EThere are happy love stories that begin in childhood and continue for the rest of life. For example, Elizabeth II’s relationship with horses. She received her first riding lesson at the age of three, 93 years ago. The Royal Windsor Horse Show, the world-class multi-discipline equestrian competition held on the private grounds of her home at Windsor Castle, is a fixture on the Queen’s private calendar.
This weekend it’s that time again, the Queen is expected there at the end on Sunday. Everyone still hopes that she can come. After she had to do without the opening of parliament on Tuesday, there are doubts as to whether the 96-year-old monarch has the strength to do so. If she had to skip the tournament, it would be the first time: she has attended every event since it was founded in 1943.
In recent years, she has sometimes been dressed in very rustic clothing, in a clumsy waistcoat with a tightly tied headscarf or in a bulky raincoat with a hood that has been pulled tight – very informally, as if she were just dropping in for a moment on her day off. The brightly colored hats belong at Ascot – where the Queen has lived out her fascination for thoroughbreds over the decades and has regularly won success.
Seventeen-year-old Princess Elisabeth won the pony single-horse driving competition at the tournament’s premiere in 1943. Also recently, in the photo on the occasion of her 96th birthday, she showed herself with horses. She was flanked by two magnificent white coat ponies, the favorite horse breed of her late husband Prince Philip, who was a passionate polo player, four-in-hand driver and once President of the World Equestrian Federation.
The two gray horses, Bybeck Katie and Bybeck Nightingale, will star in the big show to celebrate the Queen’s 70th Jubilee at the tournament in Windsor – alongside Helen Mirren and Tom Cruise. First there will be great sport: a five-star competition. In the evening, in honor of the Queen, 500 horses are called up for all kinds of performances.
Finally, a carriage is to be driven in with ten of her great-grandchildren. There will be drums and whistles, and uniforms will glow in the headlights. The ancient tradition of equestrian sport, which evolved from cavalry, comes into focus again: when the Royal Windsor Show was created, the Second World War was raging. Its purpose was to raise money for the British Army to fight Hitler.
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