Mike Tindall has spoken about the devastating final weeks of his father’s life, following Phil Tindall’s death after a 25-year battle with Parkinson’s disease.
The former England rugby international, 47, said it was “a relief” that his father was now “free of his body” and revealed that the experience had strengthened his support for assisted dying.
Mr Tindall announced last week that Phil had died aged 80. Speaking on the podcast The Good, The Bad & The Rugby, he said the final three months had been exceptionally difficult. Mike is married to Zara Tindall, the daughter of Princess Anne.
“He’d been awake, I think, properly once in the last three weeks. It’s been a bad three months for him and it was horrible to see,” he said.
The former rugby player went so far as to describe his father’s death as a “godsend”.
Parkinson’s disease had severely affected Phil’s posture, causing his spine to curve and leaving him unable to straighten his body properly.
“He had a big operation on his back and, if anyone saw my dad, he was sort of bent over,” Mike explained. “He couldn’t straighten, he couldn’t hook his head up.”
He said his father also suffered serious digestive problems, including bowel complications. Phil had experienced a blockage eight years earlier and required surgery, during which he “almost died on the operating table”.
Mike Tindall has described the severe suffering his father endured during the last weeks of his life
Phil Tindall, right, pictured with Princess Anne and her first husband, Captain Mark Phillips, as they waved off Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall after their 2011 wedding
Mike Tindall and his wife Zara, Princess Anne’s daughter, attending Cheltenham in March this year
Phil later signed a do-not-resuscitate order. When he was admitted to hospital again in June with another bowel blockage, Mike said the situation looked bleak from the outset.
“But then somehow he managed to sort of get through that,” he recalled.
The family were warned repeatedly that Phil might not survive. “They phoned us three times to say, ‘You need to get up here because this could be the last day,’” Mike said.
Yet each time he arrived, his father was sitting upright in a chair. “Tough old northern bugger,” Mike added.
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In the final stage of his illness, Phil could no longer speak clearly or move his arms. “He clearly had something to say and he couldn’t,” Mike said.
“He’d lost all movement by then. So it’s a relief that he’s free from his body now, I think.”
Mike also recalled an emotional conversation with his father about two weeks before his death.
Phil told him, “I’m gonna die tomorrow.” Mike replied: “Dad, we’ve got Mum. You’ve done everything you can. You’ve been a great dad. You’ve been amazing.”
He continued: “If you feel that’s what you need to do, we’re fine with it.”
But Phil battled on for another fortnight. Mr Tindall said: ‘It’s so easy to be selfish and go, “I didn’t really want him to go,” but I think he lived a great life. He didn’t owe us anything.’
Mr Tindall also revealed that having to watch his father struggle in pain had left him in no doubt that assisted dying should be offered to the terminally ill.
He hit out at MPs who voted against the bill earlier this month, which created a serious obstacle to it becoming law any time soon.
Mr Tindall said: ‘Anyone who voted against the euthanasia thing hasn’t gone through seeing your dad, who you admire so much, go through what he had to go through. It’s just not fair.’
He also revealed the father of one of his close friends has motor neurone disease and is planning an assisted death.
‘No one wants to see that,’ he said. ‘So I don’t know, it’s a tough one.’
Mr Tindall’s comments come after MPs rejected the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill at its second reading earlier this month by 286 votes to 270.
The proposed law would have allowed eligible terminally ill adults in England and Wales who were expected to die within six months to seek help to end their lives.
Mr Tindall said his father’s death had now allowed happier memories to come flooding back.
He added: ‘It’s quite nice to remember the better times when he was far more mobile. They’re the ones that you remember.’