That she is by now an icon of our time is a matter of fact. The Queen of England – Elizabeth II – has held the British monarchy together for seventy years, weathering scandals, wars, political leaders and social change unscathed, never losing her composure or her innate charisma. Yet there is something that has been an irreplaceable and ever-present help to the Queen throughout a life punctuated by grief and loss: her love of animals. Dogs and horses have, in fact, been a safe haven and a constant leitmotif for Elizabeth. And it is precisely this that we wish to explore with the help of a great expert on the world of the British royals: my friend Luisa Ciuni, author of a truly unmissable book on the human story of Elizabeth II — and on the most hidden aspects of her personality.

Elizabeth II and nature

In Elisabetta. L'ultima regina, Luisa Ciuni and Elena Mora retrace the story of a woman who is by now an undisputed figure of our time (even her recent haircut is setting trends — and, one might say, for a woman who has just turned 96 that is quite a record in itself). In the iconography surrounding this exceptional woman, her close relationship with nature and with animals — both domestic and wild — is well known.

"Elizabeth II has always lived among dogs and horses, while there is only one photograph of her with a cat," Luisa tells me. "Does she not like them? No — the Queen never reveals her own preferences. What is certain, though, is that she appreciates above all the company of domestic animals (no eccentricities for her) and loves the wildlife she has enjoyed for years primarily at Balmoral, her estate in Scotland, which is teeming with it. The herds of deer that roam the vast park are famous. Despite this, hunting parties are often organised on her estates — at Balmoral, for instance, where salmon fishing is also practised. The Queen asks only one thing: that the meat not be wasted. Whatever is not eaten is sold to the butcher's shop in the nearby village."

A Queen who keeps a close eye on expenses, then, but certainly with an ecological sensibility shaped by her 96 years — one that still favours hunting and fishing in keeping with good Anglo-Saxon tradition. "As for furs, she no longer buys any and has given instructions that all the trimmings on her garments be made from sustainable fabrics. She continues to wear the old ones because they already exist and it would be a shame to throw them away," Ciuni adds.

The Queen and her dogs, inseparable companions

The image of the Queen walking surrounded by her corgi dogs is as much a part of Elizabeth's iconography as her handbag and her hats. But the Windsors have always been passionate dog lovers — as, indeed, have a good many of the English. "When her father George VI gives her her first corgi — a puppy named Dookie — the family already has six other dogs of various breeds. To keep Dookie company, Lady Jane arrives, beginning a story between this breed and Her Majesty that continues to this day. Alongside her corgis, Elizabeth occasionally also raises a few 'fruits of sin' — generally crosses between her own dogs and the dachshunds belonging to her mother or her daughter Anne — which are called dorgis."

"Today's dorgi is called Candy and is very old. She keeps company with Muick and Sandy, two corgis given as a gift by the Duke of York. A third, which was given to her as a puppy in an attempt to console her after the death of the Duke of Edinburgh, died almost immediately, leaving her inconsolable," Luisa tells me. Even though she swore she wanted no more puppies at her venerable age, the Queen has not kept the promise she made to herself. And another little dog — a female, it seems — has been her constant companion for nearly a year now, an inseparable presence on royal journeys and official visits. Among the at least fifty corgis Elizabeth has raised, the figure of Susan stands out above all — the most beloved of her dogs, who even has a grave bearing words of sadness and regret. The dogs that surround the Queen today are almost all her descendants.

For as long as she was able, Elizabeth walked every day with her dogs, for whom she prescribes homoeopathic treatments herself ("if they do me good, they'll do them good too," she has explained) and whom she feeds a natural, home-prepared diet. The dogs all sleep together in a dedicated room just outside the royal apartments — within eyeshot, one might say, but also within earshot should one of the little ones have a problem in the night and demand attention.

A passion for horses

If Elizabeth loves dogs, that love is nothing compared to what she feels for horses — her true hobby, her pleasure, her great passion. Even today, laughter, cheering and gestures of frustration are things we see from her only at Ascot or at other racing events, the only occasions on which she loses her sovereign composure. "Elizabeth would have liked to be a breeder had her life taken a different course, and for many years, together with Lord Henry Porchester, Earl of Carnarvon, manager of her stables (and, incidentally, owner of the famous Downton Abbey), she stole time away from the beloved Balmoral solely to tour the finest breeding establishments in Europe and around the world in search of thoroughbreds for her stables — much to the irritation of Prince Philip, who considered it a waste of time. The monarch's passion for horses began when she was still a child, when she managed to amass no fewer than thirty wooden horses, which she fed and put to bed every evening. At the age of four, her father gave her a pony named Peggy," explains Luisa Ciuni.

Elizabeth's first steps on horseback are not easy. She is thrown against a tree, and on another occasion takes a hoof to the jaw, but nothing stops her — and this seems to be a dominant trait of her character. She rides with just a headscarf on, and until recently she would go out riding whenever her commitments allowed. English newspapers have recently reported that she continues her morning rides, but there are no photographs of these outings.

A piece of history

"Her favourite horse was Burmese, a gift from the Canadian Mounted Police and the last stallion of her life, before she had to return to riding ponies. Then there was Sanction and the beloved Betsy. A story of unbridled passion," Ciuni recalls now. And, as always, the indomitable Elizabeth sets the standard even when it comes to the love of animals, inspiring those who follow her as a role model and cherish her as a figure of our time.

"In my view, the English have had a relationship with animals that goes back far longer than ours and is more evolved. And Elizabeth, who is the symbol of the Anglo-Saxon people, is living proof of this. In Italy it is only a few years since people began talking about animal rights, and very often in everyday life animals are made to be too similar to humans, which does them no good. And let us not even get started on the phenomenon of buying a dog or a cat as a gift, a whim or a mere status symbol. We should learn more, not only from the English, and launch cultural campaigns to raise awareness of the animal world and how to live alongside it," concludes Luisa. And, I would add, we should always take our cue from this indomitable woman who, through her life, has become the embodiment of what can be achieved through dedication, hard work, love and sacrifice.