New portrait released for Queen's 96th birthday shows her at her happiest – with her ponies
The Queen is celebrating her 96th birthday at Sandringham, as the palace releases a new photograph showing her at her happiest.
The Queen has been photographed between two of her fell ponies on the Windsor estate, beaming and at ease as she indulges in the hobby that has been the passion of a lifetime.
The two ponies will form part of her Platinum Jubilee celebrations next month, joining the fun at the Royal Windsor Horse Show.
The smiling image was captured by photographer Henry Dallal, who was commissioned to take a similar official portrait of her to mark the Queen’s 90th birthday.
On Thursday, the Queen will celebrate her birthday at Sandringham, where she is staying at Wood Farm. She is expected to mark the day quietly, with visits from family and close friends over the weekend.
The property is now best known as the Norfolk home of the Duke of Edinburgh, who stayed there in his retirement until the coronavirus lockdown brought him to the bubble of Windsor Castle.
The Queen has already received birthday wishes from Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, and gun salutes will be fired in her honour on Thursday.
This year the Royal Windsor Horse Show will mark the Platinum Jubilee with A Gallop through History, a spectacular equestrian display showcasing horses from across the globe.
It has been billed as a “personal tribute to our monarchy” and will feature more than 500 horses and more than a thousand performers taking the audience on a journey from Elizabeth I to the Queen.
The new photograph of the Queen was taken in March in the grounds of Windsor Castle by Henry Dallal.
On the Queen’s left is the pony Bybeck Nightingale and on her right is Bybeck Katie. Both animals will feature in A Gallop through History.
Her love for the equine world is something she shared with her mother, and she has been breeding and racing horses for more than 60 years.
Thoroughbreds owned by the Queen have won four out of the five flat racing classics – the 1,000 Guineas and 2,000 Guineas, the Oaks and the St Leger – with only the Derby eluding her.
Derby day this year will see the Queen and her family in the royal box at the Epsom Downs Racecourse as part of her Platinum Jubilee celebrations, with three of her horses in contention to be picked for the international event.
Her horse Dunfermline, ridden by jockey Willie Carson, gave the Queen her most famous victory, triumphing in the Oaks and St Leger in her Silver Jubilee year, 1977.
In recent years the Queen made sporting history when she became the first reigning monarch to win Royal Ascot’s Gold Cup, with her thoroughbred Estimate in 2013.
