall, the third child of Zara and Mike, celebrated his second birthday on March 21. But the member of the British royal family — he's Princess Anne's fifth grandchild and a great-grandson of the late Queen Elizabeth — has a birth story that won't soon be forgotten.
Just a few days after Lucas' birth in 2021, dad Mike shared the news of the new addition on his The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast — and recounted that the birth didn't go as planned. Lucas was born at home — in the bathroom.
Mike explained that "fortunately," Zara's friend, Dolly Maude, was with them "and recognized that we wouldn't have got to hospital in time."
"So, it was run into the gym, get a mat, get into the bathroom, get a mat on the floor, towels down, 'brace-brace-brace,' " the former England rugby star said.
Laughing as he continued to recall the dramatic experience, Mike added: "Fortunately, the midwife, who was going to meet us at the hospital wasn't that far away, so she drove up, got there just as we'd assumed the pos-ish [as he called the position]. And then the second midwife arrived just after the head had arrived."
Related:Mike Tindall Reveals Relatable Reason He Wants to Give Son Lucas a Cheap Christmas Gift
Mike told the wild story again while competing on the U.K. reality show I'm A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! last year.
"As we got our stuff to go to hospital, she got out of the bath, she could barely stand, she was shaking," the athlete recalled on the show, according to Sky News. "The midwife was like, 'She's not making the hospital.' She was like, 'You don't want to be delivering in the car.' [I went] into the gym [and got] two gym mats [to put] down in the bathroom."
Mike added that Zara's labor pains were intense: "She almost choked me to death. You can't say anything, can you? 'Can you let go, you're really hurting me?' "
While Zara is the first modern royal to have a home birth — albeit an unexpected one! — she's not the first in the family. In fact, most royal births took place at home until the 1970s, when Zara's mother Princess Anne opted to welcome her first child, son Peter Phillips, in the Lindo Wing of St. Mary's Hospital in London. When Anne gave birth to Zara, she returned to the same hospital.
Princess Diana opted to welcome her two sons — Prince William and Prince Harry — in the Lindo Wing of St. Mary's Hospital like Princess Anne. Prince William and Kate Middleton carried on the tradition by welcoming all three of their children at the same hospital.
Royal mothers over the past four decades — like Sarah Ferguson, Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh and Meghan Markle — have all given birth at hospitals.
Related:Prince Harry Reveals Whose Autograph He Asked For — a Future Member of the Royal Family!
However, things were different just a generation earlier. All of Queen Elizabeth's four children were born at home. King Charles, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward were delivered at Buckingham Palace, while Princess Anne was born at Clarence House while the palace was undergoing renovations.
The late Queen's sister, Princess Margaret, also welcomed her two children at home. Her son, David-Armstrong Jones, was born at Clarence House and her daughter, Lady Sarah Chatto, was welcomed at Kensington Palace.
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Lucas is already joining his family — including big sisters Mia, 9, and Lena, 4 — at outings such as his mom's horse-riding competitions. After all, Zara earned a silver medal at the 2012 Olympics.
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