Seventy years of reign but 96 years of life.
Throughout her life, Queen Elizabeth II, who died on Thursday September 8, has accumulated many passions.
During her many outings, the Queen has always hinted at the activities that animated her life, not depriving herself to indulge in their practice.
Return five public or more secret passions of the one who will remain an emblematic figure of the United Kingdom.
1. Corgis
It is undoubtedly the most cult passion of the one whose longevity as a monarch has broken all records across the Channel.
Her unbreakable bond with this species of dog would have been born in 1933, when Elisabeth was only 7 years old.
The royal family then welcomes Dookie, the first corgi to set foot on Buckingham Palace.
Eleven years later, George V, Elisabeth's father gave her his own dog on the occasion of her 18th birthday.
It is again a corgi that she will name Susan and who will have her first litter of two puppies three years later.
This is the beginning of a long line of nearly 30 royal corgis, which will span 14 generations of Aristochians, accompanying the Queen during her reign.
With their own room, meals prepared by a chef served by Elisabeth herself every day at 5 p.m. and the many walks with the Queen, the royal canine line will never cease to be pampered.
If the queen has never ceased to cherish the corgis, the royal line that she maintained until April 2018 was extinguished with the death of Willow, suffering from cancer.
With her health declining, the monarch wished she left none of her four-legged companions behind after her death.
2. Horses
Everyone is aware of Elizabeth II's passion for horse riding and horse racing.
She will also have received many leaders different species of nags from all over the world when she left the United Kingdom for a diplomatic visit.
On the occasion of her platinum jubilee, on June 2, 2022, she also became the owner of a French horse named Fabuleu de Maucour, one of the most beautiful horses of the Republican Guard.
And the queen's knowledge of the horses in her stables would be encyclopaedic.
She knows their names, their origins, their prowess and their prizes by heart, a feat when you consider that they have won more than 1,700 races.
It was at 4 years old that the young monarch was offered her first horse.
During the many horse races she will attend during her life, the Queen will sometimes indulge in cries, strong movements arms in the air or many outpourings of joy or anger.
Like what, the queen's thoroughbreds will be the only ones capable of making her lose her legendary composure.
3. Hats
It's hard to imagine the Queen of England without her endless collection of colorful hats, released and matching each of her outings.
Her hats strictly matched her outfit, crowning her regal skull in all circumstances.
Each appearance of the heiress to the British throne was an early lesson in
color blocking
.
This passion is the sign of the era during which the Queen was born more than from her
fashion victim
side .
Until the end of the 1940s, going out bareheaded was a sign of poverty and neglect for a woman, and Elisabeth knew how to prove that she paid attention to her image in public.
But her attraction to headgear doesn't mean she was capable of wearing just about anything.
The attributes she placed on her skull met precise specifications so as not to bother her during her travels.
Neither too high nor too wide and above all there is no question of hiding his face.
4. Walking
Fifteen kilometers.
It is the distance the queen walks each day that is said to have helped keep her fit for all the years of her life.
Of course, it was her faithful corgis that allowed her to satisfy this need for movement, since she took part in a daily outing with her four-legged friends.
Long ignored, the march will have accompanied Elisabeth when she was still accompanied by Prince Philip and until her last years.
It was the Queen's grandson, Prince William, who revealed this "crazy" passion in the columns of the
Daily Express
.
5. Gastronomy
Little is known, but Elizabeth II was born in a house located at 17 Bruton Street in London, where a high-end Chinese restaurant now resides.
No wonder then that she developed a passion for the fork during her life, although she only succumbed to it in the company of her guests in order to keep her figure.
Only seasonal fruits and vegetables, meat cooked to perfection, a minimum of starch and above all, never garlic or onion because it gives bad breath.
Throughout her reign, the Queen continued to accumulate instructions for her kitchen staff.
This information was revealed by Darren McGrady, who was the monarch's personal chef for 11 years, in an interview with the
Daily Mail
on November 11, 2021.
But Elisabeth's cute sin was her "
chocolate biscuit cake
", a cake made of biscuits and chocolate.
This all-consuming passion forced his staff to prepare it every day.
When she moved, one of these sweets was never far away.
The legend also says that she never refused a glass of champagne and that she held alcohol like no one else.
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