Zara Tindall has given a candid glimpse into her marriage with former England rugby star Mike Tindall, shedding light on their private life away from the public eye. The niece to King Charles and daughter of Princess Anne, Zara has become a popular figure among royal fans thanks to her down-to-earth persona and celebrated sporting history. Despite both having successful sporting backgrounds, Zara has revealed that she wasn't overly taken with Mike upon first meeting him in 2003. Speaking to The Mirror, she reminisced about her initial thoughts on her future husband as being somewhat 'boring'. Yet, Mike eventually charmed his way into her heart, leading to more than 13 years of marriage and three children: Mia, Lena, and Lucas. Princess Anne's daughter Zara said of her first encounter with the man who became her husband: "It is a long story. I was out with some mates. We went out to watch the Rugby World Cup. "It was when we were young enough to run away from life. I went out for an all day lunch with some girlfriends. We went around the harbour and they were all very drunk and were like 'England are staying in that hotel'." She continued: "I walked past the restaurant and I saw Austin Healey. The girls went to Austin and dropped my name and told him where they were going to be. He came out for a drink with us and he brought Mike and Martin Corrigan. "Mikey, I thought was a bit boring actually. When Austin left and I was told 'He wants to call you after the final'. I was like 'that is a bit keen. They have not even got through the semis yet.' "Anyway, he messaged me the whole time like 'Come for a drink, come for a drink'. I was actually hanging out with some of the All Blacks. "At 8am I walked into this bar and all the England guys were in there and Mike was walking out with this girl and he was like 'come for a drink'. I was like 'I have got to go home.' To this day he said that he only went and raided her fridge!" Zara, who turns 44 on Thursday (May 15), also shared some of the most memorable moments in the couple's long relationship, joking that one of the most 'annoying' came when Mike bought a race horse on the spur of the moment, without much of a clue what he was doing. "We went to Cheltenham and it was sales night," she said. "Horses were coming in and you bid on them. He had a few beers. "Most people when they buy a horse check out what it has done. It was the last lot of the night and Mikey put his hand up and that was it. He was left buying this horse. Annoyingly it did not backfire. The horse ended up winning the Welsh Grand National and it was third in the Grand National. It was so annoying." The silver medal-winning equestrian confessed that she once had to get the police who protect the royals to rouse her husband. He had slept in at her mother's flat in St. James's Palace following a late night with his rugby mates. "He overslept and was staying at St James's Palace," she said. "Our PR girl was like 'where is he?' I rang the police at St James's and said 'can you wake Mike up?' He was in my mum's flat. They let themselves in. He says they came in with guns." Regarding raising their three children, Zara shared that she and her husband Mike strive to instil a robust work ethic in them and hope they develop an interest in sports. Zara considers this key to becoming a well-rounded individual. "Hopefully, you can instil in them (our children) the values that you hold and from both of us what we have learned from our careers and our hard work, dedication, motivations, lessons, and respect," she explained. "I hope that our children will learn as well. I want to make sure especially how life is now, it is so easy to be distracted from that kind of thing, so we try and work every day to make sure they get the same values that we had. "I would love them to be involved in sport as it makes you a rounded person. That is what I want for them. I think every child in the whole country should be able to be open and be able to try every sport, at least one time."