Sometimes, I’ll come across a phrase which just delights me to no end. This week, that phrase is “horse chintz.” Isn’t that a great phrase and description? Here in America, with the prevalence of Yiddish (gifted to us from the immigrant community), we would probably say “horse tchotchkes.” Well, over her lifetime, Queen Elizabeth II developed an enormous collection of horse chintz. That’s what happens when you’re known for having one particular interest or hobby: you’re always going to get gifts related to that one hobby. QEII loved horses, and people would always give her horse-related trinkets, paintings, sculptures, jewelry, etc. Now QEII’s “horse chintz” is being cleared out and put in storage by King Charles. Per the Telegraph: “Late Queen’s horse chintz is heir today, gone tomorrow after Charles’s clear out.”
Queen Elizabeth II was passionate about horses. Her son and heir, less so. The King has banished part of his late mother’s huge collection of equestrian bronzes, portraits and trophies to the basement as he seeks to furnish the royal residences to his own taste.
The equine ornaments are said to have cluttered the corridors at both Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace, but sources reveal that many have now been unceremoniously placed in storage. Photographs taken in the late Queen’s private apartment at Windsor suggest that it was packed with mementos to commemorate her great passion.
Sources say there are equestrian paintings, statues and sculptures of all periods at virtually every royal residence, including at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, both on prominent public display and in private areas. One admitted: “As The King spends more time at Buckingham Palace and Windsor a small number of items of decorative arts are gradually being rearranged as you would expect.” They insisted that a “ very significant number” chosen by the late Queen remain.
The Queen’s passion for all things equine-related provided useful inspiration for world leaders and others buying her gifts. So much so that a large proportion of the official gifts presented from world leaders revolved around her favourite four-legged animals.
The Telegraph then went on to detail just how many horse-related gifts QEII received from world leaders, and it really is staggering. In addition to all of those horse bronzes, horse paintings and horse gear, many Middle Eastern royals gifted her actual horses too. She was known for that one thing and people around the world were like “yes, I know exactly what to get her!” Is Charles known for one thing? What will world leaders give him? Plants? Seeds? Suitcases full of cash? Anyway, it makes perfect sense that Charles would want his twenty million homes to reflect his tastes, his passions. I’ve read before that he prefers dark, womb-like interiors and everything very staid and fussy.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instagram.
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- Queen Elizabeth II receives General Sir Nick Carter, Chief of the Defence Staff, during an audience in the Oak Room at Windsor Castle, Berkshire. General Sir Nick is relinquishing his role as the Chief of Defence Staff at the end of this month.,Image: 643610011, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Steve Parsons / Avalon
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- Queen Elizabeth II during an audience with President of Switzerland Ignazio Cassis at Windsor Castle. Picture date: Thursday April 28, 2022.,Image: 686853114, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- Queen Elizabeth II during an audience with President of Switzerland Ignazio Cassis at Windsor Castle. Picture date: Thursday April 28, 2022.,Image: 686853133, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- The Prince of Wales, known as the Duke of Rothesay when in Scotland, views a model of a memorial by the Seafarers Memorial Group in Wick after meeting volunteers and supporters of Caithness food bank at Carnegie Library in Wick, to hear more about the vital support they provide to those in need in Caithness and Sutherland through the provision of food and other essentials.,Image: 710805069, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Andrew Milligan / Avalon
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- LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 22: (L-R) King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort during the State Banquet at Buckingham Palace on November 22, 2022 in London, England. This is the first state visit hosted by the UK with King Charles III as monarch, and the first state visit here by a South African leader since 2010.,Image: 739545375, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- King Charles III during a luncheon for Members of the Order of Merit at Buckingham Palace, London. Picture date: Thursday November 24, 2022.,Image: 739915338, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- Britain’s King Charles reacts as he attends a Realm Governors General and Prime Ministers Lunch, ahead of the coronation of Britain’s King Charles III, at Buckingham Palace in London, Britain, May 5, 2023.,Image: 774030607, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- EMBARGOED TO 0001 GMT TUESDAY DECEMBER 24, 2019. Queen Elizabeth II records her annual Christmas broadcast in Windsor Castle, Berkshire.
This is what happens when your hobby/what you collect becomes your personality. The only gifts your receive are connected to that hobby/collection whether it’s cat figures, teddy bears or whatever and then they have consumed your home. And you have to display them so you don’t hurt the giver’s feelings if they happen to come over to your home.
Let everyone from the family choose one knick knack and then put the rest of it up for auction.
I’m a big thrifter, and it’s always a little heartbreaking to see a clump of like 60 different elephant figurines that have been donated. Like, I know, you cant keep everything, but it just flashes back to a lifetime of birthdays and holidays and excited gift givers and full shelves. Someone just swept them all into a box and gave them away. Then again, maybe the person who collected the elephants was a total ahole. Thrift stores are complicated.
(Alexa, play “When Somebody Loved Me” from Toy Story 2…)
What if they just don’t like elephants and have a giraffe collection of their own? Expecting the next generation to not build their lives around what they themselves love is controlling behavior.
No fan of the Queen, but I loved horses as a kid and I would totally go to a “Holy Fvck, Look at All the Queen’s Horsey Doodads” exhibit.
Maybe the collection was double the size and everyone took their favourites and the rest was donated? You can’t keep everything! I always kept quite a lot of things from grandparents, great aunt etc but still a lot had to be donated or I would never be able to have anything of my own!
Shouldn’t they be given to Royal Collection instead of put in storage?
It would make a really interesting exhibit.
Right? They should exhibit them and give the profits to charity. They could probably auction off some things too and donate to charity.
I’m fairly certain they’re going to be curated & stored in a climate controlled environment, eventually put on display somewhere.
“Womb-like interiors”? Packing away QE2’s things? Mummy issues much?
I won’t fault Charles for putting away the horse chintz (love this term) and replacing it with his own stuff. Maybe it was a painful reminder of his mother, or maybe he couldn’t wait to get rid of it. What I will fault him for is keeping it all instead of displaying or donating at least some of it, as well as the egregious practice of piling obscene wealth and treasure upon the royals.
Be nice if they held a charity auction with those items instead of putting it all in storage.
Keep some, charity auction all the rest. Plus rich fans of QE would likely pay out good money to own a Queens belongings.
Charlie Watts of The Rolling Stones famously bought the clothing of (Edward/David) after his death, had it all tailored to fit him and wore it in his personal life. I read an interview about this decades ago, never forget this trivia.
My thoughts, too. Why not auction most of it. I’m sure they would raise a lot of money to donate to worthy causes and the Charles would get credit for it. It’s good publicity which the monarchy could use right now. Win, win! A good idea so they probably won’t do it.
My guess is if a lot of these things were gifts from heads of state they cannot legally auction it off. It belongs to the State, not the family. Then again, we are talking about the Windsors, people with offshore accounts & recipients of suitcases full of cash.
Eh isn’t this what most people do when a parent passes away? Put their knick knacks in storage or in the attic or something? That’s a LOT of horse chintz. And hey – at least he didn’t sell it all. Like the he did the ACTUAL horses. LOL
The healthy thing to do would be to sort through it. Keep a few precious items, then sell or donate the rest.
I don’t think Charles GAF about his Mom’s knick knacks. Not everyone feels connected to objects as forms of grief, sentimentality ,or nostalgia. And this isn’t just any old lady – this was QE II. They are not selling off or donating her items. That was never going to happen. Now the horses? Those were worth a lot and are living creatures and I hope they went to good homes.
I know this isn’t the point, but does “chintz” have a different meaning in the UK? I’ve only ever heard it refer to a specific style of printed fabric, so I was picturing movers hauling out a bunch of sofas upholstered with equine block prints.
I’m British and to me it’s the fabric, when I saw the headline I wondered if she had floral blankets made for her horses. The meaning does go beyond soft furnishings but first and foremost that’s how I’d always interpret it. A chintzy room may have a ton of knick-knacks on all the surfaces but it would also need to be covered in chintzy fabric.
‘Tat’ would be a less generous term.
As for what to do with it, put together a travelling exhibition (maybe a big one that does the major cities and smaller ones that go to towns, Newmarket, etc., horsey places) then auction it off for a legit charity. But that would remind people of mummy and Chuck will not be having that even if his unpopularity is pushing the monarchy ever closer to falling off a cliff.
Well if that’s how people are choosing gifts — just running with the one thing the recipient is known for — Charles can look forward to a whole lot of Tampax. I hope they at least class it up and find some with like, bejeweled applicators.
@miranda, love it lol
Next it will be all the corgi items.
Go ahead, get rid of tons of items but this time do it for charity!
Does Charles not have to pay tax on anything?
I mean, most folks make charitable donations as a tax write off.
I forgot he sold her horses!
That must have brought in some $$ he is hoarding.
What a disgusting old relic he is
There are so many charities that involve horses are therapy. Surely just one member of his bloated staff could have looked into them and then offered them one or two items EACH to have on display and raffle of to raise funds! Instead they are stuffed away, never to be seen again. So much for him wanting to do good! Every race course has charity events and races, again things from his Mother’s collection could have been donated to each of them for funds for retired horses and jockeys alike, or to the vets that look after the horses to raise extra funds for animals who’s owners can’t afford high vet fees. I’m so bloody angry about this. A good friend of mine has a daughter that was involved in a serious accident, she is now in a wheelchair and went very into herself, when Lisa heard about a local charity that uses horses as therapy for disabled people she took Janey along and now, 6 months later Janey uses a speciality saddle and rides gently every two weeks, she is like a different young woman! But as usual this charity is always low on funds so money always needs to be raised. That’s the sort of charity that could and SHOULD benefit. Not have a greedy old man stuff it in his cupboards and cellars
SMary Pester, it is a shame that Chuck doesn’t have someone on his staff with your creativity. The gift of these horsey items to charities, with the implicit idea that they be used for fund raising, would create a public relations windfall. Same goes for the “corgi chintz”. Imagine how much could be raised for animal welfare with auctions of those items. Don’t they have anyone on staff that can see these possibilities? Or don’t they care?
Well said. Totally agree.
Ditto!! And such a fantastic opportunity for these organizations to be heard of and seen too!! I would imagine that they would LOVE it!!
Kaiser, I didn’t even need to get to your mention of Yiddish yet before audibly going, “oof she probably had a lot of tchotchkes.” 😂
And wow, yeah she did.
“…suitcases full of cash?” OMG Kaiser thank you for that!
THIS!!!!!
My neighbor’s mother just went to a care home. They have spent the last two Saturdays having garage sales for all of her belongings that she didn’t take with her to the care home. Looking over there, it is quite a massive undertaking.
I will have to do the same thing when my mother goes. She is an emotional and impulsive shopper. I am not looking forward to cleaning out her house and storage sheds. Yes, sheds plural. I tried to get her to have her own garage sales and take the money to go on a vacation but to no avail.
I love my collections, but I want to have the pleasure of seeing my children enjoy them also. My husband and I recently downsized, so it was the perfect time to give things away. I set up a special room and we had a fun day where my sons and daughter in law “went shopping” and took home everything from antique furniture to silver napkin rings. Everyone was happy.
IDK why no one can get thru to Charles the sheer fact that his wealth hoarding is going to be the end of The Monarchy.
QE and PP, many of their items could easily be auctioned off for charities. Make a big display of all the money going to benefit the people.
Some items could be donated as history and displayed, funds given to charity.
Why storage? Put it to work rehabbing his crummy PR.
Charles probably doesn’t want the horse chintz to be better looking that the horse Queen Consort.
Oh, but I’m sure it is! Yet another reason he had to put it away, along with his Mommy issues.
But wouldn’t some of the horse stuff remind him of his beloved Cams?
Charles seems to have aged a great deal since the death of his mother. I almost think I’m looking at a face from the eighteenth century when I see recent photos of him. He’s not that old in terms of age. If I recall, the late Queen was still full of vigour and energy at the same age. Charles is starting to look pretty fragile and elderly.
Why don’t gifts to the Queen/King belong to the Crown instead of the individual? They should belong to the PEOPLE.
I agree that this is more wealth hoarding. I’ve often thought they should auction off some of their paintings and donate the money to food banks or other ways to improve people’s lives.
They do, at least those gifts given by other heads of state do.
Perhaps he is clearing out everything so he can replace everything with photos of Khate and Khate memoribilia. I would imagine with an ego as huge as hers that she would expect nothing less, then she could strut around saying look at the photos of me, me and more me.
“What will world leaders give him?” Hopefully the cold shoulder.
Hahaha! High 5!
Probably isn’t allowed to give anything away for at least 100 years or so, or something stupid like that. Also, don’t gifts from heads of state and the like belong to the Crown, not to the person?
Still and all, anything she owned personally should first be given to family first, then anything not wanted by family, well the good ideas abound above. I hope one of their henchmen is reading this!!!
The Telegraph’s article is so repetitive! I’ve noticed this is the Fail’s writings, too. Is this how they teach journalism in England?
First para: “… equestrian bronzes, portraits and trophies…”
Second para: “Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace…”
Third para: “equestrian paintings, statues and sculptures…, Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle….” “… Buckingham Palace and Windsor…”
Gah!!! Do they think we’ll forget what they’re writing about from one sentence to the next? And then there’s the contradtions; either he’s banished a huge chunk of her collection or he’s kept a significant amount of it. Which is it??
I mean…I adore my mother, but if I had to live in her house I would also get rid of quite a few things. None of the sentimental stuff, but her bathroom tile is dark red, enough said!