The Royal Windsor Horse Show opened on the private grounds of Windsor Castle on Thursday with Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, and Prince Edward arriving bright and early for a family fixture that has long been tied to the late Queen Elizabeth II. This year’s show displayed the 1966 Land Rover Series IIA that the queen drove to the event in her younger years, a reminder of how closely the gathering remains linked to her life.
Edward and Sophie, who live nearby at Bagshot Park and serve as president and vice president of the show, were on the scene as the event got underway. Princess Anne also attended and congratulated the qualifiers for a thoroughbred riding event, while King Charles III waved as he entered the Castle arena. The show runs across four days, and sources said Sophie and Edward planned to attend all of them to support their daughter, Lady Louise Windsor, who served as an organizer this year and was scheduled to compete in a carriage-driving competition on Saturday.
The numbers around the family’s involvement say as much as the appearances themselves. Lady Louise learned carriage driving from her grandfather, Prince Philip, when she was around 10 or 11, and the sport has become one of the clearest links between the next generation and the traditions her family has guarded at Windsor. Sophie also presented the trophy for Driving for the Disabled during the show, adding another formal duty to a morning that mixed pageantry, competition and quiet royal business.
The setting helps explain why the event still matters. Queen Elizabeth II attended the Royal Windsor Horse Show nearly every year from its founding in 1943 until her death in 2022, and the event has long been described as closest to her heart. Held near Windsor Castle on the residence’s private grounds, it also functions as a rare family reunion, with several royal estates nearby in Windsor Great Park and the household moving through the same landscape year after year.
There was, though, a small but telling contrast in the day’s choreography: while Sophie and Edward worked the show as senior patrons, Princess Anne stood at the rail with spectators and greeted riders face to face, including Katie Jerram Hunnable, who won the RoR Tattersalls Thoroughbred Ridden Show series qualifier aboard First Receiver, a horse owned by King Charles. That mix of official duty, family support and competition is exactly what gives Windsor its pull. In a royal calendar full of appearances, this is the one that still looks like a private tradition in public view.
