All the Queen’s horses

One theory why she is so fond of animals is that the horses and dogs don't know she is royal! She can find emotional solace and release from her four-legged friends who don't dash off to tell a tabloid reporter the tale. After all, humans are difficult to relate to if they are always treating you with extreme deference or outright sycophancy.

Better, therefore, to be friends with a horse. Her introduction to riding came at the tender age of two when, in the autumn of 1928, she accompanied her parents to Naseby Hall in Northamptonshire for the hunting season.

Such was her fascination that she used to run off to the stables at the slightest excuse at any time of day.

From early childhood, she was surrounded by horses and relatives who owned, rode and talked about them.

Like many aristocratic young girls, she became a keen equestrian. Her first reported riding lesson took place in the private riding school at Buckingham Palace Mews in January 1930, when she was still only three years old.

When she was five, her mother led her on Peggy, a Shetland pony given to her by King George V, to a meet of the Pytchley Hounds at Boughton Cover, Northamptonshire.

In 1938, royal riding instructor Horace Smith began giving Elizabeth and her sister Margaret twice-weekly lessons at the Palace Mews. Elizabeth not only enjoyed riding but she also liked looking after horses and her passion became almost an obsession.

On one occasion she told Smith that "had she not been who she was, she would like to be a lady living in the country with lots of horses and dogs". It may have been, of course, that animals were a substitute for other children as the Princess grew up during a privileged - but isolated - childhood.

But animals are unconscious of rank and, unlike human beings, can receive royal emotion without comment. Riding lessons continued throughout the Second World War and, with future troop-reviewing in mind, Smith taught Elizabeth to ride side-saddle.

After 1945, the horse world became Elizabeth's chief relaxation and escape, and she was to expand her interest in horse management and breeding.

Horse breeding was a family pursuit. The royal studs had been founded at Hampton Court in the 16th century, later moving to Windsor.

In the late-19th century, the then Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, had established the Sandringham stud. For her part, in 1962, Elizabeth - now Queen - leased and later bought Polhampton Lodge Stud, near Overton in Hampshire, for breeding race horses.

In the late-1940s she had received the filly Astrakhan as a wedding present from the Aga Khan.

She acquired her own racing colours of scarlet, purple hooped sleeves and black cap, when she and her mother jointly bought the steeple-chaser Monaveen.

In 1954, the Queen's horses, including Aureole, were so successful that she was the leading winner-owner. She repeated the triumph in 1957.

The high performance of the 1950s, however, could not be maintained and the 60s was a decade of decline.

In May 1967, the Queen made the first of two private trips to France to see French studs. Later, in 1984, 1986 and 1991, there were similar private royal missions to the United States to see stallion stations and stud farms in Kentucky.

In 1970, Lord Porchester, the Queen's close friend with whom she shared a passion for horses, became her racing manager, and royal racing and breeding fortunes greatly improved.

The 1980s and 90s saw a mixed performance, and royal investment in the turf is now regarded as secondary compared with the vast sums spent by Arab owners.

She attends the Derby at Epsom, one of the classic flat races in Britain, and the Summer Race Meeting at Ascot, which has been a Royal occasion since 1911.

As an owner and breeder of thoroughbreds, she often visits other race meetings to watch her horses run, and also frequently attends equestrian events.

Needless to say, the Racing Post is required reading.