The secret pigeon fancier

RATHER surprisingly, the Queen is an expert on breeding and racing pigeons, and she has 200 of them.

So it makes one wonder what she thinks of her husband’s cooking — one of his favourite dishes being casserole of pigeon, after he’s shot them himself, of course.

Ever since the days when she used to feed her grandfather King George V’s parrot with sugar lumps, she has loved birds. Later in her childhood, she shared an aviary of budgerigars with Princess Margaret.

She also likes birds in their natural environment and can identify from their songs many of those that inhabit the woods and forests around Balmoral Castle.