Queen Elizabeth II at Rye in Sussex, with racehorse Augustine, which used to belong to her, 1966
Fox Photos/Getty Images
Another of the Queen’s horses was Columbus, sired by Sir Winston Churchill’s stallion, Colonist. The Princess Royal reportedly first evented Columbus but found him too much of a handful, so she passed him on to her first husband, Captain Mark Phillips, who went on to win Badminton with him in 1974.
Then there was Aureole, bred by the Queen’s father, George VI – the first horse the Queen inherited from her father. The horse went on to win seven races, including the Coronation Cup and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Ascot, and came second in the Derby.
Mr Pendry wrote that the list of 13 ‘only scratches the surface’ of all the horses the Queen treasured. He wrote: ‘She names all of her horses and ponies herself and can remember the parentage of every single one.’
On the anniversary of Her Majesty’s birth, Tatler re-discovers the Queen’s horses that lit up her world.