Mike and Zara Tindall attend Champions Ball Dorchester Hotel

Mike Tindall and his wife Zara looked loved up as they attended the annual Champions Ball Dorchester Hotel on Sunday night.

Zara, 43, the daughter of Princess Anne and niece of King Charles, looked stylish in a full-length black gown, which boasted puff sleeves and a fabric belt, cinching in her waist.

Meanwhile, her husband Mike, 46, looked equally dapper, sporting a classic black tuxedo-style suit and bow tie.  

The relaxed couple appeared to be enjoying each other's company, and were snapped smiling and looking relaxed as they attended the prestigious London event. 

Held annually at the Dorchester Hotel, the Champions Ball is a charity event, which supports Rainbows Children's Hospice, a hospice charity based in Loughborough.

Typically, guest are treated to a champagne reception, dinner, entertainment, and a charity auction.

It comes just days after former England rugby player Mike praised the Royal Family, saying that the British people would be 'blown away' if they could see what the Prince and Princess of Wales are like behind closed doors. 

The ex-rugby ace, 46, discussed his wife Zara's cousin Prince William and his wife, Kate Middleton, in his new book The Good, the Bad & the Rugby - Unleashed.

He harked back to September 2023 when the Prince and Princess of Wales, both 42, appeared with Princess Anne (Mike's mother-in-law) on his podcast of the same name with co-hosts, James Haskell and Alex Payne. 

The father-of-three also praised his mother-in-law, the Princess Royal, for knowing 'more about sport than almost anyone I've met' - although as a former equestrian Olympian, this may not be too much of a surprise for royal fans.

Speaking about Kate and William, who are also parents-of-three, Mike said: 'I think the podcast humanised them a little bit, and I kind of wish they'd let us put the uncut version out, because it would have blown the public away.'  

He continued: 'They came across as down-to-earth, fully engaged, funny and knowledgeable... it was a far more enlightening chat than I expected, not because I thought they'd be dull (I already knew that they weren't), but because I know how everything to do with the royal family is so carefully controlled.' 

The surprise appearance by the Prince and Princess of Wales, accompanied by the Princess Royal, on The Good, the Bad and The Rugby, delighted royal fans when it was announced last September.

The episode, which was recorded during the Rugby World Cup, invited the royals onto the podcast as patrons of the WRU, RFU & SRU. 

Mike and Zara tied the knot at Canongate Kirk on Edinburgh's Royal Mile on July 30, 2011. 

Zara is the daughter of Princess Anne and her first husband Captain Mark Phillips, making her 21st in line to the British throne. 

She announced her engagement to Tindall, who designed the ring himself, in December 2010, four months before the then-Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate tied the knot at Westminster Abbey. 

Since their summer wedding in 2011, Mike and Zara's down-to-earth personalities and their love-filled public appearances have endeared the royal couple to the British public.  

They share three children, daughters Mia, 10, and Lena, six, and son, Lucas, three. 

Elsewhere in his book, Mike recalled how joining the royal family after his 2011 wedding to Zara was 'pretty easy for me'. 

He reportedly wrote: 'Believe it or not, marrying into the Royal family was pretty easy for me. They were always nice to me, and I was always nice to them. Simple really.’ 

The former rugby star also claimed life within the royal family was 'nothing like Downton Abbey', referring to Julian Fellowes' much-loved period drama about the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. 

In an extract from his book, he said: 'I'm sometimes asked if the Queen did informality like "normal" people, and the answer to that is yes. 

'Her life wasn't like an episode of Downton Abbey, with meals on long tables and everyone dressed in their finery every night.' 

Instead, Mike continued, he and Zara would 'often watch the racing with her' on TV, as most other people 'have done with their gran'.