The consultation session (first meeting) for any bespoke suit can be a bit overwhelming even for something like a simple two-piece single-breasted suit. Thousands of swatches of fabric to choose from, the scale of roping on the shoulder, giving the right answer to a tailor’s rhetorical questions: “Would that be a single vent sir or double?” (for those curious, for a lounge suit the answer is double: “very good, sir”).

The process becomes more complicated with formal attire that doesn’t feature in our workaday lives, especially morning dress. But when it comes to Mike Tindall, the former rugby player who also happens to be married to Zara Tindall, née Phillips, daughter of the Princess Royal, it’s reasonable to expect that he’s had some experience of such environs, given the formal codes of the Royal family he’s become used to since the pair’s wedding in 2011.

Phillips and Tindall after their wedding at Canongate Kirk on July 30 2011 in Edinburgh, Scotland - WireImage

Tindall in his blush-accented morning suit with wife Zara at last year’s Royal Ascot

Tindall, he of George Gregan dump-tackle fame (the North remembers), is weighing up fabric choices and cuts within the hallowed halls of Gieves & Hawkes. British style has never needed its bellwethers to be obvious, they tend to emerge by merit rather than fanfare. Consider it a slow-burn of consistency and good character. This year at Royal Ascot, as he will be in the carriage with His Majesty the King, Tindall wants to meet the sartorial challenge of the occasion, and honour the culture of tailoring and British craftsmanship when the cameras are on him, by having a morning suit made bespoke by historical Savile Row institution Gieves & Hawkes.

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Morning dress is complex because it looks so very different. The coat, known in the trade as a “body coat”, is cut with different segments and panels to, say, a regular suit jacket. The rigidity and uniformity of the dress code does hamper Tindall’s instincts when it comes to style, as he prefers to be a little playful. “I always liked the idea of playing around with detail, so whether it be a bow tie, whether it be braces, whether it be cummerbunds, whatever it might be. Trying to do things a little bit different,” he says. “I don’t always have to be formal but when I do, I want to lean into it and do it properly.”

He will be adding flourishes like Marinella pocket squares, well-coordinated ties and potentially even lapel pins. As well as that he shall be doffing his plush silk top hat to His Majesty by wearing capped-toe Oxfords from the recently-minted Royal Warrant holder as shoemaker to The King, Gaziano & Girling.

‘I always liked the idea of playing around with detail, so whether it be a bow tie, whether it be braces,‘ says Tindall - Heathcliff O'Malley

His cutter for this suit is Eithen Sweet, a senior cutter at Gieves & Hawkes and one of great esteem in the Savile Row firmament. Sweet’s challenge here is also a blessing. “Working with Mike’s physical configuration can lend itself to more complicated pattern cutting and fitting details but in my experience it’s also a great opportunity to present a striking modern silhouette with defined yet proportioned lines.” During the fitting stage, this most explicitly showed itself in the patrol back of the morning coat – curved lines that roll out of the shoulder then all the way down to the bottom of the jacket.

When it comes to sizing, it’s germane to remember that tailoring has less to do with measurements than you might think. They are essentially a guide; we are all distinctive shapes and tailors have their own language to translate what is known as “rock of eye”, whereby they see all our physical fluctuations and idiosyncrasies and mark them onto a paper pattern. They do this with a system of abbreviations and lingo, such as DS for dropped shoulder, or RF for round front (a kind way to say there’s some weight there). Sweet says Tindall is RB (round back), HF [head forward – typical for tall folk], and RS (round shoulders), among others.

“The round shoulder is a continuous shape that you usually see with athletic type/gym goers and especially rugby players. It basically means there is no clear shoulder end so I needed to determine and refine the visually correct end through the fitting process,” says Sweet. It is not all about the jacket but the trousers too, “Mike has a prominent seat [bottom] and thighs. He has a larger waist-to-seat drop which again is typical for athletic men. I needed to cut the pattern with additional shape around the thighs and calves to start.” says Sweet. His waistcoat is a more traditional double-breasted style with the button stance configured in a V shape, which is striking and complements his shoulder-to-waist ratio.

Sweet says working with Tindall’s honed-in-the-gym proportions presents an exciting challenge when it comes to the cutting and fitting details - Heathcliff O'Malley

To create a modern silhouette, Sweet added curved lines rolling from the shoulder to the bottom of the jacket - Heathcliff O'Malley

The initial fabric suggested was an elegant high twist wool, which can be ideal for an unforgiving dress code in hot weather. Tindall asks the right question: “Is it British?” It isn’t. It is, in fact, Italian, and he quite rightly insisted on it being a British fabric, opting instead for a 9oz Fresco from Huddersfield Fine Worsted.

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This decision came with no little sentiment. “The best wool is from up north, and I’m from up north. I’ve had to see coal mines close down, which was such an important part of the North and I worry that [fabric producers] are going to fall into the same trap. The quality of the wool from here is so much better, but not necessarily better to the eye, no one notices unless they were up close or really get to feel it,” he says. “I think it’s more important than ever that you support homegrown trades rather than letting them die away.” This is a view that holds for the final product too. “The pedigree of how a suit should be worn has always come from England and its historical background with the Royal family too,” he says.

Tindall insisted his suit be 100 per cent British, even swapping a recommended luxurious Italian fabric for one that’s just as rich – and, crucially, made in England - Heathcliff O'Malley

Tindall’s professional rugby life – including 75 caps for England – only lent itself to formality at the customary black-tie dinner that followed each international match, a tradition that now only remains after the Six Nations fixtures. He has always loved the story and reputation of Savile Row, as well as the traditions of dressing up in Britain: “I was up at a badminton match and there were the fence judges all in their bowler hats. It was boiling hot, you probably don’t need to have that full get-up just to go and inspect the fences but it’s still done. The fact that they do it is a lovely fairy tale of Britain.”

Another key factor in his presentation has to do with his wife. Zara has inherited her mother, the Princess Royal’s, empowered, bold elegance in how she dresses. His wife tends to lead by example, he says. “She always looks so good, she’s impeccable. I think she’s really stepped up. It made me consider the fact that I don’t want to get left behind or look awful next to her. I am just trying to keep up with the Joneses.” Or the Mountbatten-Windsors.

‘She always looks so good, she’s impeccable,’ says Tindall of his mother-in-law, also known as the Princess Royal (both pictured here with Zara at Royal Ascot, 2014) - Getty

The final product, unveiled after some six weeks of labouring in the workrooms of Gieves & Hawkes, a titan of tailoring since 1771, very much becomes him. Tindall examines the final specimen, taking in the little details that maketh the well-dressed man; the tails should make contact with the back of the legs when at rest, and there should be no gap between the collar of the coat and the shirt. This is incredibly hard to do as it requires perfect balance; Sweet has executed this perfectly. You get a sense of Tindall’s scale, or what the gym bros call “gains”, and yet it’s not a clingy outfit, but harnessing the might of British drape.

In a world obsessed with disruption, Tindall’s morning coat is a reminder that true elegance doesn’t shout; it stands tall, cuts clean, and doffs its silk-plush top hat to history.