Birth of royal Shire brings ‘sunshine’ to Hampton Court Palace
A new rare breed royal arrival has brought “sunshine into everyone’s life” at Hampton Court Palace.
On 10 June the palace welcomed a grey Shire colt, the first Shire foal to be born in London in living memory.
Andrew Liefooghe, director of Operation Centaur, the company that owns the Shires, told H&H the colt has been named Hampton Court George, after King George V, who was the last of the royal family to breed Shires, at the Royal Stud at Sandringham.
“We don’t normally breed because we are too busy with working the horses but we found a really good stamp of mare with George’s mum Bess, and the decision was made to put her in foal,” he said.
“We selected the stallion Double Trouble of the Landcliffe Stuff in Yorkshire. He was twice national champion and a very smart stallion, we thought we would get a very good foal, and we have.”
Andreas said George is already “taking after his dad”.
“There’s only 1,500 Shires left in the world, and less than 200 grey Shires so he’s a quite a special boy. He promises to be at least 18hh and he certainly knows he’s special,” he said.
Never miss out on the latest happenings in the equestrian world
“Everybody here at the palace is delighted, we couldn’t be happier and Bess has really taken to being a mother.”
George will make his public debut on 15 November at the palace’s annual Shire Horse Sunday event.
“It’s a very big day at the palace where we parade all the horses,” he said. “People can meet the Shires and this year we are expecting a lot of people to want to see George.
“The day is a magnificent spectacle. In 1540 Henry VIII’s created a law saying people should stop breeding with small horses because he wanted to create the big war horse, and now seeing these 18hh horses parade around the gardens makes you think Henry would have been pretty pleased.”
Andreas said the palace now has 10 Shires, including George, and they carry out various roles.
“They do the carriage work, are used to cut the grass and look after the wild flower meadows, and work in the royal parks carrying out harrowing and bracken rolling,” he said.
“We also use the Shires in equine assisted psychotherapy programmes for people with addiction and we’ve done work with anti-bullying campaigns for schools – they turn their hoof to many different things. The therapy work is good for the older Shires as they don’t tend to like retirement having always had a purpose in their life. They want to do something and are looking for that connection with people.”
Andreas said George will remain at the palace and once he is older will start his education towards becoming a carriage horse.
Article continued below…
Rarer than pandas and transforming London — meet the city’s last working herd of Shires
Find out more about London’s last herd of working Shires
Shires in the city: how working horses protect London’s green spaces
Nobby and Heath worked to repair the ground that had been churned up by runners on Hampstead Heath
Subscribe to Horse & Hound magazine today – and enjoy unlimited website access all year round
“Everyone here is doting on him. After starting off shy now as soon as he sees people in the field he runs towards them and wants to make contact and play,” he said.
“After this period of lockdown he’s brought a bit of light and sunshine into everyone’s lives here and really cheered everybody up.”
For more information on Hampton Court Palace’s Shires visit www.operationcentaur.com.
We continue to publish Horse & Hound magazine weekly during the coronavirus pandemic, as well as keeping horseandhound.co.uk up to date with all the breaking news, features and more. Click here for info about magazine subscriptions (six issues for £6) and access to our premium H&H Plus content online.
Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now
Since joining H&H in 2018, Becky has covered a broad range of equestrian news including welfare matters, veterinary studies, FEI Tribunal hearings and road safety campaigns. She has also interviewed top riders including Scott Brash, John Whitaker and Ian Stark, to name just a few. Becky’s reporting has taken her to Canada for Spruce Meadows and France for Pau five-star, as well as the Royal Highland and Blair Castle International Horse Trials closer to home. She was also a key part of the remote reporting team for the Tokyo Olympics and the Europeans.