Queen Elizabeth’s groom remembers her last ride on his beloved pony Emma

Queen Elizabeth's long-time stable boy and riding companion tells the story of her last ride on her Fell pony Emma ahead of the second anniversary of the ruler's death.

Terry Pendry worked with the Queen for over 28 years as her groom and manager at Windsor Castle and reported on their last horse riding trip together in the September 6 episode of Gyles Brandreth's The Queen. Rosebud Podcast. The late Queen was a passionate horsewoman throughout her life and continued riding throughout the summer before her death in September 2022.

“The very last time we took her out was not a ride, I walked,” Pendry began when Brandreth asked her about their last ride together. “The very last day she rode was July 18th, on the 16th she rode at the riding school. She was very, very frail. She could go up to the mounting block and get on Emma, ​​but I always had to lift her off.”

Looking back on the Queen's horse ride on July 18, Pendry said the monarch made a surprising comment as they set off together.

“She climbed up to Emma and I stood up and walked around with her. She looked down at me [and said]”This hasn't happened to me since I was a princess… Having someone walk by my side like this,” he said.

He recalled offering to leave the queen alone or to get another horse to ride alongside her. He said the ruler insisted he stay and agreed when he asked her to take a photograph of her for her scrapbook.

“I said, 'Your bangs are 26, you're 96, that's got to be a record!'” Pendry said of the joke he told her, adding that the Queen replied, “'I guess you're right.'”

The manager of the Royal Mews said that Queen Elizabeth made an unexpected one-time visit on July 19 before heading to Balmoral Castle in Scotland, stopping by “for a chat and a final goodbye to Emma. Whether she was out and about thinking about things, I don't know, I really don't know,” he said. While she was there, she let him know what she thought of his joke!

“She just looked at me and said, 'You were very rude to me yesterday,'” to which he apologized and asked why. Pendry recalled, “She said, 'You said my age,' and then burst out laughing. That was just her. The last time I ever saw her.”

Pendry even introduced Emma to Brandreth at the Rosebud Consequence.

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Queen Elizabeth died at Balmoral on September 8, 2022, at the age of 96, and it was an emotional scene as Emma and Pendry watched her funeral procession at Windsor Castle on September 19. The Chief Groom and the monarch's beloved mount, which she rode and loved in her later years, stood to the side as the coffin passed.

In a tear-jerking gesture, the stable masters even attached something to the pony's saddle that looked like one of the ruler's usual riding headscarves.

A month after the Queen's death and the accession to the throne of her son King Charles, Buckingham Palace confirmed the future plans for their special horse.

“Over the past fifteen years, Queen Elizabeth has regularly ridden Emma in her spare time for light exercise in the grounds around Windsor Castle,” the palace said in a statement, showing a portrait of the bridled pony standing calmly.

“Emma will continue to receive lots of love and care at the Royal Mews in Windsor and will be regularly trained by the small, dedicated team,” it said.