King Charles III will sell 14 racehorses that belonged to Queen Elizabeth II at Tattersalls auction house in Newmarket on Monday.
Despite a brief spell as an amateur jockey in the 1980s, the king is less enamoured of horseracing than his late mother who was an equine devotee and loved both riding horses and attending race meets.
Among the mares being sold are Love Affairs and the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Just Fine.
Sir Michael's regal pedigree is well-established having trained over 100 royal winners.
“It's nothing out of the ordinary. Every year they would sell horses.,” said Tattersall's spokesman Jimmy George.
“The queen had brood mares of her own, she would breed them and sell them. You can't keep them all.”
Despite Mr George saying the sale doesn't mean the king is scaling back Queen Elizabeth's racing operation, there have been suggestions to the contrary.
While some of the royal stud would be sold each year, 14 represents a third of the queen's 37-strong collection of brood mares, a higher number than would usually be auctioned.
And earlier this month Queen Elizabeth's long-serving racing manager, John Warren, announced he was leaving the royal fold to work for Bahraini royal circles.
The much respected Mr Warren had been in post for 13 years and was a close of friend of the queen. He spoke to her before her death at Balmoral last month.
“We sat there for hours strategising and making plans going forward, I think the nicest thing for me is to know that she was surrounded by her family members,” he told the PA news agency at the time.
The queen inherited Sandringham's racehorse breeding centre from her father King George VI but Mr Warren said she would have discovered her passion for horses regardless.
Her first riding lesson was reportedly taken at age 3 at the private riding school in Buckingham Palace Mews.
She was 4 when her grandfather, King George V, gave her a Shetland pony called Peggy.
“I'm sure if the queen had not been bred into being a monarch she would have found a vocation with horses. It was just simply in her DNA,” he said.
The queen with horses — in pictures
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Queen Elizabeth at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in Berkshire in May 2011. The queen, who had a lifelong passion for horses, was a keen racegoer as well as a successful owner and breeder who enjoyed many notable triumphs. AFP -
An undated photo of Princess Elizabeth at Sandringham. AFP -
The queen in May 2013 with Harlequin on a visit to the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery at Woolwich Barracks in south-east London. AFP -
A young Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles in the park at Windsor Castle. AFP -
Queen Elizabeth in May 2020 rides Balmoral Fern, a 14-year-old fell pony, in Windsor Home Park. AFP -
Queen Elizabeth at Ascot in an event reserved for guests of Windsor Castle, June 1961. AFP -
Queen Elizabeth at the Royal Horse Show in Windsor, Berkshire in May 2008. Horses, like dogs, were the queen's lifelong love and she had an incredible knowledge of breeding and bloodlines. Whether it was racing thoroughbreds or ponies, she showed an unfailing interest. PA Photo -
Former US president Ronald Reagan with Queen Elizabeth in Windsor Home Park while staying as a guest of the queen. PA Photo -
Queen Elizabeth and her daughter Anne, the Princess Royal, near Windsor Castle where members of the royal family had gathered to mourn the death of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, who died in 2002. PA Photo -
Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh, left, with a Lippizaner at the stables of the Lipica Stud during their state visit to Slovenia in January 2008. PA -
Queen Elizabeth on the racecourse before the opening of the third day of the Royal Ascot meeting, where she took part in an unofficial 'race' and finished fourth to other members of her party of seven. June 1960. PA -
Queen Elizabeth in Hyde Park, London, during a visit in 1970 to mark the 70th anniversary of the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery. PA -
Queen Elizabeth during a Trooping of the Colour ceremony at Horse Guard's Parade, London, June 1952. AFP -
Queen Elizabeth arriving in Hyde Park in London to mark the 70th anniversary of the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery in October 2017. PA -
Queen Elizabeth riding side-saddle as she returns to Buckingham Palace, London, after attending the Trooping the Colour ceremony on Horse Guards Parade in June 1993. PA
