THE COUNTRYFILE <\/em>PRESENTER GOES BEHIND THE SCENES ON HIS SHOWS AND FAMILY FARM<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A MAJESTIC AFFECTION FOR ANIMALS<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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I don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything more levelling than animals; they simply don\u2019t care who we are or where we are from. Considering what I have experienced of the Royal Family\u2019s love of animals over the years, it was no surprise for me to see Her Majesty the Queen with two beautiful white fell ponies in her most recent photo portrait. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n
Behind the curtain of ceremony, I\u2019ve been lucky enough to experience the Royal Family\u2019s passion for animals first-hand. <\/p>\n\n
I remember my very first meeting with the Queen; as soon as we got on to the subject of my Blue <\/em>Peter <\/em>dog Meg, and the fact that I grew up on a farm, the tone of our encounter changed sharpish. The Queen was fascinated to hear how, as a working sheep-dog, Meg coped with the <\/span>Blue <\/em>Peter <\/em>studio. Our monarch just got it and understood my challenges dealing with Meg\u2019s herding instincts.<\/p>\n\n
\u201c I\u2019ve been lucky to experience the Royal Family\u2019s passion for animals first-hand\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n
Her Majesty the Queen has a lifelong love of horses and learnt to ride at the age of three <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
Seeing that recent photo of the Queen took me back to 2018 and the lawns of Windsor Castle, where I took another of the Queen\u2019s fell ponies, Emma, for a walk in the grounds. A highlight for me was mucking out her stable \u2013 the ultimate claim to fame for someone who loves a pitchfork as much as I do. <\/p>\n\n
Back in the day, after work and between Blue <\/em>Peter <\/em>shoots, I used to go to help exercise the Household Cavalry horses in Hyde Park and ride out with the King\u2019s Troop on exercise, practising for the ceremonial gun salutes.<\/p>\n\n
I also went carriage driving with the late Prince Philip\u2019s team of horses, and sensed his passion for the sport and experienced the power of his animals. I have also filmed with the Prince of Wales on Home Farm. Again, we had a passionate conversation about heritage farmanimal breeds, which led to me buying some of His Royal Highness\u2019s Hebridean sheep. They are still going strong in our flock to this day. <\/p>\n\n
What I love about conversation like this is how it leads to fascinating insights into the type of animals people are fond of. During a filming trip to Sandringham, I was surprised to discover the Queen\u2019s passion for pigeons when I was fortunate enough to visit the royal pigeon loft. Her Majesty is patron of quite a few pigeon-racing societies, including the Royal Pigeon Racing Association and the National Flying Club. <\/p>\n\n
In fact, I loved that loft so much that I have since built a similar walk-in design of indoor pens for our chickens on the farm. Which, if I ever get the chance to meet the Queen again, I will tell her about \u2013 and we can pick up where we left off, talking about the animals! <\/p>\n\n
\n\n
Watch Matt on Countryfile, <\/em>Sunday nights on BBC One. <\/p>\n\n
A majestic affection for animals <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":16696,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"107","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"107","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_107-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_107-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"June-2022","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"June-2022","purple_external_id":"June-2022-107-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"June-2022-107-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000084057||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000084057||","purple_android_product":"com.im.countryfile.191","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.countryfile.191","purple_ios_product":"com.im.countryfile.191","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.countryfile.191","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"91da22fd-9e7f-40d1-a93f-fc46e9516d91","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2022-06-09T12:59:23Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"02d97500-2be0-4c00-a394-f52336f42825","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2022-06-10T08:34:31Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AAtl1ACvgTACjlPUjNvQoJQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":true,"apple_news_is_preview":true,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"[]"},"categories":[33],"tags":[14],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/05\/cb184d3f-c2f9-4407-932c-1f91e804dcc2.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/05\/cb184d3f-c2f9-4407-932c-1f91e804dcc2.jpg",573,700,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/05\/cb184d3f-c2f9-4407-932c-1f91e804dcc2-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/05\/cb184d3f-c2f9-4407-932c-1f91e804dcc2-246x300.jpg",246,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/05\/cb184d3f-c2f9-4407-932c-1f91e804dcc2.jpg",573,700,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/05\/cb184d3f-c2f9-4407-932c-1f91e804dcc2.jpg",573,700,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/05\/cb184d3f-c2f9-4407-932c-1f91e804dcc2.jpg",573,700,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/05\/cb184d3f-c2f9-4407-932c-1f91e804dcc2.jpg",573,700,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"A majestic affection for animals","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16699"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16699"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17089,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16699\/revisions\/17089"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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