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INGRID SEWARD
King Charles’ horse ride will be more than just a symbolic show of strength – it shows he is fighting
Being on horseback is thought to be particularly significant for the King
THE King’s desire to be on horseback is especially significant. It is a reassurance more than just a symbolic show of strength.
When Charles leads the Trooping the Colour parade in June, it will be sending a message that all is well.
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His Majesty still has cancer, but he is fighting it and will continue to do so, alongside many of his subjects.
Last year, he led the parade and took the salute as King for the first time on his mare Noble.
She’s not as passive a mount as a more experienced horse might have been and it took the King’s considerable skill to keep her still.
Being on horseback is thought to be particularly significant for him. Like his late mother, the King is a fine horseman.
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“He is strong, and he has guts,” his former polo manager Major Ronald Ferguson once said.
But that was before he broke his elbow in 1990 after a hefty fall which left him with constant pain in his neck and his back — and before cancer.
The King could be one of the more fortunate cancer sufferers who do not experience the intense fatigue common among those receiving treatment.
He has been desperate to get out there and be seen, rather than being confined to meetings.
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The image of the King and Queen walking through the gardens of Buckingham Palace arm in arm on their wedding anniversary says it all.
However much Camilla has been criticised for once destroying Diana’s life, she is vindicated.
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She was loved and respected by the Queen because of the strength of her love for her son.
She will be telling him now how brave he is to go ahead with what he is doing while still undergoing treatment.
The King’s cancer diagnosis — and his ability to get on with life despite it — has earned him the kind of respect he could previously only dream of.
On Tuesday, when he visits the cancer treatment centre with Queen Camilla, he will be welcomed like the King he has become.
- Ingrid Seward is Editor in Chief of Majesty magazine and author of My Mother & I — the inside story of the King and our late Queen.
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