Queen Elizabeth II died at her Balmoral estate in Scotland at the age of 96. She was 25 years old when she assumed the throne in 1952. One of her greatest achievements came in the early 1990s when she became the first British monarch to address a joint session of the United States Congress. In her speech, she underscored the special relationship between the U.S. and the UK. She will be remembered most for stabilizing the royal family when there was no certainty the monarchy would survive any longer, and for her perseverance and willingness to embrace change. Her son, Prince Charles, has become King and other members of the Royal Family have increased responsibilities.
She was the longest reigning monarch in British history, but she was also a lover of cattle and horses.
It is no secret that the Queen was a lover of cattle, according to the Acreage Life. In 1953, Queen Elizabeth’s fold of Highland cattle was founded. They roam the 50,000 acres surrounding the Balmoral Castle. She is even considered one of the United Kingdom’s top highland breeders, and some of her cattle’s bloodline can be traced back to the reign of Queen Victoria, who received cows as a gift in 1871. Because she did not like the color, Queen Victoria told her breeders she preferred it be changed from distinctive red to black.
The Royal farms are also home to Jersey and Sussex cattle. According to the Queen herself, the Jersey cow is certainly fit for a Queen! According to the book, The Dairy Queen - A History of the Jersey Breed Worldwide, her Majesty maintained one of the oldest herds of Registered Jersey cattle at Windsor.
Though some of her horses never won races, one of her other prized animals picked up the first-place ribbon earlier this year. Three-year-old Highland cattle bull, Gusgurlach of Balmoral, won the top prize at the Royal Highland Cattle for the second consecutive year, according to The Telegraph. He is one of eight bulls in her fold, which includes 65 breeding cows and 30 females.
I bet being the Queen’s cattle is a nice life!
The love for animals does not stop there. She has always been an avid equestrienne and fell in love with Fell ponies, a breed native to Britain, around the age of 4 and was riding horseback by 6. The breed is rare in the United States but is admired for being versatile and quite beautiful. She was also fond of the Thoroughbred horse and attended week-long Royal Ascot races, in which her horses succeeded in. It is said that Her Majesty owned more than 100 horses. For her 96th birthday, her official portrait is of her with her stunning white Fell ponies, Bybeck Nightingale and Bybeck Katie, according to Metro.
Her Majesty currently holds the title to more than 6 billion acres of land throughout the world. In the United Kingdom, her real estate operations are valued at more than $16 billion in property; this includes Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, and Kensington Palace.
According to Mirror, at a young age, she told her nanny, Crawfie, that when she grew up, she would like to be a farmer’s wife.
