Mike Tindall uses very cheeky King Charles excuse when he wants to make a quick exit

uses a very cheeky excuse when he wants to make a very swift exit, one of his friends has revealed.

The former England rugby player, 46, reportedly uses King Charles - as well as occasionally the famous royal corgis - as an excuse for missing engagements that he is set to attend.

Mike, who married Zara Tindall in 2011, released a new book titled, 'The Good, The Bad and The Rugby - Unleashed' last week. The book was co-wrote with his fellow players, James Haskell and Alex Payne.

In the book, James opened up about a trip that the three friends took in Paris. The three visited a nightclub near the Eiffel Tower before having a "couple of drinks" and then leaving at around 3.30am.

They were due to record a podcast the following day, however only James and Alex showed up - with Mike "nowhere to be seen".

James wrote: "When Payno turned up to record the podcast the following morning, he was all wrapped up in a big coat, looking very pale and feeling very sorry for himself.

"Meanwhile Tins was nowhere to be seen, so the two of us recorded it without him.

"Tins does have a habit of disappearing every now and then. He always has a multitude of excuses, from the King needing his back scratching, or a Corgi had s*** on his laptop so he couldn't access his emails or the moat cleaner hadn't arrived on time and Zara was going mad.

"Sometimes he would eventually turn up, but it would always be a couple of weeks too late."

The 46-year-old tied the knot with Zara on July 30, 2011, in Edinburgh. Their wedding took place three months after the Prince and Princess of Wales wed at Westminster Abbey.

The couple met in Australia in 2003, before becoming "official" the following year.

Mike proposed to Princess Anne's only daughter in December 2010 after seven years of dating.