In the last part of her life, Queen Elizabeth II was determined to keep riding her beloved horses for as long as she possibly could. Special measures needed to be taken to ensure that she could carry on with this precious hobby, from extra steps to help her mount the horse to being physically carried.
According to Gyles Brandreth, a royal expert and broadcaster, the late monarch’s stud groom Terry Pendry – who so memorably brought the Queen’s fell pony Emma to the grounds of Windsor Castle for the monarch’s funeral procession in 2022 – took it upon himself to help her in any way he could.
A helping hand
“Bless him, Terry would go out for these rides with her,” Gyles told HELLO!’s Emily Nash and Andrea Caamano during a recording of our A Right Royal Podcast last week. “Every year, he had to add an extra tier to the steps [up to the horse] because she became smaller and more frail. She was able to climb on, but right at the end he would have to lift her off as she had become so small and frail.
“At the end of her life, she said to him, ‘You won't retire will you? Please stay here, because I need you to look after my pony.’”
Gyles, who has just re-released the biography Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait in honour of what would have been the late monarch’s 100th birthday on 21 April, also recalled how “amusing” she could be. One time, while talking to her about the entertainers she had enjoyed in the past, she demonstrated a perfect impression of the performer George Formby.
© GettyMaking a good impression
“This is the Queen now in her eighties,” he recalled. “She picked up an imaginary banjo and began to sing When I'm Cleaning Windows. She could do a scene from Grange Hill with all the child actors. She didn't often do people, she did more characters and different regional accents.
“Not only that, she could also do things like horses, dogs and aeroplanes, because she lived at Windsor Castle, which is so close to Heathrow Airport. She did a very effective Concorde landing, with the change of gear and the wheels coming down with all the noises.”
Leaders of a blended family
She also took to waving to Concorde passengers when the plane was flying overhead. “Terry Pendry told me they would go for rides in the afternoon when Concorde was coming in, and the Queen would always wave,” Gyles said. “On certain days, Concorde dipped its wings as it flew past. She rather liked that.” Her relationship with her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, was “fascinating”, the author said. “To live with the same person for so long and to get along so well was extraordinary. They were an amazing double act.
© Getty“What I think was good is that they were going to be the leaders of a blended family… three of their children's marriages ended in separation and divorce, but they accepted that and moved on. Camilla became the Duchess of Cornwall and then became the Queen and the family accepted that. All these things blended brilliantly.”
