Mike Tindall shares adorable birthday picture of Zara as he makes cheeky swipe

is today (May 15) and is surely being treated to many special celebrations. Staying true to the funny side that royal fans adore him for, took to Instagram to send his wife a heart-warming birthday message on her big day - but he couldn't resist a cheeky joke.

Alongside a beautiful picture of him and his wife, Mike wrote the caption: "Happy Birthday to the better Tindall". Then, in a funny twist, he revealed how he was celebrating the day, "She's even let me play golf on her birthday!"

Zara and Mike's next major milestone will come this summer when they will celebrate their 14th wedding anniversary on July 30.

In the typically ordinary way that has gone on to characterise their relationship, Zara and Mike met in a bar in Sydney, Australia during England's Rugby World Cup-winning campaign in 2003, while Zara was on her gap year from university.

Mike later revealed that his future wife had left her number for him and after they spent some time texting, she invited him to be her date at the North Cotswold Ball back in the UK.

Mike soon met his future in-laws, the Princess Royal and Captain Mark Phillips, and described Princess Anne as a 'legend', before revealing what his welcome into the world's most famous family was really like. "My mates in Wakefield are forever asking how I fit in among the Royal Family, but they are really down to earth," he quipped.

The former rugby star popped the all-important question in a proposal at their home in 2010. "I was upstairs, plucking up the nerve to do it, while Zara was downstairs watching television," he recalled. "It was all about shock value - I wanted to catch her when it was quiet, and she wasn't expecting anything... She was completely in shock. Then, when she stopped laughing, she said, 'Yes.' That was a relief."

While their blissfully happy marriage continues to make them one of the most popular royal couples, they have faced their own series of hardships, namely two miscarriages.

The couple were already parents to their first daughter, Mia Grace, at the time of the losses, with Zara later saying: "When things like that happen, normally it's just your family and friends," pointing out how, "the hardest thing in our situation is that everyone knew."

Thankfully, luck was back on their side with the birth of a second daughter, Lena Elizabeth, in 2018. The couple's only son, Lucas Philip, completed the family in 2021, much to Mike's joy as he made no secret of his hopes to have a son.

Speaking on his The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast before Lucas's birth, Mike joked, "I'd like a boy this time, I've got two girls, I would like a boy. I'll love it whether a boy or a girl, but please be a boy."