Taken on the floors of Windsor Castle last month, the beautiful photo shows the Queen standing with her two favorite ponies, Bybeck Nightingale and Bybeck Katie, in front of a huge magnolia tree in full bloom head- spring.
The picture has been released by the Royal Windsor Horse Show, which the Queen has observed every year since 1943, and was taken by Henry Dallal, who was commissioned to take an official picture of her to celebrate her fifth birthday 90.
Today, the Queen visited Wood Farm on Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, where Prince Philip retired before his death aged 99 last year.
This year, the Royal Windsor Horse Show will celebrate its Platinum Anniversary with A Gallop through History, a spectacular ride showcasing horses worldwide.
To the Queen’s left is the pony Bybeck Nightingale and to her right is Bybeck Katie in the new picture; and both animals will appear in A Gallop Through History.
Her love of the horse world is something she shares with her mother, and she has been herding and racing horses for over 60 years.
Thoroughbreds owned by the Queen have won four of the five classics – 1,000 Guineas and 2,000 Guineas, Oaks and St Leger – only Derby without her.
This year’s Derby Day will see the Queen and her family in the royal box at Epsom Downs Racecourse as part of her Platinum Jubilee carnivals, with her three horses vying to be selected for the international event.
