Top horses miss Queen’s special show

AS THE highlight of her sporting year, the Queen has attended the Royal Windsor Horse Show without fail since it began in 1943.

Next year, however, her favourite event will have lost some of its sparkle after an administrative error by the British Equestrian Federation (BEF) resulted in the world’s best jumpers not including the 2020 show as part of the elite international jumping calendar.

Royal Windsor, which takes place in the second week of May, will not be able to display the top-tier five-star show jumpers after the BEF missed an International Equestrian Federation deadline last September to apply for the status.

Instead, the best performers will skip the Queen’s favourite equestrian event for two five-star shows in Madrid and La Baule in France. The error is likely to hugely disappoint the Queen, who “absolutely loves” the Royal Windsor show, a royal source said.

“The BEF have cocked up,” the source added. “The show has missed out on the highest level of status you could have which is extraordinary.

“It’s a huge event and very much a Royal family event – members of her family attend every year and the Queen loves mingling with the crowd. It is undoubtedly one of the most important events in her calendar.

“Prince Philip has competed, as has Lady Louise Windsor more recently.”

The show, based in the grounds of Windsor Castle, has invested heavily to reach the top tier. In May this year it staged the UK’S richest jumping Grand Prix, sponsored by Rolex with £125,000 to the winner.

The BEF is still negotiating with the International Equestrian Federation about the possibility of Windsor 2020 being able to stage jumping classes at the lower three or four star levels on its preferred dates.

Other disciplines in the show’s supporting programme, such as showing and carriage driving, are not affected.

“The show will still go on, but it has lost quite a lot of diamonds from its crown,” one insider said.

Founded in 1943 to raise funds for the war effort, Royal Windsor was attended by the then Princesses Elizabeth, who won the Pony and Dogcart class. It is one of the few annual occasions on which the private grounds of the castle are open to the public. A spokesman said the BEF “is well aware this will have a significant impact on both Royal Windsor Horse Show and the sport as a whole”.

The spokesman added: “The BEF … has put new processes in place to ensure it will not happen again. The entire BEF board offers its extreme regret and apologies for its error.”

The schedule mix-up comes just a few months after the Gatcombe Horse Trials, held in Princess Anne’s Gloucestershire estate for the past 29 years, announced that it was going to end.

“I told the Princess that I wanted to retire,” said Pattie Biden, the organiser.