Zara Phillips lashes out at husband Mike

The Queen’s granddaughter hit the roof, the phone and then the airport.

When Zara Phillips first heard her husband of just six weeks had been caught flirting and canoodling with another blonde, the official response was relaxed. The other girl was simply a long-time friend, Zara’s spokesperson insisted. Zara, 30, was laughing off the incident, her pals claimed. But the champion equestrienne’s sombre appearance at a horse trial event in Ireland last week told a rather different story.

Now Woman’s Day can reveal Zara’s real reaction to allegations England rugby captain Mike Tindall, 32, was kissed by a female fan in New Zealand. We’re told the Queen’s favourite grandchild heard about the story from a friend and, shocked, immediately hunted down the news coverage and, later, the CCTV footage. Infuriated, she hit the speed dial on her phone and demanded to know what had been going on between Mike and the blonde. She didn’t give a damn about the 11-hour time difference between Ireland and New Zealand.

Never one to hold back, Zara unleashed her feelings on her hapless husband. Mike explained it was all innocent stuff and that the person he was said to have been “groping” had been at their wedding in July. Whether she believed him or not, Zara wasn’t impressed at Mike’s lack of discretion. And her disappointment only grew following claims of new reports and footage of the rugby star’s “overtly sexual” behaviour. Security video allegedly shows Mike trying to convince the unidentified blonde, reportedly an Englishwoman living in Australia, to leave the bar with him. A witness told MailOnline Mike put his hand down her jeans, kissed her and later attempted to undo her bra.

A shattered Zara turned for support to her close cousin Prince Harry, who tried to reassure her in a heart-to-heart phone call by saying, “Don’t worry. This is just what boys do.” But she couldn’t be consoled and immediately rearranged her schedule to fly out to New Zealand, landing there last Wednesday, two weeks earlier than originally planned. A close source tells Britain’s Daily Mirror, “She needs to sort this mess out with Mike and get back on track.” In the meantime, Mike was warned to “watch out” for any traps that “groupies” might try to lure him into. “He might want to be one of the lads but he can’t be any more,” says an insider. “He’s married to the Queen’s granddaughter, for goodness’ sake.”