Queen Elizabeth’s Face “Only Really Lit Up” About Horses and One Surprising Topic, Says Novelist
Author Daphne du Maurier reflected on how the late Queen differed from Prince Philip in conversation.
Dogs and horses were always reliable topics when chatting with Queen Elizabeth, but according to novelist Daphne du Maurier, there was a more unexpected area of conversation that caused the late monarch to get excited.
In Elizabeth: an Intimate Portrait, biographer Gyles Brandreth wrote that du Maurier had a front-row seat to the goings-on of the Royal Family when her husband served as comptroller of Prince Philip’s household. She noted that she was “struck by the way Prince Philip could talk about anything—literature, art, murder, military manoeuvres—white the Queen’s range of interests—and conversation was much more limited.”
Brandreth added that “According to du Maurier, Her Majesty’s face only really ‘lit up’ when the talk was of horses—and world affairs.”
Queen Elizabeth attends the 1997 Royal Windsor Horse Show.
The late Queen rides horses with U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1982.
After being on the throne for 70 years, the late Queen saw an extraordinary amount of political change and also was “exceptionally well-informed,” Brandreth wrote, so world affairs was certainly a topic that she felt at home discussing.
The author shared one anecdote from a former private secretary that illustrated just how highly Queen Elizabeth valued the events other people might consider boring. "We have got the gathering of Commonwealth Auditors at Buckingham Palace coming up, Ma'am," Robin Janvrin recalled telling the late Queen, adding it was "not the most interesting event in the next two weeks."
Queen Elizabeth, however, felt differently. "On the contrary, Robin," said Her Majesty. "The auditors are the very people who can help stamp out corruption in their countries. This could be the most significant event of the next two weeks."
