GIRL ABOUT TOWN: 'I won't let Mia go to boarding school': Mike Tindall risks family rift as he insists daughter will NOT attend Gordonstoun where Zara went

By Charlotte Griffiths, Diary Editor For The Mail On Sunday

Published: 18:00 EST, 4 June 2016 | Updated: 19:12 EST, 4 June 2016

Oh dear – it seems there could be something of a bust-up brewing in the Tindall household. 

In a move that could well upset his wife Zara, Mike Tindall has robustly insisted that he will not send their daughter Mia away to a boarding school such as Gordonstoun. 

The move flies in the face of Royal tradition as many of the family have attended the elite school in the north of Scotland, including Prince Philip, Prince Charles… and Zara herself. 

‘I’m certainly not keen on sending Mia away to a boarding school at the other end of the country,’ 

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Mike Tindall pictured with daughter Mia
Zara Tindall pictured at Cheltenham Festival

Mike Tindall, left with daughter Mia, risks a rift with wife Zara, right, after stating he will not send their child away to a boarding school such as her mother's, Gordonstoun

The private school in Scotland, pictured, was also attended by Prince Philip and Prince Charles

The private school in Scotland, pictured, was also attended by Prince Philip and Prince Charles

Tindall told me at London’s famous Abbey Road studios, where he was supporting a fundraising event for children’s charity Hope and Homes. 

‘I know many people who say boarding was the making of them because they forged great independence from their parents, but I don’t really want her to be distanced from us.’ 

The former England rugby captain, who attended Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Wakefield, added: ‘My school was a public one and plenty of my mates lived in, but I was just a day student and it definitely didn’t do me any harm. If anything, I enjoyed the best of both worlds.

'Personally, I’d rather she attend a school that’s nearby, where we’ll always be on hand if she needs us. Anything else goes against my instincts.’ 

Two year-old Mia melted Royal watchers’ hearts in the Queen’s 90th birthday portrait by flashing a cheeky grin as she clutched her great-grandmother’s handbag. 

There are a number of top-notch schools near the Tindall home on the Gatcombe Park Estate in Gloucestershire that Mia’s father may consider more suitable for her. 

Insiders suggest that Dean Close pre-preparatory school in Cheltenham may be the first choice, while in later years Mia could become a day girl at Cheltenham Ladies College. 

Tindall’s concerns are not new in Royal circles. 

In a series of letters from 1961 the late Queen Mother warned against packing Charles off to Gordonstoun, a place he later dubbed ‘Colditz in kilts’, because she feared he’d be ‘terribly cut off and lonely in the far north’.  

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