Queen Elizabeth II Windsor of Great Britain has been ruling the United Kingdom since 1953.She lives in castles, palaces and estates, wears jewelry with diamonds, and keeps purebred horses.
Her Majesty’s favorite horse was the Akhalteke racehorse Melekush, which was presented to Elizabeth in 1956 by Soviet Secretary General Nikita Khrushchev.The gift delighted the royal groom, who repeated: “A wonderful horse.
Quite unusual”.
The Queen herself is an excellent rider. She loves horses and horseback riding, during which she refuses to wear a jockey’s helmet, instead covering her head with a silk kerchief.
Elizabeth’s favorite event is the Royal Horse Racing, which takes place every year in Ascot. Women and men from different British cities prepare for this event several months in advance. Here the elite of the local aristocracy and the main representatives of the royal family gather.
Many bookmakers organize a sweepstake not related to the races everyone is invited to guess what color the queen’s hat will be this time.
Elizabeth II herself loves to bet on the races and often wins. In 2018, according to the estimates of the British Horse Racing Authority, the Queen received income from the victories of her horses in the amount of 583 thousand dollars.
In addition to horse racing, Her Majesty and her close relatives like fishing. The Queen used to spend quite a lot of time in nature with a spinning rod in her hands. She got used to this as a child, when she lived in Scotland at the estate of her mother, who was also a passionate fisherwoman.
Another important daily ritual in Her Majesty’s family is the tea ceremony.
Elizabeth also likes to drive cars. She learned the art of driving during the Second World War, when she served in the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service.
Over the years of her reign, the fleet of the head of state has owned various luxurious cars, including the 2001 Daimler Super V-8, made to order.
In recent years, the monarch has been driving a Range Rover or Jaguar without ever wearing a seatbelt. She drives on the roads of the royal estates in Scotland or when she returns to the castle after Sunday service at the Church of All Saints in the Windsor Park.
Of course, there can be no question of getting to the official event herself: Elizabeth II has to greet her subjects and tourists, waving her hand.
Another hobby of the Queen is the family tradition of collecting postage stamps.The Windsors have been collecting rare stamps since the early 19th century.The uniqueness of the collection is that it contains a copy of every stamp ever produced in Great Britain.
The only missing stamp is British Guiana.This unique stamp was sold several years ago at Sotheby’s for 9.48 million dollas.
To maintain the royal lifestyle, the Queen and her family need about 400 million dollars a year.These funds go to maintain residences, cover expenses for salaries of royal servants, travel of members of the royal family, as well as information support the head of state has accounts on social networks, including Instagram.
At the same time, the expenses for security and royal ceremonies are derived from other sources.By the way, the money that the head of state wins at the races is recognized as a separate item of income.
Well, the income from tourists who come to see how the Windsors live contributes to the treasury over 700 million dollars a year.
ORIENT news