Inside the boot camp for the King’s 100 horses as they prepare for ride of their lives at the Coronation
THEIR thick, unkempt coats are caked with mud, but the holidays are well and truly over for all the King’s horses.
Because all the King’s men — and women — of the Household Cavalry have just 100 days to transform these wild-looking creatures so they are ready for their part in history.
By May 6, the black chargers of the Household Cavalry have to be groomed to perfection for their starring role at the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla.
Every winter, the 100 ceremonial horses of the Lifeguards and Blues and Royals spend three months running and rolling in fields.
This year, though, they are being brought in a month early to prepare for the Coronation.
The Sun was given exclusive access to the military stables near Melton Mowbray, Leics, as the first of the King’s horses returned to their London base this week.
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On Tuesday, the first 25 were given a veterinary check to make sure they were OK to be loaded into horse boxes for the 120-mile journey to Hyde Park Barracks. The rest will be shipped in the coming days.
‘They loved charging and rolling around the fields’
Trooper Bright Danso, 29, from Ghana, joined the Lifeguards a year ago. After leading his horse Thor on to the truck, he said: “This year is going be extremely busy.
“It would be my dream to take part in the Coronation. It would be an absolute privilege to be involved.”
Tomorrow the hard work will begin getting them in shape and fit enough to spend four hours on duty at ceremonial events throughout the summer.
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Trooper Kieran Cheney, of Uckfield, East Sussex, said: “The horses have loved their two months here charging and rolling around the fields but the holidays are well and truly over.
“They have months of hard work ahead of them, including the King’s first-ever Birthday Parade in June.”
The pinnacle for the horses will be the Coronation, although final details of the Cavalry’s role have yet to be announced.
Sources say the military will play an even bigger part than at last year’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations or the Queen’s funeral last September.
There will also be an RAF fly-past — expected to be even more spectacular than the six-minute Jubilee tribute when 70 planes flew over Buckingham Palace.
In charge of this week’s operation was Lance Corporal of Horse, Owen Watkins. He often rides Sizzler MC, a nine-year-old Lifeguards horse named after regimental hero Major Shaun “Sizzler” Fry, who in 2006 won the Military Cross for gallantry in Afghanistan. Major Fry was a Corporal of Horse back then, but like all members of the Household Cavalry also saw active service.
He was a forward controller, like Prince Harry, and after a six-hour fire fight with the Taliban he managed to call in Allied planes to protect his men and allow them to escape by helicopter.
A few days later, despite being wounded by shrapnel, he climbed on to a roof to once again call in aerial reinforcements to save the lives of his men.
LCoH Watkins, 38, from Cromer, Norfolk, said: “Every Trooper has a favourite horse, for whatever reason. Maybe it’s their personality or their looks. For me it is Sizzler MC. He’s named after a very brave man and Sizzler has always looked after me.
“Each Trooper does feel a bond with their horses. When they go to training in riding school they will get assigned a horse to learn to ride on, which they are responsible for from 6am until 4pm.
“When they get to London they will probably have three or four horses to groom a day.”
For those horses, the transformation from chubby wild thing to sleek star of ceremonial parades can take up to ten weeks.
LCoH Watkins added: “They will be washed, clipped and their manes and tails pulled so they look correct. Then we will work on their fitness and stamina to endure the longer parades of three to four hours.
“They will be walked around twice a day for 15 or 20 minutes as part of the build-up programme. On week one we will sit on them for half an hour, building up to an hour by week nine or ten.”
‘It would be an immense honour’
The four horses pictured above are old hands at royal events.
They all took part in last summer’s stunning four-day jamboree to mark the Queen’s 70 years on the throne, including Trooping the Colour and the Jubilee Parade. They were also on duty during Operation London Bridge — accompanying the Queen’s coffin on her final journey.
Jaipur is now 19 and a veteran of dozens of state occasions.
He is only one year younger than his handler, Trooper Lewis Jones, from Barnstaple, Devon, who said: “Jaipur is one of our most experienced horses and it would be an immense honour if he got to take part in the Coronation.”
Each new intake of cavalry horses are given names that begin with the same letter.
Those beginning with V are around six years old and among the youngest on parade.
Valerian is led by Trooper Andrew Tipton, 29, from Halesowen, West Mids. While Trooper Joseph Lalrinhlua, 23, from Mizoram in North East India, took Valiant.
And Trooper Josh Willis, 20, was looking after Blues and Royals’ horse Vulcan.
Josh, who was born in Grantham, Lincs, moved to New Zealand with his family as a boy.
But when he turned 18 he returned to the UK to make his dream of becoming a cavalryman come true.
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As well as the Queen’s funeral and the Jubilee, Josh also took part in the Queen’s musical ride at Windsor.
He said: “I’d love to take part in the Coronation. It would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
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MEDALS LIST CUT
AROUND 5,000 servicemen and women on duty on Saturday, May 6, will receive a Coronation Medal, featuring the King and Queen’s heads. It will have a blue ribbon with white and red stripes.
The medal will be almost identical to the one issued in 1937 when King Charles’s grandfather and grandmother were crowned, right. But a row is looming over costs.
Event planners originally wanted to award 400,000 medals to anyone who had served five years in the military, the police, fire or ambulance service, which is what happened for the Jubilee.
But to keep down costs, the organisers are looking at only handing out 5,000 to those who take part in the ceremony.
A source said: “It is anticipated that there will be a great fuss if it is restricted to just those on parade.
“Organisations like the military, the police and the prison service have grown used to getting a medal if they have done five years’ service – and they may not be getting one.”
SCHOOL KNIGHTS
AS part of King Charles’s modernisation of centuries-old Coronation traditions, school children will replace aristocrats and diplomats at the event.
In 1953, four Knights of the Garter held up the corners of a silk canopy that hid the Queen from the cameras at the solemn moment when the Archbishop of Canterbury anointed her with holy oil, right.
This time the canopy will be replaced by a screen, held by four senior school pupils, that will keep King Charles and Queen Camilla out of sight of cameras.
At the Queen’s Coronation, High Commissioners carried their country’s standards down the aisle at Westminster Abbey.
But this time school children, wearing choir-style cassocks, will replace the High Commissioners and carry the standards instead.