Queen’s love of horses celebrated on the BBC
The BBC has combined the winning formula of royalty and horses for a documentary to be broadcast in the run-up to The Queen’s Coronation anniversary, which is on 2 June.
The Queen: A Passion For Horses — presented by Clare Balding — promises to give an exclusive insight into Her Majesty’s love of horses and her personal involvement in the production of top-class racehorses.
“The Queen is one of the most accomplished and respected breeders in Britain, with an especially impressive knowledge of thoroughbreds,” said Clare, whose grandfather, father and brother have all trained horses for The Queen.
“This is a wonderful chance to tell the story of The Queen’s abiding passion for horses and her astonishing career in racing,” she added.
The programme has been filmed over the course of one spring season. It follows the births of foals at Sandringham to a raceday at Newbury, featuring interviews with the Princess Royal, Zara Phillips, stud managers and trainers.
It also tells the story of The Queen receiving her first pony on her fourth birthday, her continued desire to ride aged 87 and her work to preserve British native breeds.
The programme will be broadcast at 9pm on 27 May on BBC One.
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This news story was first published in Horse & Hound magazine (23 May 2013)
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A graduate from Durham University, Madeleine joined H&H in 2011 and became Features Editor — producing content across the magazine and website, including the popular inside back cover article ‘The horse that made me’ and the weekly ‘The best of my fun…’ interview. She has written on topics as diverse as hay making and headcams, to hot totty in the horse world and circus horses. Madeleine now works as a freelance feature writer for Country Life, The Telegraph, Horse & Hound, cntraveller.com, The Spectator and The Field, as well as writing obituaries for The Times.