As royal nicknames go, it’s a more unusual one. This week, Mike Tindall endearingly revealed he refers to Prince William as ‘One Pint Willy’... as a joke about his beer drinking.
Allow us to explain. Appearing on the Rob Burrows podcast, the ex-rugby star said, ‘The Prince of Wales is known to me as One Pint Willy because he's not the best of drinkers,’ adding he came from a sport ‘built on the social aspect with a couple of beers being sunk quite often.’ To use unroyal terms, Mike is basically saying Prince William is a lightweight.
After revealing the nickname, Mike went on to say ‘Oh my god. It's out there now. Sorry sir.’ His wife, Zara Tindall, joked that he was going to get in trouble for divulging the nickname, adding that ‘a lot of those nicknames kind of fly around.’
Zara went on to share the nicknames she calls Mike, including 'munchkin', 'Mikey' or 'Michael Tindall' when he’s 'not listening,' adding 'He is in my phone as something else, and it ends with "kitten."' In response, Mike said 'You can fill the first word in.'
Prince William's friendship with Mike blossomed after Mike married Princess Anne’s daughter, Zara, in 2011, and the pair have been pictured together on several occasions since. Last year, Mike and William were photographed hugging and laughing at the Houghton International Horse Trials in Norfolk.
And this isn’t the first time that Mike has shared insight into the royals' drinking habits. On his podcast The Good, The Bad, And The Rugby, Mike revealed he had seen Kate play beer pong. He said, ‘I'm not going to say you're uber competitive... [but] I've seen her play beer pong,’ to which Kate jokingly denied she is competitive at all.
Of course, Mike's nickname comes at a time when William is in the spotlight thanks to the depiction of his university years at St Andrews in the second instalment of the final series of The Crown. In the series, he is occasionally pictured enjoying a tipple or two, notably when he watches Kate walk the runway at the fashion show.
William’s staple university order was a Stella Artois or Sambuca shots, but, according to The Mirror, he also had an expensive taste in drinks. As a regular at Mahiki nightclub in London, his go-to cocktail was named ‘Treasure Chest’, which is a combination of peach liquor, brandy and champagne and is served in a wooden chest for £135 a pop.
And, true to style, Prince William even joked that he had a ‘shot of Sambuca’ when asked what he ate and drank during a visit to Cornwall in 2022. Old habits die hard.