Her Majesty's Pleasure: How Horse Racing Reveals the Queen

Winner of Horse Racing Book of the Year in the presitigious British Sports Book Awards in 2013. In no other avenue of her life is the Queen as relaxed as she is on the racecourses of Britain. Her passion for the Turf finds expression in her patronage of Royal Ascot and the Derby. Less well documented is the joy she derives from spending time with thoroughbreds and the myriad human characters in the sport. Plainly at ease in their company, she enjoys nothing more than 'talking horses' in the way trainers and jockeys do on a daily basis. In this respect, horse racing is in a privileged position. It has been afforded a unique insight into Her Majesty at her leisure. From visits to horsemen in her employ and her regular contact with them has emerged a rare portrait: one free of the shackles of official duty, and one in which the Queen's delight in the Sport of Kings is the overriding image. Julian Muscat goes behind the scenes with all the Queen's men to bring to life this portrait of Her Majesty in her element. Interspersed with the history of her patronage of racing are numerous anecdotes of how her passion manifests itself in everyday circumstances. It enunciates the Queen's joy from the inside out.