Queen Elizabeth was a true-blue equestrian her entire life, and nothing got her talking faster than a good chat about horses. The late Queen struck up an unexpected friendship with California cowboy Monty Roberts in 1989 when she invited him to the U.K. to teach his gentle horse training methods. Roberts, who died at the age of 91 last week, kept in touch with Queen Elizabeth throughout the rest of her life, sharing hundreds of phone calls with the monarch. They became so close that he was one of the few people she’d take a call from at any time, including during a political meeting.
In a 2023 interview with the New York Post, Roberts revealed one hilarious interaction he had with the late Queen and a member of her staff when he gave her a ring.
He recalled calling and saying, “‘It’s Monty Roberts. I’d like to speak to the Queen,’ before a staff member said, “‘One moment please – the Queen is stuck in a meeting with the political people of Northern Ireland.’”
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Queen Camilla and Queen Elizabeth speak with Monty Roberts during his 2015 visit to the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Roberts said he’d call the following day, but then a familiar voice came on the line— and it seems his phone call was just the excuse Queen Elizabeth was looking for to escape.
“I said I’ll call back tomorrow afternoon and about that time I heard, ‘Monty how are you?’ I said, ‘Your Majesty, they told me you’re in a meeting—and she said, ‘I am in a meeting in Northern Ireland and was hoping for a way to get out of that meeting so now I’m in another room talking to you.’”
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“That was as close as I ever came to missing a call from her in 33 years,” he shared.
Monty Roberts died at age 91 on July 31.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
“I helped her [Queen Elizabeth] learn how to read that personality that horses have and do the things that cause them to be friendly with you and not a flight animal,” Roberts told the Post. “You cannot fool a horse. She believed me and my God, I would take a bullet before I would deceive her in any way.”
Queen Elizabeth was the one who encouraged him to write a book and go on tour around the U.K. training horses, with Roberts sharing, “She said, ‘I want you to go to every country possible. I want the world to know what you’re doing.”
Another member of the Royal Family who was touched by the horse trainer’s non-violent training methods was the Queen Mother.
“Queen Elizabeth’s mother came up to me with tears in her eyes,” Roberts said, recalling the first time he met the Royal Family at Windsor Castle and saddled some of their young horses. “She said that was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
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Queen Elizabeth II
