AceShowbiz - Queen Elizabeth II's granddaughter Zara Tindall has revealed she suffered a heartbreaking second miscarriage before welcoming her newborn daughter.

The 37-year-old and her husband, former rugby player Mike Tindall, became parents for a second time in June, when Zara gave birth to little Lena, a sister for their four-year-old girl Mia.

The professional equestrian had previously announced she had a miscarriage in December, 2016, but now she has explained the couple lost another child "really early on" in her pregnancy, before conceiving Lena.

"I think you need to go through a time where you don't talk about it because it's too raw," she told The Sunday Times Magazine of her decision not to share the news until now. "But as with everything, time's a great healer."

Zara, the daughter of Princess Anne, admitted telling friends and family about the first loss was hard, so they decided to keep the second miscarriage completely private.

"It's something a lot of families are affected by but then, hopefully, a lot of the stories I've heard, they've gone on and had more children and they're very lucky," she said.

"Because it's so personal to each family and every case is different, you can never compare what's happened or the feelings that people have gone through or the trauma.

"Every case is different so I think it's something that people don't think you want to talk about."