"I can't believe she's letting me play golf on her birthday," Mike Tindall says as he poses for a photograph wearing a pair of pixelated trousers and with his arm around his wife Zara. "What a legend!"
The couple were at The Belfry in Sutton Coldfield for Mike's annual charity tournament, the ISPS Handa Celebrity Golf Classic, which the former England rugby centre attends every year in trousers chosen to startle.
© David HartleyAsked by HELLO! in an exclusive interview whether Zara would rather he took her somewhere else for her 45th birthday, Mike protests that there is nowhere she would rather be.
"Zara loves the golf day," Mike says. "It’s such a great occasion with a lot of friends and people who just want to have a good time. She helps with their golf swing by making sure they have plenty to drink and is on hand with mulligans [permissions to disregard a bad shot, in exchange for a charitable gift] to help ease the pain of a bad round. All of which makes a huge amount of money for charity so it’s a win-win. She gets a load of mates in one place, and a big party on her birthday!"
Celebrity guests
Guests joining the event included the actors James Nesbitt and James Phelps, the rugby players Jeremy Guscott and Martin Bayfield, the footballer John Terry, the cricketer Graeme Swann, the former Boyzone singer Keith Duffy and the broadcaster Jenni Falconer.
Zara posed alongside Autumn Phillips, her brother's former wife, and her friend Dolly Maude, who is lady-in-waiting for her mother, the Princess Royal.
© David HartleyThe event supports two causes close to Mike's heart: Cure Parkinson's and the sporting-injury charity The Matt Hampson Foundation.
Mike says that his father's life with Parkinson's disease is a struggle. "My dad is not doing great at the moment. Parkinson's is brutal and there is no let up from how it attacks the body and changes people.
"After 23 (plus) years of the disease, it has quite honestly left him a shell of what he once was, which is why I don't want anyone else to see a parent or loved one suffer and have their quality of life decline so massively.
"It gives me so much motivation to help push for a cure and work with Cure Parkinson's on their research, trials and really important work to try and end this disease."
© David HartleyMike says that Matt Hampson, 41, who is paralysed from the neck down after a rugby accident at the age of 20, is an inspiration and has now signed up for the New York Marathon after he completed the London Marathon this year with the help of the jock Sir Anthony McCoy, known as AP McCoy.
"I am constantly amazed by the work he does and the difference he and the Foundation make to people's lives," Mike says.
Sporting ambition?
He says that while his children, Mia, 12, Lena, 7 and Lucas, 5, could have sporting careers like their parents, the important thing is that they have fun.
"My main focus is that they enjoy sport and it’s an important part of their life – whatever form or level that takes is up to them, but I want them to have fun and be part of something where you have wins and losses and work out how to get through it with teammates who you can have a laugh with."
© David HartleyZara and Mike will celebrate their 15th wedding anniversary on 30 July, traditionally marked with a gift of crystal. Has he found a suitable present yet?
"I've got a birthday and a golf day to get through first," he says. "So a bit of time on that one."
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