The Queen was given her first horse, a Shetland pony named Peggy, aged four and began riding by the age of six. By her teens she was an accomplished horsewoman and is pictured here riding for the first time as monarch at Trooping the Colour in 1952.The Queen's love of horses spanned her life and she regularly attended race meetings. Here she attends the 1950 Derby at Epsom with younger sister Princess MargaretIn 1957, the Queen presented the Wimbledon singles title to Althea Gibson, the first African-American to win the SW19 titleTwo years later the Queen was in attendance at Wembley for the FA Cup final as Nottingham Forest beat Luton 2-1, and presented the trophy to victorious captain Jack BurkittThe Queen's finest moment at Wembley came in 1966 when she presented Bobby Moore with the Jules Rimet Trophy after England's 4-2 World Cup final win over West Germany1977 was a special year for the Queen. She celebrated her Silver Jubilee and was at Wimbledon on Ladies Singles final day as Virginia Wade won the titleThe Queen attended the Euro 96 final at Wembley between Germany and the Czech Republic. Germany, captained by Jurgen Klinsmann, became championsThe Queen is presented with the Jubilee Baton at the opening ceremony of the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester by David Beckham and fundraiser Kirsty HowardThere was success for England at the 2003 Rugby World Cup and the victorious squad, led by captain Martin Johnson and coach Clive Woodward, were given a Royal reception when they arrived back homeOn a tour of Slovenia in 2008, the Queen was invited to do the ceremonial puck drop at an ice hockey match between the Guildford Flames and Aquacity PopradThe Queen played a key role at the 2012 Olympic opening ceremony, starring in a short film with James Bond (Daniel Craig) before appearing to skydive into the stadium. She then formally opened the GamesThe Queen also officially opened the 2012 Paralympics and met 11-time Paralympic champion Baroness Tanni Grey-ThompsonWhen Estimate, with jockey Ryan Moore, won the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot in 2013, it was the first time a reigning monarch had owned the winner in 207 yearsEstimate was one of the Queen's most successful horses in the later years of her lifeThe Queen met South Africa's Bryan Habana and Australia's Henry Speight at a reception before the 2015 Rugby World CupTop jockey Ryan Moore enjoyed a chat with the Queen after his mount Twilight Son won the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2016Buckingham Palace was the venue for a reception hosted by the Queen in 2016 for medallists at the Rio Olympics and Paralympics, including boxing champion Nicola AdamsIn 2017, the Queen once again attended Royal Ascot and was part of the traditional daily carriage paradeThe Queen continued to attend Royal Ascot and was back to enjoy the action at the Berkshire course during June 2021In October 2021, the Queen started a global relay of the Commonwealth Games baton ahead of the event in Birmingham this summer. She passed it to Paralympic gold medallist Kadeena Cox who carried it on the first leg of its journey.
