SIR MICHAEL OSWALD

THE former manager of the Royal Stud died on 17 April following a long illness, aged 86.

Born in 1934, Sir Michael was educated at Eton and joined the Scots Guards. He transferred to the 1st Battalion, The King’s Own Royal Regiment and served in the Korean War. He married Lady Angela, daughter of the 6th Marquess of Exeter, in 1958.

He became manager of the Royal Stud in 1970 and later director, until 1998. He was also racing manager to the Queen Mother until her death in 2002, after which he became National Hunt adviser to The Queen.

“He always said he had the most wonderful job anybody could ever have had and that for all his working life, he was simply doing what he would have done had he been a rich man who didn’t have to work,” said Lady Angela.

Trainer Nicky Henderson, who worked with Sir Michael for years, said they had some “great days”.

“He was a great man to be with, work with, talk to; he and Lady Angela were very good friends and very dear people. It was always fun, and we had a lot of happy memories,” he said. “He and the Queen Mother used to come for lunch and see the horses, which was enormous fun.

“It didn’t matter where the horses were going to run. He lived in Norfolk [but] he would go anywhere. He followed the horses implicitly and really enjoyed it.”

Nicky said Sir Michael’s career was his “life and passion”.

“Breeding is The Queen’s passion and Michael was an integral part of that for a very long time,” he said. “Everyone who worked for him loved him. There are a lot of people in racing who were students under him and they’ve all gone on to become very successful in their own roles in racing, and that’s entirely due to him. They would say working with him was a wonderful education and experience.

“One special occasion was when we had the Queen Mother’s 400th winner, Nearco Bay, which was a special day because it had been a target for a while, and another special horse was The Queen’s home-bred Barbers Shop. We were lucky we had a lot of very good horses, and still have some very good horses now that were bred under his watch.

“He was a lovely man, he had a wonderful sense of humour and everybody was very fond of him.”

A Royal Stud spokesman said: “Sir Michael was an enthusiastic, dedicated and much respected friend of racing. His contribution to the Royal Stud over decades is written across its history books and he will be sadly missed.”