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French President Emmanuel Macron said his country would make a present of a horse to Queen Elizabeth II to mark the celebrations of her 70 years on the throne.
The Elysee said Macron decided to give the queen, a known horse lover, a 7-year-old grey gelding named Fabuleu de Maucour belonging to the largely ceremonial French Republican Guard. It was delivered to Windsor Castle on June 1.
The horse was trained to carry the standard-bearer of the Guard. It paraded on Paris’ Champs-Elysees avenue on May 8, ahead of the presidential cortege, for the ceremony marking the anniversary of the victory of the Allied forces over Nazi Germany in World War II.
Macron paid a formal homage to the queen on June 2 during a flame rekindling ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe monument. He laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, in the presence of British Ambassador to France Menna Rawlings. Both the British and the French national anthems were played, the Elysee said.
From June 2 and June 5, the United Kingdom and Commonwealth nations celebrated Elizabeth’s 70 years on the throne, an anniversary known as her Platinum Jubilee.
Elizabeth, then 25, became queen on Feb. 6, 1952, following the death of her father, King George VI. Her formal coronation took place on June 2, 1953, in Westminster Abbey, but her reign began the moment her father died.
Now 96, she is Britain’s longest-reigning monarch and the first to reach seven decades on the throne.
This article was provided by The Associated Press.