By John Pricci — Queen Elizabeth II, the world’s longest-serving monarch and one of the most extraordinary people who ever strolled on the world stage and, as reported in the New York Times, “whose broadly popular seven-decade reign survived tectonic shifts in Britain’s post-imperial society and weathered successive challenges posed by the romantic choices, missteps and imbroglios of her descendants, died on Thursday at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, her summer retreat. She was 96.”
Our family, like many families around the world, will mourn her loss because, among all of the events that have touched her life, her devotion to Thoroughbred racing is one element I will always remember for her horsemanship and warm-hearted support of the widely celebrated Royal Ascot meeting each June. We loved her as she loved the game, and will not see her like again.
