Saddle Up: Queen Elizabeth's Passion For Horseback Riding Has Been Handed Down To Prince William & Kate Middleton's Kids
March 30 2021, Published 12:44 p.m. ET
It’s a family tradition for the royals to saddle up.
Even at 94, the Queen loves to go for a ride — despite controversially never wearing a safety hard hat.
And now her 90-year passion for horses has been handed down to William and Kate’s kids, George, 7, Charlotte, 5, and Louis, 2.
They have become avid riders in recent months, practicing their skills at Anmer Hall, their home in rural Norfolk, where they have spent much of lockdown.
Her Majesty is taking a keen interest in their progress — and is looking forward to riding alongside her great-grandchildren at Windsor Castle or Balmoral later in the year.
George has previously taken lessons on a Shetland pony, belonging to William’s cousin Zara Tindall, former World Eventing champion.
And now the children have their own ponies at home, where William and Kate have encouraged them to help with the grooming and mucking out.
The ponies have apparently helped to ease the children’s sadness over losing pet cocker spaniel Lupo, although the family does now have a new dog.
William, who used to fox hunt and is an accomplished polo player, is said to be “thrilled” that his brood have taken to the pastime like ducks to water.
The Queen was given her first Shetland pony called Peggy for her fourth birthday, and her love for horses has been passed on to her entire family.
Daughter Princess Anne won a gold medal at the 1971 European eventing championships, and Zara struck silver in the 2012 London Olympics.
The Queen’s head groom and riding companion Terry Pendry has described his boss as a “fountain of knowledge in all things equine — you might say a living encyclopedia.”
The Earl and Countess of Wessex’s daughter, Lady Louise Windsor, rides with the Queen at Windsor and Balmoral with a source saying: “She is often at the stables, helping out Terry and the team with the horses, mucking out and just getting stuck in.”
So great is her passion for animals that an aide of the Queen once said she preferred “dogs, horses and humans in that order!”