The late Queen was seen riding horses well into her 90s but the younger Queen Consort has revealed it is a pleasure she is now ‘too old’ to enjoy.
During last week’s State visit to Germany, Camilla told a group of school children that she could no longer ride but still found time to keep in touch with the horses – even watching a video during the trip of one of her horses giving birth to a foal, the Mail On Sunday exclusively reveals.
Speaking with the youngsters in Hamburg, Her Majesty said: ‘I used to have horses I rode but sadly I don’t ride any longer.
‘I think I’m too old but I have race horses. Last night I watched on my screen one of the foals being born, which was very exciting.’
The Queen Consort, who will be crowned alongside the King next month, is known for her love of horses – a passion she shared with her late mother-in-law.
Camilla said last week that she can no longer ride but still keeps in touch with her horses
The Queen Consort has revealed that horse riding a pleasure she is now ‘too old’ to enjoy. Pictured here during the 1997/98 hunting season
The Queen Consort, is known for her love of horses – a passion she shared with her mother-in-law, the late Queen (pictured here in 2020)
King Charles is an accomplished rider, even having a stint as an amateur jockey in the 1980s.
But the new monarch does not share the same level of enthusiasm for racing – ‘the sport of kings’ – as his wife.
Royal insider say this is why Camilla has taken over the day-to-day running of the late Queen’s stables rather than the King. The new role sees Camilla tasked with maintaining the relationships with the late Queen’s trainers and overseeing the stables.
John Warren, the late Queen’s Royal bloodstock and racing advisor, has previously said that it is Camilla, rather than her husband, who has the greatest passion for horses.
He said: ‘He has always followed it, but it has been his mother’s interest so it has been at arm’s length. He owns a few horses himself, in particular with the [then] Duchess of Cornwall. She is absolutely besotted by racing.’
The Queen Consort was said to be ‘very sorry’ when poor weather disrupted her travel plans last month, forcing her to pull out of a 40th anniversary celebration of the British Racing School at Newmarket.
She also has a life-long association with equestrian charities.
As the Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla supported the Ebony Horse Club, the British Equestrian Federation and the Brooke Hospital for Animals.
Camilla pictured in 1999 at a hunt
As the Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla supported the Ebony Horse Club charity. Pictured: With Laura Boland, yard manager of the charity
In 2013, she joined Queen Elizabeth II on a joint visit to the Ebony Horse Club in Brixton, south London, where children learn to ride in an urban setting.
And the Queen Consort has often spoken about her childhood spent riding ponies along with her other great passion – reading.
In a recent interview with Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho, Camilla said: ‘I think I have to admit, in the end, I ended up probably being a sort of pony-mad child with Black Beauty, which I howled over, night after night after night.’
On her first foreign State visit as Queen Consort, however, she told school children that while she still loved books, she was no longer able to ride.
The revelation came as she joined illustrator Axel Scheffler, whose drawings of the Gruffalo helped make the Julia Donaldson story a worldwide success, and the Queen Consort added that her hobbies were gardening, reading and swimming in the sea.
Despite fearing she may be ‘too old’ for some hobbies, the Queen Consort enjoyed a packed schedule of events in Germany including late night state banquets and visits at various locations around Berlin and Hamburg, during a busy three-day itinerary.
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