'The saving grace for us has been Mia' Mike Tindall opens up about wife Zara's miscarriage

Mike Tindall has opened up about the heartbreak he and his wife Zara Phillips experienced when they suffered a miscarriage last December.

Rugby player Mike, who shares three-year-old daughter Mia Grace with the Queen's granddaughter, spoke to The Sunday Times about the loss they went through when Zara was four months pregnant.

'One thing you do learn is how many other people have had to go through the same,' he told the newspaper.

'The saving grace for us has been Mia, our daughter who is now three. However down we feel she will come running up in our faces.'

'When I was playing I hardly saw her; now we can see her grow up. I can take her swimming and I can take her to Ninja Tots. You'll never be able to see her there because she disappears in a puff of smoke.'

News of the miscarriage broke on Christmas Eve 2016, just weeks after the pregnancy was announced at the end of the previous month.

In a short statement, a spokesperson for the couple said: 'Very sadly, Zara and Mike Tindall have lost their baby. At this difficult time, we ask that everyone respects their privacy.'

They did not release any details about the circumstances of the loss, but it was reportedly understood that Zara was not in any medical danger.

Mike and Zara married in July 2011 in a ceremony at the Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland, and welcomed Mia on 17th January 2014, with Mike describing her birth as 'definitely the best day of my life'.

Buckingham Palace commented at the time of Mia's arrival: 'The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Princess Royal, Captain Mark Phillips and Mike's parents, Mr Phillip and Mrs Linda Tindall, have been informed and are delighted with the news.'

Their second child would have been the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh's sixth great-grandchild, and 18th in line to the throne.